17 replies to this topic

[BarelyBrews]

My process is to take a sample and use a temp correction chart(usually im at 135 degrees).Then i add it directly back in before the boil begins.A friend of mine draws the sample,lets it cool completely takes his reading and then adds it to the end of the boil.My readings have been accurate with Preboil/OG that type of thing.For a while i did have some doubt about the temp correction charts.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

My process is to take a sample and use a temp correction chart(usually im at 135 degrees).Then i add it directly back in before the boil begins.A friend of mine draws the sample,lets it cool completely takes his reading and then adds it to the end of the boil.My readings have been accurate with Preboil/OG that type of thing.For a while i did have some doubt about the temp correction charts.

I don't even bother measuring until I've chilled the wort down. I do use the correction charts when the beer is cooler than 65 though (post fermentation).

[ChefLamont]

Take a very small sample in a pipet, chill it quickly in a jar of water, and then use an automatic temperature controlled refractometer. Takes about a min and a half tops.

[djinkc]

Chill a few ml and use a refractometer at the beginning of the boil. If I'm going to make adjustments I want to know then. I don't trust the conversion charts for hot wort and a hydrometer if it's more than 20 df from 60df. Since I use an IC I take some of the first turbid wort drained from the kettle and use the hydrometer for an OG.

[MakeMeHoppy]

refractometer for everything up until the boil ends. I use a sanitized autosiphon to get a sample before transfer to the carboy and I use both refractometer and hydrometer when that sample cools. I've done enough that I'm comfortable using either or both at this point. Once fermentation starts I only use the hydrometer, I can't get the refractometer conversions to come anywhere close once fermentation starts.

[realbeerguy]

Drop or 2 on refractometer. Close enough for me.Post-fermentation, hydrometer sample. Not totally conviced of the post-ferment refractometer charts and formulas.

[davelew]

Once the BK is full, but before it has reached a boil, I take a sample. This is usually around 170 dF. I cool that to 100dF by holding it under cold running water, use a temperature correction chart, and then add it back to the boil. Usually the sample gets back in for the whole boil.

[jayb151]

I usually don't take any readings until after I've chilled. But for the past month or two I have been waiting for a good boil and taking that as my 60 minute OG. I'll cool it down by putting a stainless steel martini shaker in a pitcher full of ice. Gets it down in a couple minutes. Sometimes I'll also take another reading at 30.Right now I'm trying to see just how much the wort concentrates when I perform a 60 minute boil. I'm trying to collect enough data to find a trend on my system.

[denny]

What I have a hot sample I want to read with a hydrometer, I put it in a metal cocktail shaker and pour that in a bowl of ice water, swirling it around. After about a minute, it's down to temp.

[Recklessdeck]

I take a sample in my hydrometer jar once all wort is in the BK. I put the hydrometer and a thermometer in the sample, then place the jar in a measuring cup full of cool water and go back to brewing. Next spare minute I have I take the reading and use a temperature correction chart

[3rd party JKor]

Up until fermentation I use a refractometer. I usually take several readings during the mash to judge when my mash liquor gravity has leveled off. I then take a reading of the first runnings after the mashout, right when I start the sparge. I take reading of the final runnings and the pre-boil gravity at the end of the sparge. At this point I decide whether I need to adjust my hops or add DME. Then I take a reading at the end of the boil. All this is with the refractometer. After I transfer my wort to the fermenter, I take a sample of the dregs left in the kettle and run it through a paper coffee filter to get a clean sample to measure with my hydrometer and to do a taste test on. Once the fermentation starts I wait about three days to take my first hydro sample, then I take one every other day after that until the gravity plateaus.

[gnef]

I am pretty free flowing with my brewing, though I've been trying to tighten up on my process recently - mostly because I am brewing beers that I've never brewed before. Like many others that have posted already, I use the refractometer during the brew day for everything, sometimes checking with the hydrometer if I feel like it. Once it has fermented though, I use a hydrometer for the interim gravity readings and the final gravity reading to calculate my ABV with.If I am brewing a beer I've brewed many times before, I will oftentimes not even bother taking a gravity reading. I haven't noticed anything adverse, and if I ever do, I will check my instruments at that point.

[Malzig]

For those of you unhappy with your refractometer readings of fermented beer, you might want to take a look at Sean Terrill's work. Essentially he found, in his hands, that the common refractometer correction used for fermented beer has an error dependent on the degree of attenuation.I've started using a simplified form of his new equation:FG = 1.0036 - 0.00124 RIi + 0.00380 RIf

[3rd party JKor]

For those of you unhappy with your refractometer readings of fermented beer, you might want to take a look at Sean Terrill's work. Essentially he found, in his hands, that the common refractometer correction used for fermented beer has an error dependent on the degree of attenuation.I've started using a simplified form of his new equation:FG = 1.0036 - 0.00124 RIi + 0.00380 RIf

Ah, nice reference.The main reason I use a hydrometer after fermentation has started is because I want to get a gravity reading AND taste how the beer is progressing.

[japh]

The main reason I use a hydrometer after fermentation has started is because I want to get a gravity reading AND taste how the beer is progressing.

I take a sample into a wine glass. I can take a few drops out with a spoon to measure w/the refractometer, and then use smell/taste the sample easily.

[djinkc]

For those of you unhappy with your refractometer readings of fermented beer, you might want to take a look at Sean Terrill's work. Essentially he found, in his hands, that the common refractometer correction used for fermented beer has an error dependent on the degree of attenuation.I've started using a simplified form of his new equation:FG = 1.0036 - 0.00124 RIi + 0.00380 RIf

Thanks, I'll have to try this and compare!

[Malzig]

Ah, nice reference.

Thanks, I'll have to try this and compare!

His work seems sound. It will be interesting to see if it solves the problems other brewers have reading FGs with a refractometer.I like to get a taste sample when I check FG, too, but sometimes you want something quick and easy, that doesn't take quite so much beer or that doesn't require a thief.

[3rd party JKor]

His work seems sound. It will be interesting to see if it solves the problems other brewers have reading FGs with a refractometer.I like to get a taste sample when I check FG, too, but sometimes you want something quick and easy, that doesn't take quite so much beer or that doesn't require a thief.

I run all my gravity samples through a coffee filter. Quick and easy is not the description I would use for the method, but I like that it clears the yeast out and degasses the samples. Plus the taste test is more true without all the suspended yeast.