How could I pull out a little from my carboy to take gravity readings during fermentation?
I tried to use a auto-siphon but it was a mess.
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3 Answers
You can use a wine or beer thief and a test jar to grab a sample from your carboy.
I use the following one and it works great: http://www.amazon.com/Fermtech-Wine-Beer-Thief/dp/B00186ADYS This one is nice because the hydrometer fits right inside it so you don't need a test jar.
I never put the sample back in, just scared of contamination. Does anybody put it back in or just drink or dump it? Usually its a good time for me to take a taste.
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3I drink it too. Good to know how your beer's doing. I made a video of my process: youtube.com/watch?v=5DlQgomUc54– JoeFishNov 27, 2011 at 20:25
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I drink it too! I have only seen the glass wine thief, that is a great idea. after watching the video I tried to use the old bottling wand with the one-way at the bottom, it took way to many times to fill the tube, so I ordered one thanks for the link! Nov 27, 2011 at 22:03
I use a sanitized turkey baster dedicated to beer samples. Easy and cheap.
answered Nov 27, 2011 at 21:09
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the neck of one of my carboys is narrower then the rest and can't get a turkey baster in there Nov 27, 2011 at 22:06
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Wow, that's really narrow! My baster is maybe an inch in diameter. It's hard to imagine a carboy opening smaller than that. A thief is larger than my baster, so you may have problems with it. Nov 27, 2011 at 22:09
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I think it's the turkey baster thats weird but i do have a carboy with a slightly smaller opening Nov 28, 2011 at 2:31
Another option is to one end of a sanitized food-grade plastic tube into your carboy and siphon out a bit into your testing tube for the hydrometer. This will work for the narrowest of carboy necks. However, there is some risk of contamination (especially if you suck the end of the tube and that then falls back into the carboy) . A wine-thief or turkey baster are probably safer bets if you can use them.
Another idea: if your wort is deep enough, your carboy has enough head space and you have big, readable letters on your hydrometer, why not just drop the (sanitized) hydrometer into the carboy and leave it there!
