Is a hydrometer of any use if you didnt take a reading at the start of

[philistine]

Hey all,

me = noob,
question = probably dumb

So, I've only just started with this stuff. I brewed, fermented and bottled a batch according to the timelines set out in the kit I was using at the time (BrewSmith - Summer Citrus Blonde).
Now, Ive got a couple batches on the go and Im trying to figure out if they're getting close to bottling time.
A mate gave me a hydrometer and after extensive googling I now know what its for.... kind of.....

But tell me - can I use it to take readings from my current batches to help work out if they're ready? Baring in mind that I havent used it at all yet - so no readings on brew day, none at yeast pitching, none since then etc.
Am I right in thinking that even tho I havent taken any readings yet - if I was to take a sample and test it today, and then do it again in 24 hours - and then discover that there has been no change - my beer is ready to bottle yeah?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ekul]

if you know what you put into your brew (which you do if you are brewing with extract) and know the attenuation of your yeast then its helpful, especially for identifying stalled ferments.

 

[manticle]

Yes.

You will have more difficulty working out abv (can be done, especially with kits and extracts and it's not that difficult) but essentially you want to

1. make sure your gravity is stable over a period of time (at least 2-3 days)

AND

2. In the region you would expect given the ingredients used.

Once you are sure of those two things, you are relatively safe to bottle although a couple of extra days in contact with healthy yeast can be beneficial to flavour (and early removal from healthy yeast can be detrimental to flavour).

 

[philistine]

darrgghhh... Thanks ekul ... but I dont really understand what you mean...
The other thing is, the one batch in particular that I wanna test was from a kit and the contents of the kit arent labelled (the recipes are a kinda 'secret sauce' scenario....)

 

[Woostyle]

Hey Mate,

You can still use it to determine when fermentation has completed. Wait for a consistent gravity reading over a 2 to 3 day period or so and then your good to bottle.


Cheers,

 

[manticle]

Not if it stalls at 1025 you're not.

 

[philistine]

Sweet - cheers guys!
Yeah, I figured wokring out abv% would be out of the question, the kit tells me it should end up around 5.1 in any case... but yeah, just wanted to be able to use the hydrometer to check that fermentation was finished in this instance

 

[andrewl]

You will need to use it to check for when its finished fermenting (final gravity). When you get the same reading 2-3 days in a row, its time to bottle.
Usually your final gravity is around 1.010 (as a rule of thumb... Depending on what beer your brewing)

 

[philistine]

unfortunately, liek I said, the BrewSmith kits are a 'secret sauce'. for anyone who's curious it was called "honey bomb wheat'
kit comprised of:

650gm of some kind of DME
3 pkts of mystery hops, labelled 1st, 2nd, last (the 2nd and 3rd looked the same)
1 pkt unmarked yeast....
also added 1/3 cup of leatherwood/orange blossom mix honey during the boil
Boil time was an hour...

aannnyway, thanks for the tips

 

[Beerisyummy]

Have you got any more info on the ingredients? Things like liquid malt extract and how much liquid you ended up with should give you an assumed original gravity.
Your hydrometer floats more when there is more sugar in the wort. Similar to how you float more in salt water compared to fresh.
When the ferment is successfully completed, with the fermentable sugars consumed, you should get a stable reading within a fairly tight range.

What gravity reading did you get?

 

[mr_wibble]

The SG reading can also be used to determine the current progress of your fermentation. As Manticle and Andrewl say - when you have 3 consecutive gravity readings that are the same, and those readings are within your desired target gravity, you can consider fermentation complete.

Also, ideally, you would have taken a Specific Gravity (S.G.) reading at the start (the Original Gravity O.G.), and then the difference with the reading at the finish (Final Gravity F.G.) can be used to determine the alcohol content. (FG minus SG). Also note that the wort temperature significantly effects the gravity reading, and your hydrometer will be calibrated to a particular temperature (mine is 20C).

It is possible to approximate the OG based on ingredients and water amount. But you do not specify how much wort went into the fermenter, nor the full content of the kit.
In a (guess) 19 litre batch, 0.65kg of DME, and 0.11kg of Honey would give an (obviously approximate) SG of 1.011 - this is very low, so either it was a much smaller batch, or you missed out some ingredients in the list above.

cheers,
-kt

 

[philistine]

sorry, yeah I forgot to mention these are small 5L batches - using those 5 litre Italian wine flagons/5L demijohn
So the ingredients list is complete and final wort volume would be around 4.5-5L.
I did throw in some toasted crushed coriander seeds and lemon zest - but these arent gonna have any impact of fermentation

I wish I did have more info on the ingredients, coz the beer turned out to be excellent and Im looking to recreate a similar brew doing a partial mash

 

[philistine]

forgot to ask - Mr Wibble, how did you make that estimate of the OG based on the ingredients? Is that just from experience or is there a vague sort of rule of thumb? Can you take a stab and gimme an estimate based on same ingredients in 5L instead of 19L?

