Official Broken Hydrometer Count

1192&1193

I dropped one a few years ago, and just a few months ago my wife knocked over the flask, with brew in it, and with the hydrometer. My wife knocks over everything, she is a total klutz. I watch her when she is doing things and I see how she never has a good grasp on anything, always just balancing it. Even my kids have a better grip. And every time she breaks something, I roll my eyes and she starts yelling "it was an ACCIDENT!!!". But it is no accident, not when she breaks something every few weeks. I don't let her near my carboys...

kranak said:

1189. I hulk handed it and crushed it while opening my sanitized bucket with another hand.

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Hahaha that's definitely how I've broken a couple of them.

zacster said:

1192&1193

I don't let her near my carboys...

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Sounds wise

1194
The tube it came in rolled right off the table before I could even open and sanitize anything. At least that meant the broken glass remained confined to said tube...

1195... why do they put two caps on the plastic tubes???

+1 1196 I was being "careful" by laying out a towel to keep it safe and out of the end of the plastic tube she goes. Shattered all over the garage floor. She was with me for 18 years. So long old friend!

1st 'disappeared', which I'm assuming meant that that one of my roommates broke it and threw it away without saying anything.

2nd was purchased after a number of blind brews - broke the first day of use by a housemate.

3rd and 4th broken by me.

That puts us at 1200

Dropped it on the floor and got distracted by something else right afterward. Came back to the kitchen, and promptly stepped on it. Thankfully, with shoes on.

1201.

just found this thread. I broke one about two years ago. I can't remember how anymore. I think it was sitting on a counter and I put something on top of it. Still using my second one. 1202.

I will be 1203. Measuring FG in test tube and knocked the test tube in the sink. The hydrometer broke in half.

It lasted 6 months.

Ole fumbling hands drops another one

1204

Broke my first one last weekend. Went to lay it on a tile countertop, and the top didn't clear the small jar I was reaching past. It rolled off, hit the tile and a small piece of glass came off - losing that tiny bit of weight made it read high...

1205

Girlfriend dropped mine on the garage floor last week.

1206

1207

tip of mine snapped off as i was shaking it to dry. amazon prime'd myself a new one.

Count another down. The bottom tip got stuck in my thief
1208

Make it 1209. I was drying one off last Saturday and it snapped. Shoved a nice sized sharred of glass into my finger too. Since it was brew day, and i had been drinking, i bled profusely. Good thing i had a spare so i could take a reading.

1210. I lightly placed mine in the wine thief to test FG on my doppelbock. WOndering why the thief didn't keep any of the beer in the tube, so I just kept dipping it.

Ends up most of the tiny weights and some glass got in the carboy. Had to dump the entire 5 gallons.

1213
I have broken 3 in the last few months!

I've broken 2 in 3 years. One rolled off the counter and the other was bizarre. I was squeezing the sleeve to pull out the hydrometer and was squeezing the part with the bulb in it, so when I pulled the sleeve apart the hydromter bulb was between my thumb and forefinger...anyway it broke.

1216.

Sunday night. Had it sitting on a table in my basement drying from bottling day last Saturday (don't all hydrometers take 8 days to dry?) I set a case of beer on the table and the hydro rolled off. Bye-bye hydrometer.

Stepped on mine on Sunday. It was in its case and had fallen on the floor in the closet.

lhommedieu said:

Stepped on mine on Sunday. It was in its case and had fallen on the floor in the closet.

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^^2017

+1 from a couple months ago

2018

I think mine must be made of bulletproof glass. I dropped mine off the counter onto the cement floor last night and it bounced and survived somehow. So, I'm still using the same hydrometer I bought five years ago!

Still 2018

1st time checking in to this thread. i've busted 2 in the last few months
so..2019

Just discovered my remaining hydrometer was busted taking a gravity sample this past weekend, so went out and bought 2 more (always have a backup!!!)
= 2020

danomyte said:

1st time checking in to this thread. i've busted 2 in the last few months
so..2019

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2018 + 2 = 2020

fuelish said:

Just discovered my remaining hydrometer was busted taking a gravity sample this past weekend, so went out and bought 2 more (always have a backup!!!)
= 2020

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so, 2021

When I started brewing I bought a spare hydrometer because of all the stories I'd heard. Managed to go two years without breaking one. Then I broke both of mine in one day.

So I guess that's 2022 and 2023..

Dang it! I had to click on this thread and now I'm sure its going to jinx me. I've had mine over 30 years (antique?). It's dooooomed!

I must be lucky. From the time I was helping my father brew beer at the age of 13 until now, I have not broken any hydrometers. My friends and family seem to be able to break one by looking at it. I have never actually broken one myself.

Chadwick said:

I must be lucky. From the time I was helping my father brew beer at the age of 13 until now, I have not broken any hydrometers. My friends and family seem to be able to break one by looking at it. I have never actually broken one myself.

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You're doooomed! :smack:


I'm glad I'm not superstitious...knock on wood.

Broke mine a few months ago. Set it aside in the drying rack to dry and hit it ever so slightly with my arm and snapped it right off.

2024

2025

Nothing even happened to it, so far as I can tell! I lowered it very very very carefully into the sanitizer, it was definitely still in one piece when I let it go, and when I went to take it back out, it had snapped.
At least I did get an OG measurement, and at least I'd hit my numbers correctly...

Who uses one anyway?? Airlock is where the action is.

oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer said:

Who uses one anyway?? Airlock is where the action is.

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Serious post? Or trolling?

Ya I am a 700 post troll. Usually just follow the recipe wait three weeks and bottle. Two weeks after they carb they vanish like magic. I do have a hydrometer I check it ever so often to see if I need to dust.

2026

Mine was cracked and giving me false readings. I had three brews that wound up with low gravities, after several months of hitting my numbers consistently. Finally noticed moisture in it and discovered the crack. Bought two replacements and I'm back to hitting my numbers again. Well, except for my first BIAB batch, but that wasn't a hydrometer problem...

2027.

Went to measure OG, picked it up and hit a glass measuring cup with it. CRACK.

It did last a long time, this was brew # 196. I did happen to have a back up.

I've broken about five over the years because I'm really clumsy.

I often forget to measure the OG. It doesn't bother me. When I'm using a familiar recipe I know what the OG is going to be within a point or two. I could be a bit further out when making something different but I'm never more than two points out when I do measure.

When there's no activity I taste it for sweetness and wait a couple of weeks before tasting again and bottling. I'd prefer to measure but it's not the end of the world if I don't.

Anyway - 2030

2030 + 2 = 2032

2033. I broke one and bought a refractometer to avoid this issue of repeated broken hydrometers