A novel fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based chemical sensor using hydrogel, a swellable polymer, as sensitive element is demonstrated. The sensing mechanism relies on the shift of Bragg wavelength due to the stress resulted from volume change of sensitive swellable hydrogel responding to the change of external environment. A polyacrylamide hydrogel fiber grating chemical sensor is made, and the experiments on its sensitivity to the salinity are performed. The sensitivity is low due to the less stress from the shrinking or swelling of hydrogels. Reducing the cross diameter of the grating through etching with hydrofluoric acid can greatly improve the sensitivity of the sensor.