BeerBorg

I In kegged my Ralphs International IPA today. My test tube takes 6 oz to float the hydrometer. I usually take a taste from it and throw the rest out. But this was so freaking good I finished it off as I worked even though it was 10:30 in the morning. Lots of hop flavor while bitterness was barely detectable. Good aroma. I cant wait to tap into this.

I don't know how many ounces my tube takes for a gravity sample, but I always drink the whole thing, regardless of the hour. It always gives me a sense of how the finished product is going to be. I tested the Lime Cerveza this morning, and I'm looking forward to drinking it this summer!

This was a tube I bought seperately. And it is bigger than I care for as it takes half a bottle of beer to fill it. My old one only took 2 or 3 ounces. Typically I am not real fond of the hydrometer sample. It usually is more bitter than I care for, or it tastes like the flavors haven't melded or something. Now I am kinda wanting to hurry up and run out of my Red Ale so I can get this beer tapped

I stopped tasting because I never found the end product to really taste the same, but I did taste my lemon lime hef the other day and it was good so I hope it DOESN'T change!

The other thing that happens without the taste is that I find I have more patience, even though it's a mystery.

Glad it tastes great Roger!

I have to agree with Dave, I drink the whole sample... For Science!

Sometimes, when the beer is really good, I forget what the reading was...

Then I have to take yet another sample... For Science!

Most of this winter the beers I've made I've really liked my hydrometer samples at bottling time. A bunch of them I could have just consumed a whole glass if it right then. I agree with the "for science" argument, I always drink that sample. But I've been actually enjoying drinking them.

I don't know what if anything I'm doing different that's caused this. Might just be that most of them were made with Nottingham < 60. Might be the conical. Might be that they were in general 1.05ish beers, so were done in 4-7 days and spent a week cleaning up in the keg. Might be better process. Might be a mixture of all those things. I dunno.

The sample doesn't taste the same as the finished product, by any means. But it does let me know if it's going to be good when it's ready to be consumed.

And besides ... For Science!

I always drink the sample, gives me a decent idea if I'm going to like the beer or not. I also try to remember to nibble on the grains. The most fun part of tasting recently has been tasting the wort as it sours under a heat lamp, just pure lacto culture, not even boiled yet, just makes me feel wild for some reason haha. Plus it's awesome to taste how the sourness develops.

If my sample is good, then the final product will be even better. If the sample is bad........well, its too late by then.

I have had a lot of samples that I really didnt care for, but the beer was really good when I tried it a week later.