What Is The Proper Way Of Measuring Specific Gravity When Home Brewing?
Introduction:
A lot of people consume beer domestically. The local brewing was done hundred of years prior to commercial use of the alcohol. People can make composition of their favourite beer according to their consumption at home. They need to be familiar with contents they will be using in their drink and how much of each element they must use. It is very important to add in the right amount of ingredients in the brewing process otherwise the end result will not come out as expected. Using the right amount of ingredients will help you brew great beer. This will not only help in improving the taste of the peer but also improve in improve the whole beer drinking experience. A good beer is more than just a mixture of good and high quality ingredients. It offers more than tool ways of brewing the beer. To know this let’s start off with what does the gravity of the beer mean.
Beer Gravity:
The gravity refers to the beer’s gravity, the original gravity and the final recipe. The main purpose for measuring this is to understand that how much sugar that was originally present has been converted into alcohol. This gives a clear picture to the user that how much alcohol composition is present in his drink with respect to the volume. The original gravity is the most important. It separates the fermented and the unfermented sugar. As alcohol is obtained through fermentation of the sugar, the concentration can be estimated when these two are measured separately. You need to have the specific gravity first. This can be measured by the following tools and methods.
- Hydrometer:
The tool uses the concept of relative density. The glass rod that forms the main element of the tool floats at a specific height in the water (at room temperature and pressure). The same glass rod is placed in the liquid that the brewer is using. If the liquid is denser than the water the glass rod would sink in that liquid. By measuring the difference between the levels of the glass rod in both the liquids, a specific height is obtained. This height is then used to find the specific gravity. The precision might be difficult in use of the hydrometer. The reading of the height through a meniscus is difficult. You need to reduce the parallax error while doing so.
- Refractometer:
The refractometer uses the property of light to measure the density. However, it doesn’t directly measure the density of the liquid. When light shines on the liquid it starts to refract (bending of light). The more the sugar molecules the larger the refraction is. A horizontal line appears on the screen. The horizontal line depends upon the number of sugar molecules present in the drink. The line appearing on the screen might be blurry sometimes and doesn’t seem to be accurate. You must be guessing the line most of the time.
- Online Calculation:
Since the calculation of these compositions are complex, you don’t even need to do this on your own. A lot of websites can manage this when you put up the composition in that site and give you the density of your drink. These website offer authentic and true information based on the data you provide in the system.
Conclusion:
The calculation of the specific gravity is significant to the brewers. They spend a lot of time in measuring and using the perfect balance of sugar in their drink. The above techniques give them a better understanding and the composition of their drink. The ingredients of the beer are important however they are not the only thing that determines the taste and quality of the beer. It is very important to measure the specific gravity of your beer. Having the right specific gravity will help in letting you enjoy an optimum beer drinking experience? If you are someone who brews beer at home then you should definitely get specific gravity measuring tools so that the brewing process goes according to your needs and preferences.
