broke hydrometer in beer.. :(

hey guys I really need advice. I was taking a hydrometer reading of our "999" beer in the primary and when I went to remove the hydrometer the ****ing thing shattered in my fingers. lots of glass got into the beer but the lead balls and stopper were intact and didn't get wet.. is the inside of a hydrometer sanitary? will all the glass fall to the bottom and get stuck in the yeast? did I really ruin this beer..? two friends and I brewed it on 9-9-09 planning on drinking it about a year from now and I'd feel really bad if I'd ruined it already.

if you only got glass in there then it should be okay if you are sure that no lead got into the brew.

**** it. Be extra careful while siphoning the next time you rack it, and for added security, use a sanitized screen to ensure no glass is making it through.

And take a sample next time...it'll help you keep track of the beer since you can taste it after getting your gravity reading outside of the fermenter.

Me no likes shards of glass in me tummy...


Uh, first, go get a wine thief. That will let you take a sample out and put it in your hydrometer test jar. Second, dump that batch. Is ~$30 worth worrying about you (or your friends and family) drinking shards of glass? C'mon...

Glass will settle out faster than yeast. I'd just leave a little extra on the bottom if it really worries you.

The super paranoid could sanitize a bit of nylon hose and cover the end of the racking cane and siphon it out.

amercuric said:

if you only got glass in there then it should be okay if you are sure that no lead got into the brew.

Click to expand...

There hasn't been lead in hydrometers or (food) thermometers for years. Don't worry about it, just leave about an inch of beer at the bottom when you rack next. Everything should settle out.

thanks guys. everything got pretty stirred up last night while I was trying to remove the larger pieces of glass from the beer so I'm hoping the yeast cake will reform on top of the glass and help hold it behind. I'm thinking that I'll rack this to carboy in a couple weeks with some nylon hose on the input side then rack to a tertiary maybe a week later where I will dry hop and assume all the glass has been removed. sound reasonable?

this happened to me I transfered 3 times and lost maybe 1/2 gallon of beer but it did leave all the stupid glass behind.

I did this once and put a nylon hop bag around the bottom of my racking cane a few times over to act as a filter just in case. That beer is almost gone and no glass shards have been felt in my gut yet

+1
get a theif and test jar. There's no reason to put a hydrometer in the fermentor. But it should settle out.

I'll add my +1 to the wine thief and test jar suggestion... the best part of this is that a sample can be tasted along the way.

I'll also +1 the "dump the batch" advice. Not worth the risk, IMO.