Official Broken Hydrometer Count

3

third week of brewing and BOOM...dropped that s.o.b. on brew day

595. Not sure what happened. Came back from vacation, and it's still in it's tube, sitting on the shelf where I left it......broken.

596 I had it in my tube and bent over to pick something up, slid out and smash

Broke one a long time ago. I had just cleaned it and put it in the drying rack, when I moved the faucet to rinse something else: SNAP!

598. Just broke mine by cleaning it. It snapped in two.

600. I have been brewing for about two years without a broken hydrometer. I have now broken one the last two batches I have made.

Not that it matter much, but I know this thread already hit 600. Looks like it got messed a while back. I think it should be 627 now. Fortunately I haven't broken another one yet - though I did slightly melt the tube for one.

Ok. 628. Putting it away and the skinny end simply disintegrated in my fingers. Fortunately no cuts.

629. Hands were slick with Starsan and dropped it on the tile.

630... not enough beer in the glass cylinder dropped in the hydrometer, you know the rest.

631. I now use a Refractometer, cheapy from amazon but it ain'ta gonna breaka. Plus it has a cool case! ...come to think of it, the hydrometer had one two... didn't work out so well for that one. They should use square glass... stupid hydrometers (Smart marketing).

632 yay another one down for me...... I'm telling ya a triangular hydrometer would make millions! or even some sort of composite?

Guitarboarder said:

632 yay another one down for me...... I'm telling ya a triangular hydrometer would make millions! or even some sort of composite?

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633. carrying too much the other day during brew day.

how about hydrometer tubes? I'm on my third plastic tube. And I'm not talking about the skinny one the hydrometer comes in. Mine have a screw-on base and are thick acrylic, but they develop fractures around the bottom without even being dropped.

634 damn! Slipped outta my hand after washing it. But hey, I nailed my pre boil gravity, so not all was lost.

635. My buddy sat on it.

berrywise said:

635. My buddy sat on it.

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Haha what?

berrywise said:

635. My buddy sat on it.

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That's what she said!

636.. Rolled off the table. Totally my fault.

That's what he told the ER doc anyway....

berrywise said:

635. My buddy sat on it.

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Ah, how many times have a I been here.
Wandering around the kitchen, full carboy in hand looking for the hydrometer. I think "I'll just put this down on the work top and look for it".....
*****CRUNCH*****

"$%#%!!!!!!!!"

641 - putting my backlog in.

I started keeping 2 spares around just in case.

642 I just smash it on the floor due to pure and simple rage... I got to go now ...to attend my anger control seminaire

645 I broke one, went to the store for a replacement got home it was broken. Ordered one from NB received a broken one.

646. Mine almost made it two years, the glass chipped at the very bottom and water has gotten into the bulb. I knew something was up when my latest beer showed a FG of .098

647. I wasn't careful.

I had my first near miss tonight. It was in its storage tube and rolled off the top of two cases of bottles and landed on my basement concrete floor. Luckily it survived... this time.

Sometimes mine gets left in the dish rack for a few days after a brew day and I stare at it every time I go near the kitchen sink thinking, "I'm gonna break that damn thing sooner or later."

648 - Putting it back in its tube, the bottom cap shot off when the hydrometer hit it. Hardest part was keeping the dog away from the broken glass...

649. It slipped out of my hand as I was rinsing it off to take my FG.

+0

sorry... still have the same hydrometer I got off a craigslist score when I first started brewing, 2 or 3 years ago... I've dropped it a couple times and a few near misses but the thing seems to be bulletproof. I must be blessed by the beer gods.

(I'll report back tomorrow after they decide to break it, just for me posting this)

650, dropped it in the sink a while back.

651

Transporting the tube it came in without the lid on it. Darn thing slipped out into the tile floor.

652

Left one laying on its side and placed more items on top and crushed it.

I have three spares because these things break way too easy! I do have a brix meter on order to hopefully go away from these glass tubes.

what sort of hydrometer costs $14.95? The ones I buy are a couple of bucks, and I make sure I buy at least one every trip. I have two backups at the moment, and have smoked about four of them.

JefeTheVol said:

I figured at because so many of brewers are completely clumsy that we should be keeping a count of how many hydrometers the average message board breaks over a one year period. If you're like me, I broke mine the first time I used it. Checking account balance: minus $14.95. Ill start. Just search for this thread if, and when, you break one because I think it will be interesting to see how many we actually go through.

Hydrometer Count: 1

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+5 over the years, so 656

Broke one a couple of weeks ago and just noticed the thread.

657

658...just measured some gravities and was quite concerned that both of my recent brews had apparently finished in the low 1.000's! I was getting ready to start figuring out where I had gone wrong with my mash temps, and how much maltodextran to add when I realized there seemed to be a bit of condensation *inside* the hydrometer! I checked plain water, and sure enough, it was reading 0.990...after a bit of searching, I found the tiny crack near the bottom of the lower bulb...

I think this time I might just buy TWO hydrometers, just to have a spare one handy and ready to go into service!

659 f*** f*** f*** f*** f***

+3 in my 8 years of brewing. I always have 1 or 2 backups, though.

662