Pardon the noob question, but how does one sample wort from a carboy or bucket without exposing the wort to air?
I've seen lots of recommendations online to check your hydrometer readings everyday or at least when you expect the fermentation is done, and if you get the same reading two days in a row you know you've reached your FG. This seems counter intuitive to me if the goal is to expose the wort to as little contamination or air as possible. I understand that when transfering wort from a primary to secondary fermentor, or when bottling your beer that this is unavoidable, and so a reading should be made at that time, but...
If your bored, your advice would be most welcome. TIA
Cheers!
EDIT: Wow, I must have been in a big hurry when I wrote the original post my grammar was fugtastic.
Last edited by JonGoku on Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I just open the bucket and use a sanitized turkey baster to pull a sample. As long as you do it quickly, I figure there should still be a blanket of co2 over the beer, and usually the yeast are still producing co2 when I take the first samples. You do want to minimize exposure to o2, but it's pretty tough to have zero exposure.
brahn wrote:I just open the bucket and use a sanitized turkey baster to pull a sample. As long as you do it quickly, I figure there should still be a blanket of co2 over the beer, and usually the yeast are still producing co2 when I take the first samples. You do want to minimize exposure to o2, but it's pretty tough to have zero exposure.
I see... I guess that sounds ok when you still have a lot of co2 being produced, but if your near or at the end of your fermentation wouldn't there be little or no purging of air out the airlock?
dhempy wrote:CO2 is heaver that air so as long as it is "contained" and doesn't "spill" out the co2 will remain in place.
Dan
+1
All thing in moderation. All you you can do is the best you can at minimizing things like O2 exposure. You could eliminate it by flodding your fermenter with CO2 and taking samples under pressure, but it's just not practical. Yeast are fantastic O2 scavengers and if there is the slightest fermentation active, they'll absorb it.
Just use common sense for these kinds of things. You need to take samples to figure out where you're at. You also need to transfer the finished beer to a bucket to bottle or keg to store/serve, but neither of these things can be accomplished without a little O2 introduction. What you don't want to do is tear the lid off the fermenter, reach in with an unwashed hand and scoop out a sample with cupped hands!!
One other thing is worth mentioning since you're beginning:
Don't ever return the sample to the fermenter. Even with the best sanitation, the risk of infection just isn't worth it.
Taste it instead. You should be tasting your beer at every stage: After steeping the grains, after dissolving the extract, after adding hops, just before pitching yeast and with every sample you take.
Backyard Brewer wrote:One other thing is worth mentioning since you're beginning:
Don't ever return the sample to the fermenter. Even with the best sanitation, the risk of infection just isn't worth it.
Taste it instead. You should be tasting your beer at every stage: After steeping the grains, after dissolving the extract, after adding hops, just before pitching yeast and with every sample you take.
This is excellent advise. You'll be surprised at how different the beer tastes at every stage.
You'll also be surprised at how cold conditioning your beer really does wonders for it. When everyone says "the last beer tastes best" - I think this is what they are referring to.
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Backyard Brewer wrote:One other thing is worth mentioning since you're beginning:
Don't ever return the sample to the fermenter. Even with the best sanitation, the risk of infection just isn't worth it.
Taste it instead. You should be tasting your beer at every stage: After steeping the grains, after dissolving the extract, after adding hops, just before pitching yeast and with every sample you take.
Great advice. I can't believe I haven't been doing that all along. I've missed out on a lot of the fun it seems. It's too late tonight, but tomorrow I will get my first measurement since sealing the fermenter as well as my very first taste.
These days I generally just monitor the fermentation visually. I do not take a hydrometer reading until I package and then it is just to determine the ABV%. I suppose if I had a funky behaving ferment I would get curious enough to check the gravity earlier, but after a few batches you will know if you got a kick ass fermentation going (or not).
IMHO, while taking gravity and tasting samples can be fun and informative, but most fermentations will reach a typical terminal gravity for the strain used without any intervention on the part of the brewer. I believe the "less is more" approach is best during primary fermentation when the wort is most susceptible to infection. Once the fermentation has appeared to have ceased (less than a bubble or two a minute in your airlock) then you can take samples with less concern due to the lower PH and alcohol content which creates a less tolerable environment for your average spoilage organisms.
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