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