Home Brewing Beer and the Important Use of a Hydrometer
If you are thinking about starting to learn how to home brew your own beer, there is an important tool your are going to need. This tool is an instrument called a hydrometer. This tool is going to let you know when your beer is done and ready to be bottled.
The basic hydrometer measures the specific gravity of a liquid. It is something that looks like a graduated tube that is made to float up right in the liquid. It is really a must have tool in the world of home brewing.
The specific gravity of plain water is 1.000, which what you start with. Now, after you have brewed your beer or sometimes called wort and have the fermentation process started. This will change the specific gravity of the liquid also called how heavy it is. This heaviness of the soon to be beer is caused by how much sugar you have used by the yeast.
You will see how handy this device is going to be in your beer making process. The beer will not be ready for bottling until the fermentation is finished. Place the meter into the brew and let the meter stop bobbing. If the reading is between 1.010 and 1.008 at 60 degrees Fahrenheit, it is ready to be bottled. Now if the reading is more than 1.015 the fermentation (making alcohol) is still occurring.
Before measuring always make sure the meter is clean and dry. If it is calibrated correctly the gravity should be 1.000 at 60 degree water. There is nothing wrong with doing the measurement twice either.
Author: James John
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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