Today’s hydrometer reading was 1.014 at 19ºC. It is meant to get down to 1.005 or below so it still has a certain way to go but the nature of the liquid is definitely changing. At the first two intermediate samplings, the sweetness was overpowering. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant but it clearly wasn’t beer. This morning the balance had shifted from sweet to bitter. The chemistry (or biology, given that yeast is a living organism) is transforming and we are entering the stage where most of the work of transforming sugar to alcohol has been done and mopping up of the remaining sugar is taking place.