Brewed up a batch over the weekend and ran into some very frustrating glass instrument issues.
First, thermometer broke after taking a reading of sparge water @170 and dropping it in room temp sanitized water. I originally thought this was due to shock. So I put the brew on hold and ran to my LHBS to buy a new one. Spent the $10, got home and dropped (figuratively) it in the sanitizer. When i was ready to cold crash, i pulled it out of the sink and noticed MORE black beads at the bottom. I have no idea how this second thermometer broke and am now skeptical about shocking the first one. It didn't bang around in the sanitizer with anything other than vinyl tubing and a racking cane.
I went through two of these in one hour: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/popup_product_images.php?pID=997
On top of that, I noticed the glass at the weight end of my hydrometer is also broken. I'm not sure if this is the reason my reading was off when i calibrated room temp water (maybe 60 degrees, hard to tell without a thermometer) with a reading of .99. I then took a FG reading of a batch i was bottling to get a reading of 1.00. Now this seems much too low for an OG of 1.055. When i adjust for calibration +.01 and the possibility that the water temp was ~67, i get a reading of 1.011. What do you think?
Anyone else have concerns about the flimsy glass casing these tools are made of?
First, thermometer broke after taking a reading of sparge water @170 and dropping it in room temp sanitized water. I originally thought this was due to shock. So I put the brew on hold and ran to my LHBS to buy a new one. Spent the $10, got home and dropped (figuratively) it in the sanitizer. When i was ready to cold crash, i pulled it out of the sink and noticed MORE black beads at the bottom. I have no idea how this second thermometer broke and am now skeptical about shocking the first one. It didn't bang around in the sanitizer with anything other than vinyl tubing and a racking cane.
I went through two of these in one hour: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/popup_product_images.php?pID=997
On top of that, I noticed the glass at the weight end of my hydrometer is also broken. I'm not sure if this is the reason my reading was off when i calibrated room temp water (maybe 60 degrees, hard to tell without a thermometer) with a reading of .99. I then took a FG reading of a batch i was bottling to get a reading of 1.00. Now this seems much too low for an OG of 1.055. When i adjust for calibration +.01 and the possibility that the water temp was ~67, i get a reading of 1.011. What do you think?
Anyone else have concerns about the flimsy glass casing these tools are made of?