Hydrometer Knowledge!

I just looked at the hydrometer for the first time, in detail...noticed it has a reading for alcohol levels.

Recipe #1, if we assume 1.039 as our adjusted reading, would have an alcohol content of around 5%, if the specific gravity drops all the way down to 1.00 (not possible, but we could realistically ferment down to 1.010, which would leave us with approx 4% alcohol).

Recipe #2, if we use our adjusted reading of 1.062, would net out a max of around 8%. so if we could ferment this batch down to around 1.010, or so, we could net out around a 7% abv.

-Ron

Hydrometer SNAFU

The most notable event during last night's first brew session was likely the erroneous hydrometer reading, brought on by a technical error.

Things were running smoothly. The batch was ready to be strained into the carboy, after a cool off period in the ice bath. We had discussed the hydrometer reading, and had decided that we would take a (sanitized) ladle, and pour that into the hydrometer flask before pouring the wort into the carboy.

That, my friends, is where the error occurred. You see, through a haze of The Bruery's Autumn Maple and Stone Imperial Russian Stout, we forgot to recognize that a proper hydrometer reading has to be taken from the carboy, after pouring the wort in. You can't sample the super concentrated wort...it's no wonder our reading came out as 1.140 at approx 80 degrees.

So, we live and learn. For the next batch, we will have a more solid process in place for the hydrometer reading. You can count on that one.

- Ron