BTW -Thanks for all the info guys!

 

[Beerisyummy]

DME generally has similar potential, as does honey. There are several calculators available that will give you estimates based on the different ingredients.
Some, like Beersmith2, will give you the option to convert to grain also.

 

[ekul]

philistine. Download the program brewmate (its free and really good). Add you batch size and ingredients to the list and it will tell you your original gravity. It will also tell you your expected final gravity. Then you can use the hydrometer to test your current gravity as fermentation proceeds.

for instance, i put in 650g of dry malt extract and then 80g of honey and it gives me an OG of 1053 with an expected final gravity of 1012 (dont worry if you dont get this low, a lot of my extract beers stopped at around 1014 or so.)

Its a bit of a shame that you dont know what the hops are but they won't effect fermentation, just the bitterness level.

Even when following someone elses recipe its good practice to use brewmate (or beersmith). It gives you an idea of what parameters you like in abeer (like alcohol content and bitterness) and it means when it comes to the time you want to formulate your own recipes you will know what you like.

 

[wynnum1]

What temperature is the fermentation at raising temperature can restart stalled ferment or over the 3 days could be fermenting so slowly no visible change . Starting gravity does not totally determine final gravity what are the unfermentables.

 

[mosto]

Something I found invaluable when doing kit, and then extract brewing, was ianh's spreadsheet, which is pinned to the top of the Kits and Extracts forum. If you know the ingredients, you can plug them in and get gravity, bitterness, colour and ABV estimates. Alternatively, can change ingredients around to design recipes.

Basically, you can estimate OG if you know the amount of fermentable ingredients, in this case DME (650g) and honey (80g). Plug those into the spreadsheet, or BrewMate as ekul suggested, and it will give you an OG. While you don't know the exact yeast strain, you could be safe in assuming it's a stock standard Ale type of yeast, maybe US05, or something that has similar attenuation properties, so you can plug that in to give an FG. In the case of the spreadsheet, it gave an OG of 1.053 and an FG of 1.012. So if the hydrometer reading stabilises around 1.012 for 2-3 days, I'd say your right to bottle.

Just on a side note, I googled up BrewSmith. They have some interesting kits, but please don't take their advice that fermenting 'anywhere between 10 and 30 degrees will be fine' :huh:. Ferm temp is very much yeast dependent, but for an ale yeast, aim for around 18-20 degrees.

 

[mr_wibble]

forgot to ask - Mr Wibble, how did you make that estimate of the OG based on the ingredients? Is that just from experience or is there a vague sort of rule of thumb? Can you take a stab and gimme an estimate based on same ingredients in 5L instead of 19L?

Nah, I plugged them into BeerSmith.

Based on a 5 litre batch, it says your OG should be around 1.032

Interesting to cross-reference what ekul says comes from Brewmate, quite a difference in the estimate
(wikianswers said 1 cup of honey weighs 345 grams, so I used 110 grams for the recipe. I would have thought this would give me a larger estimate)

 

[ekul]

Nah, I plugged them into BeerSmith.

Based on a 5 litre batch, it says your OG should be around 1.032

Interesting to cross-reference what ekul says comes from Brewmate, quite a difference in the estimate
(wikianswers said 1 cup of honey weighs 345 grams, so I used 110 grams for the recipe. I would have thought this would give me a larger estimate)

Are you sure you put it in correctly? Even if i put in LME (instead of dme) and 80g of honey i get 1045 for the og. Brewmate has never done me wrong, especially with extract.

If i scale up to 23L i get 2.9kg LME and 386g honey for an OG of 1045, this seems about right for me.

 

[MHB]

Not enough information to form an opinion, having a look at the BrewSmith website tells you nothing except that the brew should finish up at 6.4% and the kits are designed to make 5L (well actually 2 X 6 packs which is just under 4L), the change in gravity would be 0.048 so if the brew finishes at around 1.010 the OG should be close to 1.058
Haven't seen these kits before, they are an interesting idea, a little more information on the contents of the kit would be nice, I will be curious to see how they fly.
Mark