Well I did it
Brewed my second beer last night. A smoked Peat Porter (I think thats what it was called)
and all the worries and problems I had the first time…well none of them showed up last night
no boil overs
no ruining the stove (this was a biggie for me)
no adding the yeast before the water
sanitized everything patiently
followed the directions in the actual order printed
the list goes on and on
also I tried my hydrometer for the first time, on both my first batch which is still in primary and my new batch after I got it cooled down and added the water.
and I realized, I have no clue how it works…I guess I was expecting the “mercury” in it to rise or something, but it just sat there…and I just sat there…we both just sat there looking at each other wondering which of us was supposed to do something next. after several minutes of this most uncomfortable silence, I pulled the hydrometer out, washed it up and put it away.
then I drank that little bit of fermenting Caribou Slobber I made just over a week ago, and funny thing…It tasted just like flat Brown ale
go figure, bottling next week I guess
any how, thanks to all of you that helped me through that first trying batch, looks like it will be fine like you all said. and thanks to all of you that post questions and answers and comments on this forum. I have received a wealth of information from you.
just cant seem to find how to read a hydrometer…guess that will come in time
Ha! Interesting post. Reminded me of my first forays into all-grain brewing, first one seemed so difficult but after a few it was so easy.
Look at the hydrometer, there is a scale on it. Where the top of the liquid touches, is the specific gravity of the beer. Wort needs to be cooled to room temp though. The more the sugars, the heavier the liquid, the less the weighted hydrometer sinks down.
[quote=“Ekffazr”]where the liquid touches??[/quote]If you look closely, you’ll see that the surface of the wort has a slight curve to it caused by the close proximity of the hydrometer tube sides and you want to read the value on the hydrometer where the bottom of the curve crosses the scale. Also, to calibrate the hydrometer, take a reading with distilled water and see if it’s right at 1.000 - if not, the difference between your reading and 1.000 is the offset (so if it reads 1.002 you need to subract 0.002 from wort readings to account for the offset).
Make sure that you spin the Hydrometer when you put it into the wort/beer that way there are no air bubbles on it then look at the number on it and write that down that is you O.G. (Original Gravity) it will be something like 1.052. Then after a week or two take another one write that one down Something like 1.012 Then check it again in a few days if its still the same then that is your F.G. (final gravity) Then use this link to find out your ABV% http://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/
