taking sample from f/v

[gregorach]

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.

There's a whole bunch of anaerobic lactobacilli which regard those conditions as perfect, and whose spores are everywhere. They're generally slow-growing though, so you might not notice unless you store the finished beer for several months. However, if a population gets itself established in your brewery, they can be very difficult to get rid of.

[Lime Corridor]

I am also a baster man, sanitise it, dunk it in, measure with a hydrometer and and then drink the contents to see how the flavour is coming along. I do understand that there is the potential for contamination and potential infection here, but sometimes it just calls to me "go on LC, have a little taste"...must be strong...got 22 and a bit litres of 6% (ish) winter(ish) ale staring at me now.

I have 30 odd AG beers under my belt using this technique and have never experienced a problem...I hope I haven't just jinxed it.

LC

[greenxpaddy]

Apologies, I thought we were talking tasting sample.

As far as gravity checking goes I sanitise my hydro and just stick it in