taking sample from f/v

[smuggles]

No Taps are the single biggest cause of infection so in my opinion don't have a place in a home brewery.

They're not a problem if you clean and sanitise them properly.

[orlando]

I use a glass wine thief. It's a tube of glass with a small hole at the bottom and all you do is insert into the beer allow the tube to fill, place your thumb on the end and take it out. I then just remove my thumb and it goes straight into my sample tube for a hydrometer reading. I then pour this into a glass to taste how the beer is progressing. There are plastic versions but I think glass is easier to sanitise. I store it in starsan between uses.

[TheSheeprug]

No Taps are the single biggest cause of infection so in my opinion don't have a place in a home brewery.

They're not a problem if you clean and sanitise them properly.

I suspect its very dependent on the tap design - what internal space is there for infection to grow/hide. I always dismantle and clean the plastic tap on my King Keg very thoroughly for this reason. on the other hand the level ball valves I've installed in FVs & boiler have not given a problem yet, and all I do is make sure they're well flushed through with VWP. That said, it might be educational to dismantle one just to see....

SR

[greenxpaddy]

I use a plastic syringe with a 6 or 8" length of stiff tube connected to the nozzle. I remove the air lock and dip the tube in to draw off the sample, and it's easy to sanitise.

That's my method too

[gregorach]

I so don't trust taps in FVs... Personally, I pull samples using single-use sterile pipettes.

[greenxpaddy]

What size Dunc

[gregorach]

25ml.

[mark4newman]

Hi

I trust the taps, in a FV.

I spray them with Starsan, which seems to work fine.

[greenxpaddy]

25ml.

Not much of a swig mate

[gregorach]

Why waste more?

[Wolfy]

I use 5ml pipettes ... but re-use them by give them a bath in boiling water before use.

[greenxpaddy]

I like to take a good glug to swill it round my mouth

[jaroporter]

Dunc, Wolfy, and any others who take similarly small samples..

is that just a tasting sample or can you work out gravity from a sample that small? my low-tech hydrometer approach generally requires a good 100ml to give me a reading, which seems a bit much to lose each time when keeping a close eye on a slow or stuck fermentation. i've never used a refractometer so i don't know what size sample they require..

[gregorach]

I use a refractometer - they only need a drop, but you do need a formula to compensate for the presence of alcohol once fermentation has started. There is some debate around the accuracy of such correction, but I find it's good enough. I could take smaller samples, but I also like to take a pH reading and my pH meter needs around 20ml.

[dedken]

Turkey baster (cost £1) either immersed in starsan or rested in boiled water. I rinse out well in between uses and store with my other brewing stuff (and not use it for basting turkeys!)

I did think about fitting taps once, but realise it's just an extra thing that can go wrong if you don't take special care. If you don't take apart and thoroughly clean and sanitise all the bits, then you're asking for trouble. I have a friend who got an infection in the stainless tap of his conical and couldn't get rid of it.

I'm fairly relaxed about sticking in my turkey baster in mid-ferment as long as it is clean and relatively sanitised - the CO2 and yeast already in there will overpower almost any microbe you try to introduce. I mean you'd really have to try to get an infection in your beer this way. I have in the past used it without sanitation. However I'm more more wary of putting anything in or even opening the lid once fermentation has started to drop off.

Eventually I'll get a refractometer but I do like to have a little taster.