" Hydrometer test jar"

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mtrogers14

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Any ideas on something to use as a hydrometer test vessel until I can get one. My LHBS is out and I don't want to wait and pay to have one shipped. There has got to be an everyday home item that I can get at a retail store to hold me over......right ??
 
I think the op is trying to say that he doesn't have that anymore and is looking for a non brewing equipment idea. You can always use some spare PVC or clear larger diameter tubing. My friend encountered this problem when he brewed a smaller test batch where the fermentation vessel was too shallow for the hydrometer, and he didn't have the hydrometer tube.

Good luck!
 
You could probably use one of those super tall novelty shop glasses that hold like 4 or 6 shots. Not sure where to find them though.
 
For the record, not all hydrometer packing tubes will work as test tubes. I bought 2 and both came in the same square tube, too short, too narrow and too tight.

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mtrogers14 said:
Any ideas on something to use as a hydrometer test vessel until I can get one. My LHBS is out and I don't want to wait and pay to have one shipped. There has got to be an everyday home item that I can get at a retail store to hold me over......right ??

Like others have said, any vessel that appears to be like the original. But if you don't have one and did an extract brew and feel like you did a good job, your OG from the recipe will probably be pretty close. If you were asking right before pitching, I have at times, just put it in the bucket. If you are already in fermentation wait a couple of weeks and check a few days apart to see if your brew stops fermenting. Nothing really to worry about, you'll remember next time now for sure. Good luck.
 
Well,he would have to be carefull with it. I use aquarium lift tube brushes to clean such things,so that's cool.
 
Do you need to use a test tube, or could you just drop it in to the fermenting beverage? I'm brewing in a one gallon carboy, so getting a sample would be a bit of a pain.
 
Go to any hobby shop that has science stuff, and you should be able to get a graduated cylinder - that's the official name of what you're looking for. They come in all kinds of materials, plastic is usually the cheapest.
 
Do you need to use a test tube, or could you just drop it in to the fermenting beverage? I'm brewing in a one gallon carboy, so getting a sample would be a bit of a pain.

Just make sure it's sterilized before you put it in there. Also, if you drop it in there and hits bottom it will break, leaving you with a bit of an issue.
 
Now I am cheap, take a sheet of paper, take a sheet of plastic cling film, food wrap, halve and join edges of cling film, roll the paper with the cling film, and you have produced your own temporary test tube. It only has to hold for 5mins, easy, cost virtually zero, effectiveness 100%.
 
Now I am cheap, take a sheet of paper, take a sheet of plastic cling film, food wrap, halve and join edges of cling film, roll the paper with the cling film, and you have produced your own temporary test tube. It only has to hold for 5mins, easy, cost virtually zero, effectiveness 100%.

That sounds like a lot of work (and waste) for each measurement when you could spend a couple bucks one time for a cheap tube to do the same thing.

Oh, and how do you see through the paper to read the hydrometer? :drunk:
 
turkey baster works if you dont have anything else. pull the rubber bulb off put your finger over the small end and use it that way. just looked at the date on op guess im a little late to the party just seen the post as it was revived
 
Yesterday, when I was brewing mead (OT I know), the fluid levels were too low to take a hydrometer reading so I resorted to pouring the must into one of the two litre water bottles I'd used to make the honey solution.

It worked, just, but I felt bad about it and must have lost something along the way which, considering it is intended for a one gallon demijohn after it's finished in primary, is not such a good thing.

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Resuscitating a dormant thread.... use a 4' T8 florescent bulb tube" and just trim it to size... here in nor-cal, lowes has em for 3bucks all day long..
 
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