Gravity Reading after Secondary Fermentation

[chrisb8]

Hi all, I recently made a porter which finished at 1.022, a bit higher than expected but I did mash at quite a high temperature and the reading was steady for a week so I bottled it. My question is whether I can take a gravity reading from a bottle when I open it now a few weeks later because I am intrigued as to whether it has fermented any further in the bottle, after agitation from bottling perhaps? Would this give a meaningful reading or will the secondary fermentation of the priming sugar have made it inaccurate or pointless?

 

[Hoppyland]

Fairly pointless in my opinion. Assuming you could even do it - have a crack at taking a hydrometer reading from a bottle of fizzy beer, it's not going to be easy, unless you leave the beer to go completely flat, so effectively waste it. Anyway, if you open the bottles over, say, a period of a few weeks then you'll definitely find out if fermentation is ongoing - it will get progressively fizzier until it just gushes out of the bottle, more froth than beer.

 

[DavidDetroit]

You're talking about rousing the yeast? A few points isn't a stuck fermentation so shaking would do little to nothing. I think you have your answer in the high mash temperature.
Note: It is a secondary fermentation but it's called "bottle conditioning" when it's done the way you described. In the US, "secondary fermentation" refers to transferring to another vessel for a period of time before bottling.

 

[chrisb8]

It was the fact that the beer would be carbonated that was my concern as to whether taking a hydrometer reading would work at this stage. The first bottle I tried this weekend after 3 weeks in the bottle was about right carbonation wise so I will keep an eye on it...