Oh, the things you learn

I did my second all grain batch today (BIAB). Everything went great, but I learned a little something about cheap hydrometers that come with kits! My hydrometer came in a light plastic tube with a cap on the bottom. It worked well up until today. I decided I would take a sample of the wort just as it was done with the boil and put it in the tube so it would cool faster and I could get my hydrometer reading while I was waiting for the rest of the wort to cool. I filled it up and set it on the counter. After I had my wort pot situated in the sink and cooling, I went back to take a reading. The flimsy plastic hydrometer case had started to sag and twist due to the heat of the wort. I lifted it up to have a look at it without realizing the heat had completely deformed the tube around the cap. Needless to say, I quickly had a nice sample of beer shoot out the bottom of the tube and cover the counter and floor!

And now I know...buy a better hydrometer next time I'm at the LHBS. This one was a combo one for wine/beer and just about everything else under the sun and was very hard to read anyway. Lesson learned. Wish I knew what my OG of my brew was, but guess this one will just have to be a shot from the hip.

If you know your preboil vol, preboil gravity, and post boil volume figuring out the og is easy.

Plastic is plastic whether it's cheap or not. If you put near boiling wort in it, it's going to melt.

I assumed that the case my hydrometer came in was simply a case to protect the hydrometer. I don't think mine would work very well as a test tube.

For testing, I use a wine thief that has room in it for my hydrometer.

Glad you didn't get burned!

so did your plastic tube melt or your actual hydrometer? My hydrometer that came with my kit was glass and I have had zero problems with it. I could see how the plastic part would melt but not the glass.

While every one says go ahead and use the tube it came in, I don't think that's the intended purpose. to be perfectly frank, as was said, boiling or near boiling liquid in a soft plastic tube probably should set off some alarm bells for you. I used the tube for my first batch but getting the little foam protective piece from the bottom was a pain, and then I had to wait to put it away because I didn't want to put that foam back into a wet tube. Anyway. I ordered a tube made for testing purposes right after the first batch.

As tbell said, just splurge on a glass beaker. No fuss. No melting plastic.