knightnorth
Active Member
Might answer my own question here but can a hydrometer just be defective out of the box? I check between 70-80 degrees figuring it might read 2 points low on that higher end. I always take my measurement when I have the full amount of water mixed in. This hydrometer consistently tells me I'm missing OG consistently around 50-60% efficiency. So I've always been bumping up extra DME to equal out a brew. And I consistently get beers that taste stronger than I expected. Two weeks ago it said I missed target OG by .010 points on an extract brew. Tonight I was horrified when it said I missed my first AG brew by .020 points. So as usual I mixed in some DME to bump up my gravity. Could this thing have been bung out of the box? Is there a way to calibrate/test it? They're cheap enough, I should just pick up another. Dropped a couple hundy to go AG, it was fun and I was meticulous with watching videos and following instructions. Milled the grains, mashed for 45 min sparged for 30 min. Hope I don't just suck at it.