Quality hydrometer

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Other than going with a refactometer....are there any other kind than the skinny glass hydormeter? Other than scale, all the ones I've bought are basically the same.
 
Garbage how?

If it's not completely accurate you can measure it and then figure out how much it is off.

http://***********/stories/projects...rate-your-hydrometer-and-fermenter-techniques
 
55 bucks for a hydrometer?....Holy Bat Crap Batman!..... How exact do you need the thing to be? Your making beer not atom bombs!!!
 
They cost 25 if you have an account. So 10 bucks more than the LBHS POS ones. Well worth it for something you can trust. And besides, I'm a chemical engineer by trade so I can't justify saving 10 bucks for a hydrometer you have to check the value against a correction table to get the correct value every time.
 
i have a few complaints about this one:

1st, and this might be my ignorance, it says on the piece of paper it's calibrated at 68F. But on the actual hydrometer it reads "Sp.Gr. 60F / 60F". Doesn't that mean it's calibrated at 60F?

Also, do i read the upper meniscus? In distilled water especially, the different between the lower meniscus and upper is about 5 points. Also, the "climb" of the upper meniscus accounts for about 2 points. So i'm not sure if i'm supposed to read the top of the meniscus or the top of the climb.
 
i have a few complaints about this one:

1st, and this might be my ignorance, it says on the piece of paper it's calibrated at 68F. But on the actual hydrometer it reads "Sp.Gr. 60F / 60F". Doesn't that mean it's calibrated at 60F?

Also, do i read the upper meniscus? In distilled water especially, the different between the lower meniscus and upper is about 5 points. Also, the "climb" of the upper meniscus accounts for about 2 points. So i'm not sure if i'm supposed to read the top of the meniscus or the top of the climb.

Bottom of the climb and it's usually calibrated at 60F.
 
They cost 25 if you have an account. So 10 bucks more than the LBHS POS ones. Well worth it for something you can trust. And besides, I'm a chemical engineer by trade so I can't justify saving 10 bucks for a hydrometer you have to check the value against a correction table to get the correct value every time.

They're under 7 bucks at my LHBS. Too much for my blood, but since your a chemical engineer you have a right to be anal about stuff like that. :mug:
 
i have a few complaints about this one:

1st, and this might be my ignorance, it says on the piece of paper it's calibrated at 68F. But on the actual hydrometer it reads "Sp.Gr. 60F / 60F". Doesn't that mean it's calibrated at 60F?

Also, do i read the upper meniscus? In distilled water especially, the different between the lower meniscus and upper is about 5 points. Also, the "climb" of the upper meniscus accounts for about 2 points. So i'm not sure if i'm supposed to read the top of the meniscus or the top of the climb.

I have one in my hand and it does not say 68 anywhere on it. Must be an error on behalf of fisher posting the wrong photograph. 60 is the correct value to read at.

As for the reading, they are supposed to be read at the bottom of the climb, not the meniscus (as a previous poster mentioned). People may not think spending 25 bucks is worth it and that's fine. I have done all the work to check these against 5 sucrose solutions of known concentration and temperatures and they are accurate. All I want is a precise hydrometer that reads accurate every time. I don't have time to waste when I'm reading my OG's as that's usually right when I'm about to pitch.
 
mine isn't a fisher.

mine, in distilled water at 68F (the temp the sheet says it's calibrated at), reads just under 1.000 from the bottom of the meniscus. reads about 0.998 from the bottom of the climb, and 0.996 from the top of the climb.

mine also tells me to read from the top of the climb. and that bottling anything above 1.006 is dangerous. i should seriously scan the sheet it came with and post it...
 
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