Hydrometer not dropping

keelo44

Hi, 

     I have had old Conkerwood fermenting for a week now, at first i had a very good head, now when i put the hydrometer in, it is not dropping into the yellow part, my temp did rise to 26 deg, has this killed the yeast, and can i do anything about it?

                                                                                                                Thanks

                                                                                                               Steve

HBO_Staff

Various hydrometers have different colours on them and can confuse things, the manufacturers recommend that you have a constant reading below 1014. If you have the hydrometer we think, then the yellow marking is around 1008, so you have a nice and low reading, it is the numbers that are more important than the coloured bands. The temperature reaching 26 degrees, whilst this is quite high it would not usually kill the yeast, higher temperatures can mean faster fermentation times. If the reading is as we suspect around 1008 then you can go ahead and bottle or keg it in the usual way