Noob Beer Question

[vicrider]

OK, I decided to try my hand at beer, so far so good. I think it's done and I have read that your supposed to check your SG three days in a row to make sure there are no changes. How the crap do you get a sample out of a 6 gal glass carboy without stirrin everything up or contaminating anything? I tried dipping a racking cane and holding a finger over the end, and it worked....sort of, but there must be an easier way.

[Dnderhead]

a wine theft,, turkey baster, or a smaller piece of tubing. racking cane is too large and lets air in from the bottom

[vicrider]

Thanks Dnderhead,

I thought about a wine thief, but I don't have easy access to one, so I'm off to get a turkey baster.

[AquaVitae]

Lift it to an elevated position(chair table etc), then let it settle, rack out what you need with the tube, in my experience its easier

[SMOKEU]

I sanitize a cup and then dip the cup into the brew to get a sample.

[cornwhiskey]

OK, I decided to try my hand at beer, so far so good. I think it's done and I have read that your supposed to check your SG three days in a row to make sure there are no changes. How the crap do you get a sample out of a 6 gal glass carboy without stirrin everything up or contaminating anything? I tried dipping a racking cane and holding a finger over the end, and it worked....sort of, but there must be an easier way.

Oh boy!
Anything you are dipping into a fermenting or finished beer should bee sanitized. Otherwise you risk contaminating it. Stirring everything up isn't that big of a deal unless you are really splashing the beer as it will have a blanket of CO2 on top of it.

[Usge]

Well, I wait till after primary fermentation has finished and all the Krausen is stuck to sides or settled out, then I pull the top and drop a sanitized hydrometer into my carboy. Takes 2 seconds. It doesn't allow for temp adjustment readings, but it works fine for general monitoring (ie., is it finished or not). I leave it in until the end to monitor things along the way. I carefully remove it after siphoning contents to bottling bucket.

Cornwhiskey is right about sanitizing. There's a difference between "clean" and "sanitized". The easiest/best thing I've found for sanitizing is StarSan. It's a contact solution sanitizer that doesn't require you to rinse off. All it takes is a few mins. Despite the fact that it foams, it leaves no residue or aftertaste. I think you use 2 oz per 5 gals of water. It has a little 1 oz chamber on one side of the bottle that allows you to premeasure right out of the container. You can also use household bleach diluted in water. But, it tends to leave chlorine residue/smell unless you rinse it really well several times. And it takes a longer soak compared to starsan. But, it works..if you don't want to spend the money. I fill my carboy with 5 gals, use 2 oz starsan..and then empty that out into any bucket I'm going to be using, and put my hydro, tubing, etc., in that bucket to sanitize them. So, pretty much 2 oz to sanitize everything I'm going to use. I cover my hydrometer in plastic wrap until i'm ready to use it...usually after about day 3. Then, just unwrap it and drop it in. This also limits the time of exposure to air.

Beyond that, you aren't loosing .5 liter of beer just to check it 3x.

[Boney]

Hi
I never check the SG in my beer ,i have found if the brew is warm enough and leave it for 7 days its done
provided everything is clean when you start ,there should not be an issue
opening the lid to get a sample can cause its own problems with infection
i do a double size brew every other week ,have been for 20 years and only had one brew that grew a white film on the top
i was wondering if i should throw it away ,at the risk of poisoning my mates
but i bottled it and put a secret mark on the bottles so if my mates start throwing up i will know for sure what caused it
anyway we drank the lot and no problems ,they actually commented on how good that brew was, i told them about the white crap after we drank it all

[still crazy]

OK, I decided to try my hand at beer, so far so good. I think it's done and I have read that your supposed to check your SG three days in a row to make sure there are no changes. How the crap do you get a sample out of a 6 gal glass carboy without stirrin everything up or contaminating anything? I tried dipping a racking cane and holding a finger over the end, and it worked....sort of, but there must be an easier way.

A long straw ......???

[NcHooch]

I always just sanitize the hydrometer and drop it in to my 8 gallon fermenting bucket...never had a problem

[diyftw]

I tend to let my beer sit in the carboy till it stops bubbling. that takes some patience though.

[kiwistiller]

I'm getting into beer as well. Starsan is awesome. Don't fear the foam.