Broke Hydrometer

So as I was taking an OG reading after making a Dunkel, my hydrometer busted off to into the bucket. Is the batch screwed now?

There may be small shards of glass in your wort . I don't think I would take the chance. I would be thinking about it all the time when it came to drinking the beer.

Glass has a minimum SG of 2.4 . When you rack your beer later, leave the bottom inch. All the glass should stay in the trub.

Good point. Thanks for the info.

What's SG?

Specific gravity.

busta98 said:

So as I was taking an OG reading after making a Dunkel, my hydrometer busted off to into the bucket. Is the batch screwed now?

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Stickshaker said:

Glass has a minimum SG of 2.4 . When you rack your beer later, leave the bottom inch. All the glass should stay in the trub.

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What about the metal that is in the hydrometer? From what I've read, its either lead or mercury (when I busted mine, it looked like lead). If there's any chance those little balls got into your wort, I'd suggest looking into exactly what your hydrometer is made of.

• https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/broken-hydrometer-blues-66368/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrometer

Lead is 11.34 . Mercury is 13.56 . Your beer will be in the low 1's. I'm sticking to the fact that it would all be stuck in the trub.

Stickshaker said:

Lead is 11.34 . Mercury is 13.56 . Your beer will be in the low 1's. I'm sticking to the fact that it would all be stuck in the trub.

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Both are also poisonious... however, I doubt the hydrometer is made from either material. My bet is that it is steal shot.

Nothing leaked out of it.

busta98 said:

Nothing leaked out of it.

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your fine there is no lead and there would never be mercury in a hydrometer.Any equipment that is intended for use around food has to be non toxic. The little balls are steal shot and in a food safe thermometer the fluid is alcohol.And as to any glass it will settle out and be in the trub . You can filter the beer but if all the trub falls out which is much lighter the glass will also.