I was wondering if one could gauge the F.G. after bottling. my hydrometer broke and i just got a new one in the mail today. it has been 3 weeks since bottling. i dont really need to do this, it is more for piece of mind and record keeping.
You can. Pour a sample and let it de-gas. Your sample will be slightly lower gravity than when you bottled, due to the small amount of fermentation that occurs during carbonation.
I would think the SG would not change after bottling. You add priming sugar, which would raise the SG of the finished wort slightly, then SG should drop back down once the yeast have digested all that sugar into CO2.
Please correct me if I’m wrong - just thinking out loud and this question is related to a bottle bomb question also posted recently.
[quote=“Tom_B”]I would think the SG would not change after bottling. You add priming sugar, which would raise the SG of the finished wort slightly, then SG should drop back down once the yeast have digested all that sugar into CO2.
Please correct me if I’m wrong - just thinking out loud and this question is related to a bottle bomb question also posted recently.[/quote]
No, that makes sense. I had thought I’d read about a very small drop from priming, but I couldn’t find it again. Of course, I just posted about bottle bombs, so maybe you shouldn’t be listening to me :oops:
Should be a slight lowering of the FG since there is now a little more alcohol in the beer, but with a standard hydrometer you probably can’t see it.
Wouldn’t the carbonation affect the hydrometer reading? The bubbles acting upward on the hydrometer?
That’s why you need to let it de-gas. I’ll wait a couple of hours at a minimum.
