Hydrometer

[gibbiem]

Just realised that my hydrometer only has 5 points between 1.000 and 1.010? Is this normal? Just measured my brew at 1.004 but now I'm thinking it's higher than that?

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Yes that's fairly normal. You can get finer grade ones but they are more expensive and very fragile. Well mine was.

To be honest do you need to know exactly what it is. Will it make any difference when you are drinking it.

[gibbiem]

Yes that's fairly normal. You can get finer grade ones but they are more expensive and very fragile. Well mine was.

To be honest do you need to know exactly what it is. Will it make any difference when you are drinking it.

My beers keep ending up a bit thin and I think it's to do with fermentation temp not being controlled so I've been trying to get readings to see how low it's going. Need a brew fridge asap man. Can't even crash cool outside in this weather to stop it fermenting so I can bottle earlier!

[killer]

Did you check the calibration of the hydrometer in water ? some of them can be a bit crappy.

My hydrometer also reads in units of .002 - it's not really a problem.

The fermentation temp shouldn't significantly affect the FG of your beers (unless you go so low that the yeast stops fermenting - but that will give you a high FG). Mash temperature is more important (assuming you are doing All Grain ?)
Also the choice of grains.

[gibbiem]

Mash temp was 65 but went up to 67 then back to 65 over the hour

[killer]

It shouldn't go up in temp - that's most likely from an uneven mash with "hot pockets" because it hasn't been stirred enough to even out the temperature.

I'd suggest a couple of equipment checks - is your hydrometer ok (as above check with tapwater)
Assuming it is, check that your thermometer is ok and that you aren't accidentally mashing too low. I have 2 thermometers (cause the very first one I had was shit and didn't read correctly)

1004 is very low unless the OG was like 1030.

How does it taste - apart from being thin ?

[gibbiem]

I thought I stirred mash for ages. Yeah checked hydrometer in water and seems ok. Will test thermometer though. Also going to re calibrate the sight glass on my hlt in case I'm using too much water!! Now I've noticed the hydrometer points go in twos it would actually be 1.008 which is the target fg. The og would have been 1.050.

Other than thin it tastes ok. All my beers seem to have the same kind of taste though even though they use different hops and grain. Put the dry hop in last night so will see how it tastes in a couple of days. Brewing again this weekend so will take note of everything. Cheers

[MTW]

Yes that's fairly normal. You can get finer grade ones but they are more expensive and very fragile. Well mine was.

To be honest do you need to know exactly what it is. Will it make any difference when you are drinking it.

My beers keep ending up a bit thin and I think it's to do with fermentation temp not being controlled so I've been trying to get readings to see how low it's going. Need a brew fridge asap man. Can't even crash cool outside in this weather to stop it fermenting so I can bottle earlier!

Are you trying to save the last couple of gravity points for bottle conditioning, rather than priming? I think that is more common when kegging, rather than bottling. At best you get slightly unpredictable carbonation, at worst...(bottle bombs).

I'm very happy with my 1-point finishing hydrometer and would recommend getting one for about a tenner. It lets me judge movement over the last few points a bit more accurately and you can read 0.5 points as clearly as you would 1 point on a regular homebrew hydrometer, FWIW.

[gibbiem]

Just trying to work out why my beer is thin. Was reading last night that you shouldnt try and gauge mouthfeel until its carbed anyway so think I'm just getting a bit ahead of myself

[killer]

Just trying to work out why my beer is thin. Was reading last night that you shouldnt try and gauge mouthfeel until its carbed anyway so think I'm just getting a bit ahead of myself

Ahhh.... I see. The gas certainly adds mouthfeel and body - and 1008 is perfectly respectable as an FG.
Don't get too carried away in judging your beer before it's finished... Patience is really needed. The fear of something going wrong will make you misjudge the beer - we've all done it at some stage. While it's useful to taste the wort and beer along the way - the beer does evolve significantly after spending time conditioning and gassing up - some more than others - I find an english bitter needs at least a month in the bottle and benefits from being put in a secondary barrel for a few weeks before bottling, while a heavily hopped pale american ale can be drinkable after 10 days in primary and 2 weeks in a bottle.

[gibbiem]

Yeah thinking I'm flapping to early! Hopefully it won't drop much more then, just gonna dry hop 3 days and keep an eye on it. On the plus, got a brew fridge today! Whoop whoop! Just need to convince SWMBO that it looks fine in the kitchen next to the normal fridge ha ha