Obtaining a wert sample from a Brewing Pail
When the time comes, what is the best way to obtain a sample from a brewing pail to do a gravity test?
Do I have to take the lid off the bucket or is there a way to get a sample thru the small hole the air lock goes into.
And while I’m at it. What’s the best way to remove the lid from the bucket. That is always a struggle for me with that kind of bucket.
Thanks,
Lefty
I pop the lid off, grab my sample with a sanitized wine thief, drop in my hydrometer, take my reading, then drain the sample back in. I don’t age any of my beer so when I do this I’m usually getting ready to keg. I also don’t check gravity unless A) I don’t see signs of fermentation or B) it has been 2-3 weeks after pitching yeast and fermentation should be long done.
If you want to spend the coin you can buy a “bucket lid remover” but I usually just pry it off with my fingers. I figure if I’m struggling to get it off then I know I have a good seal and outside contamination should be non-existent.
Yo may be able to find one at the local hardware store. Give it a test drive to see if it works for you.
A wine thief or a new turkey baster.
I would NOT pour the sample back into the fermenter. Why risk contamination for 5oz of beer. Drink it for quality control purposes. 
[quote=“Lytnin”]I pop the lid off, grab my sample with a sanitized wine thief, drop in my hydrometer, take my reading, then drain the sample back in. I don’t age any of my beer so when I do this I’m usually getting ready to keg. I also don’t check gravity unless A) I don’t see signs of fermentation or B) it has been 2-3 weeks after pitching yeast and fermentation should be long done.
If you want to spend the coin you can buy a “bucket lid remover” but I usually just pry it off with my fingers. I figure if I’m struggling to get it off then I know I have a good seal and outside contamination should be non-existent.[/quote]
You can just drink your 4-6oz sample needed for hydro reading and not have to worry about another source of infection.
Currently I only take SG post boil and at bottling, but I used to keep an eye on it with my refractometer. Yes, I know it’s not accurate after fermentation, blah blah blah, but for quick checks during fermentation it was close enough for me with calculated adjustments.
What’s nice about it is that it only requires a drop-sized sample, and I would collect that drop by dipping a sanitized chop-stick into the airlock hole. Quick and easy.
[quote=“breslinp”]
You can just drink your 4-6oz sample needed for hydro reading and not have to worry about another source of infection.[/quote]
For all my gravity readings I take my wine thief and hydrometer directly from the sanitizer so I don’t worry about infection at all. Never had a problem. I don’t drink my samples because I’ve found my samples taste almost nothing like the finished product for some reason.
I use a good quality turkey baster. I never put the sample back in, instead I like to taste the sample just to see where the beer is at.
I just put my hydrometer right in the bucket, I usually pull some out with a sanitized cup for a sample.
I use a 35cc syringe with tubing attached to draw out of the airlock hole. Tubing is sanitized with starsan. I figure this way is as close to zero possibility of contamination as I can get. And I drink the sample to taste test.
I don’t have a special tool for removing the lid- just slowly and carefully.
Thanks for all the responses. Really gives a new guy some great suggestions.
Lefty
