Hydrometer says what?

[pearsey99]

Afrernoon all,
Ok, i'm a complete hydrometer virgin and only just started my 3rd kit. 1st batch was ok and 2nd batch now in 2nd stage - 3rd batch of Brewferm ABDIJ just done this morning.

My question - i've just done my first hydrometer reading and wanted to sanity check the reading..

Is the reading 1.058 or there abouts? As the ABV is around 8%, is the reading what i'd expect? And what would i expect to read after the required 10 days fermenting?

Cheers

 

[wilsoa1111]

you cant really calculate the abv till its finished and have both the start and the end but suffice to say it seems a tad low- u can check if ur hydro needs some calibration in water-should read 1.000 BUT tbh the brewferm kits tend not to be as alcoholic as they advertise- unless u manage to ferment them down to bone dryness- either way it will defo taste superb- check by googleing abv calculator

Also i wouldnt always rely the brewferm high abv kits to be finished by 10days- check ur hydro a few days in a row when it stops going down over consecutive days then its ready (if u can be bothered-most just wait 3 weeks, safer and easier) and it should tell u what the finished s.g should be on the kit but anything around 1.010 is about right some do hit 1.005 or lower but this is less frequent

 

[Springer]

My, thats a big brew :)
Use the hydrometer to measure the starting gravity, this is the original gravity OG, when fully fermented, take daily readings after several days until there is no change, you will get a final gravity, FG. You can then use a calculator like the one top left of the page to see what ABV you have.
e.g. If your OG is 1070 and it goes down to 1010 you will have 8%. Hydrometers are made to work at a specific temperature so again you may need to use a calculator to correct the readings .
S
Wils beat me to it

 

[LeithR]

Hi there Pearsey99,
Your ABV comes from subtracting the Original Gravity (yours seems to be reading 1.058) from the final gravity, (when the brew has stopped fermenting), it may take longer than 10 days but you should take hydrometer readings every day for 2/3 days and if the readings are steady at say 1.005 then the fermentation has finished then your ABV would be about 7% - (use the calculator at the top of this page). The OG is dependent on the amount of fermentables you have in the brew. In your case as its a kit this is fixed by the content of the kit and unless you add aditional malts/etc... that won't change. However it is common practice to add additional malts to a kit brew to modify it a little to something you more readily fancy.

Your hydrometer is calibrated to read correctly at 20DegC - it may be 15DegC - but is most likely 20DegC so check the temperature of the brew, not the ambient temp in the room.

Good luck

 

[Kev888]

Also, some people are mislead by other markings on the hydrometer, and these sometimes include estimates of potential alcohol. A wine may ferment the vast majority of its sugars away and so create most of that potential alcohol, but beers normally don't go so far; they finish whilst still somewhat sweet.

The Final Gravity for a given yeast tends to be a proportion of the Original Gravity, meaning that the FG will be higher if it was a higher gravity wort to begin with. Its difficult to reliably work it out beforehand though, so thats why people look for it to stop changing rather than for a specific value to determine when its largely stopped fermenting.

Cheers
Kev

 

[pearsey99]

Great stuff folks...looks like the brew is getting there...new reading now after 6 days...would you reckon another week should do it based on the new reading if the OG was in the region of 1.062?

So by my calculation 1.062-1.013=6.43% ABV (for a ABDIJ Brewferm kit?)

Cheers

 

[pittsy]

1013 may well be finished but to know if it has , do a test tomorrow and the day after too and if still 1013 it's time for bottling.

 

[jonnymorris]

1013 may well be finished

...but I'd give it at least another week, if not two for the yeast to clear up and then settle out a bit before bottling.

 

[pittsy]

1013 may well be finished

...but I'd give it at least another week, if not two for the yeast to clear up and then settle out a bit before bottling.

Fair point , i do that for my hefes but as you said is better for most brews.

 

[alawlor66430]

I did that with a stout I did and it cleared right out and now there's only a minute trace of sed in the bottom of the bottles from priming, but the second stage did take considerably longer since I left it so long to clear, but it's nice to have a good clean beer

 

[Inneed]

I'm learning on my first brew, OG was only 1033 and reading on here, likleyhood is that I didn't stir it enough. It's been on for 2 days now and the gravitiy is at 1011. If I didn't stir it enough at the start, will doing so now be a good or a bad idea?

 

[bunkerbrewer]

If I didn't stir it enough at the start, will doing so now be a good or a bad idea?

Leave it alone! The yeast will find their food, even if you didn't stir it.

Most people wait at least a week before taking the first gravity reading, that way you're not opening up the fermenter too much. So, leave it another 9-10 days, check again and you're well on the way to your first beer :)

 

[alawlor66430]

It's just like when you prime a bottle with sugar, or treacle is a better example actually, it sits firmly in the bottom of the bottle but if you put them away in their box somewhere nice and warm for 7 days when you check all the treacle/sugar has been eaten, jobs a good un, when you first start brewing you'll spend most of your time worrying about if your brew is gonna turn out well or not and if you've done things right or wrong but after half a dozen kits you'll relax a bit and iron out your routine for brewing, just be patient and all will be fine

 

[Inneed]

Thanks folks. Hand slapped and lid remaining on...