Hydrometer reading

[kevin]

Last night I racked a pale ale to my secondary. Usually I take a reading using the thief, but for some reason I forgot and racked the brew to my secondary. By time it was all racked I decided to take a wort sample that was left on the trub and get a reading. My sg was 1.046 and this reading was 1.020. I used a WLP005 British Ale Yeast and I expected it to be closer to 1.012. Did taking a reading from the wort sitting right on the trub cause this high reading?

[chris1kanobi]

My best guess would be yes. A hydrometer is measuring the weight of the liquid compared to water. The more "stuff" that is in the water, the higher the gravity. Hop chunks and yeast globs along with cold break material will be much heavier than the pure liquid gold at the surface. Take another sample using your theif, and see the diference. Also, many of the "homebrew" grade hydrometers are not very accurate. Some measure better high and some low. Try this calibration method and see where yours lines up: http://www.knology.net/~sprevost/beerwine/cal.htm

[brewmonkey]

They will not affect your reading as they are heavier then the surrounding liquid and would drop out of solution. They would notaffect the reading if they are not in solution. Even if they are floating in the beer they will not affect the gravity as they are displacing their weight and would only affect the measure of the liquid.

Alot of variables go into reading/mis reading a hydrometer. The homebrew versions (as is pointed out) are nortorius for being unreliable. Could be anything from not calibrated to the user reads incorrectly.

Was this an all grain batch or was this extract, as that can also have an effect on your readings.

[kevin]

this was an extract and I would have used my backup hydro however I dropped it a couple weeks earlier.
when I measure I usually leave the hydro in the solution just in case of bubbles or clinging to the side of the tester.
I got good fermentation and the temp "outside" the primary were withing the fermentation temp range.
As a matter of fact on the second day the bubbling slowed way down and I gently tipped/swirled the bucket and more fermenting happen.
The only thing I did different was to add whiskey to the airlock.

[brewmonkey]

Whiskey in the airlock will not affect the fermentation like this.

While the yeast says it will ferment out to a cretain percentage, if the extract you are using (or made) has more dextrins in it then it will not ferment out no matter what yeast you use.

This may just be one of those cases where there was not enough fermentable to reach the desired terminal gravity.

[kevin]

today I used my thief to get a sample and it was in the .019-.018 range. however there is alot of white clustered bubbles on the top. Another thing is the temp in the room has been around 65F. My thought is I probably racked it too soon, and if I did wouldn't it still be fermenting in the secondary?