Gravity reading on 1 gallon batches

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing
1

I just recently purchased a couple of 1 gallon kits from NB; Dead Ringer and WC Red. Can anyone recommend a way to take an original gravity reading on just 1 gallon of wort?
From what I’ve read, you only get about 7-9 bottles out of the 1 gallon kit so I don’t want to waste any wort for measuring purposes.

Thanks!

2

[quote=“Sordfish”]I just recently purchased a couple of 1 gallon kits from NB; Dead Ringer and WC Red. Can anyone recommend a way to take an original gravity reading on just 1 gallon of wort?
From what I’ve read, you only get about 7-9 bottles out of the 1 gallon kit so I don’t want to waste any wort for measuring purposes.

Thanks![/quote]

I wouldn’t worry about OG… if you use all the extract and hit your volume, your OG is going to be right on. You’ll still want to check FG, though. Is a refractometer an option? Uses far less to get a reading…

3

I thought about the refractometer…but it’s a little pricey.

4

Still a little pricy, Ebay has some for much less the the retail stores.

5

Refractometer is an option but you will have to calibrate it for FG with all the fermentation going on.
I used a turkey baster to pull samples into the test tube then returned it. Now I use a thief and a slimmer test tube so it takes even less to get a gravity reading.