Let's Brew Beer: Part 2

 Go back to Part 1

It's been two weeks a while since we boiled the wort and set it to ferment, so now we'll take hydrometer readings to see if the initial fermentation process has ended. We have here our testing column with hydrometer, and of course, our fermenting beer.

It's a simple process. Fill the column and see how high the hydrometer floats. There's no danger of contaminating the beer since we won't be returning this sample to the bucket.

And here's the result: a specific gravity 1.020, which translates to 2.6% alcohol by volume. Tomorrow we'll take another sample for trend analysis. If it's the same three days in a row (and I manage to scrounge up enough bottles) then we'll be ready for Bottling Day.

Move on to Part 3