Lesson Learned

So....like a lot of us I have 2 hydrometers incase one breaks...which well has happened a time or two.

Now comes my lesson, use the same hydrometer for all your readings though out the fermentation. Using the same sample the difference between the two hydrometers is .015 (give or take a little).

It only took me 2 months to figure out why my efficiency has been all over the place using the same equipment and same process. Not to mention when you are trying to get a final gravity reading.

I have marked one now to tell the difference, but one of these days I really should switch to a refractometer.

The_Mad_Scientist said:

Using the same sample the difference between the two hydrometers is .015 (give or take a little).

Click to expand...

Wow, never seen one off so badly. So one will read 1.050, and the other 1.065?? Is this temp corrected?

What do they read in distilled water?

GotPushrods said:

Wow, never seen one off so badly. So one will read 1.050, and the other 1.065?? Is this temp corrected?

What do they read in distilled water?

Click to expand...

Yep...if one will read 1.050 the other will be in the 1.064-1.066. in distilled water.. one reads .095 and the other 1.007-1.010 I have noticed that one tends to very in its readings...where the other pretty much is rock solid...a little off but solid.

If they are different by .015 I would try to find out if one is accurate and intentionally break the bad one. That is too big an error for me.

I've seen the paper inside slip down , that was just wonderful trying to
figure out why everything was off...

I am guessing there must be some form of manufacturing error....they are relatively cheap equipment... So my bet is quality control is not as tight as commercial lab equipment.

I will end up only using the one that keeps a consistent reading and manually correct


anyone want a slightly used refractometer cheap