Hydrometer is slowly rising taking gravity

[Byron]

Had a pale ale on FV for 10 days. Bubbles have slowed right down to almost nothing.

Took a read 2 days ago and was about 1.014 read today and is 1.012. Now I've left the hydrometer in for about 5mins on the side and looked again and it's now reading 1.016!! If I push it down and let it bob about a bit it settles initially at 1.012 again but slowly creeps up. It's at 1.018 currently.

Should I trust the initial read or the latter one?

Confused 🤷*♀️

 

[Byron]

I've put this in the wrong place and don't know how to delete. Which ironically now puts this reply in the right place

 

[chewie]

It's most likely either escaping Co2 or Yeast flocculation that is effecting it, temperature could also be playing a part if it is varying wildly. Let it go for another 2 days and check it again, if it maintains the same reading 3 days in a row you should be good to move on to bottling.

 

[MyQul]

I've put this in the wrong place and don't know how to delete. Which ironically now puts this reply in the right place

I've moved it to the right forum. If it happens again just PM one of the mod team and we can move the thread for you

 

[Graz]

You need to read it straight after putting it in otherwise small bubbles of CO2 will form on the hydrometer and cause it to rise as you've seen.

Good technique is to give it a gentle spin as you put it in as this stops the bubbles from forming too quickly, read as soon as it slows down enough to see.