I know this is a little off topic, but it does relate to the above post. When beer is fermenting or almost finished, is there any stratification to the gravity throughout the fermenting vessel? In other words, should a thief sampling from half way down the vessel get the same result or close to that of a corrected refractometer reading taken from the very top of fermenter? Really a noob question I wish I had asked a year ago, but this thread made me think of it again. I have grown tired of “stealing a bunch of my beer to get readings” I know those samples also give me tasting notes as the brew progresses, just a questionoverall really on the stratification. I know mash and sparge stratify, water in your hot water tank stratifies, just wondering about fermenting wort. Sorry to high jack
I suppose it might but if there is any activity in the beer it’s going to create convection currents that will keep things mixed.
Thanks Jonathan, I knew I was missing something, and that was it. Presents a change for me to think about
I use this one http://www.amazon.com/Glass-Wine-Thief-12-diameter/dp/B0064O9BYW and I like it. It’s also nice because I can place it in my hydrometer jar with boiling water and can use it with both clean and bug beers. Pros are that it’s good for both beers and has a nice little finger grip; cons are that I’ve stepped on and shattered one & the pulls are smaller, so you have to draw twice for a good taste
I have the leaky plastic one too. Pro is that you get more of a sample, con is that it’s only useful for my clean beers.
I need to step up my game I guess. Still using a turkey baster.
My best glass wine thief for the past 5+ years just rolled off my desktop and fell to the floor breaking into a million pieces. So I replaced it with the above glass wine thief, and don’t like it at all. Major issue is it’s too short to use, only 12 inches long and is not long enough to easily fit down into the beer in a 6.5 gallon glass carboy. My old one must of been 18-20 inches long as it worked perfectly for this. Can’t seem to find one this same length anywhere!
Me too, love it
I think I’m going to give a glass one a try. I’ll look for one of the longer ones. Thanks for all of the input!