refractometer s hydrometer frist 10 gallon brew day

[Daver77]

Hi guys,
So I'm brewing my first 10 gallon batch I have quite a few brews of 5 gallons over the years and decided to upgrade to 10. \

Pretty much everything that could go wrong went wrong and at every step I salvaged and found solutions. Without getting into it I ran into a situation where when I got a sample for the hydrometer it floated all the way to the top giving me no reading.
When I used my refractometer it reads 1.057

who should I trust?

 

[Hoppity]

Put the hydrometer in plain water, see what it reads. Right now I'm trusting the refractometer.
Might as well test the same plain water sample with the refractometer, come to think of it.

 

[Daver77]

Good idea I tried plain water and the refractometer read 1.000
the hydrometer read 1.005

I tried the refratometer with distilled water and read the same

 

[ol-hazza]

What the deuce.

Did you happen to add some molasses and not mix it through before taking your reading on the hydrometer?

Never seen anything like it

 

[Daver77]

What the deuce.

Did you happen to add some molasses and not mix it through before taking your reading on the hydrometer?

Never seen anything like it

I know, I mean I tasted the wort, it's sweet there's no way there's not any sugar in there as the hydrometer is suggesting. Not just that but I thought hydrometer were pretty much accurate 100%

 

[ol-hazza]

I would go with the refractometer reading, and try the hydrometer again in a new sample.

What did your recipe predict your gravity would be?

 

[Daver77]

I would go with the refractometer reading, and try the hydrometer again in a new sample.

What did your recipe predict your gravity would be?

The recipe said 1.055

 

[Hoppity]

Dissolve some sugar in water and read both again. I've never seen a hydrometer float so high.

 

[chickypad]

What do you mean the refractometer is suggesting there's no sugar, it's reading between 1.055 and 1.060. Can't tell from the pic but I assume you must have a bunch of compacted trub in the tube that the hydrometer is resting on.

 

[ol-hazza]

cool, that suggests the refractometer is correct.

still suggest doing a second hydrometer though to see if its still insane.

 

[doug293cz]

What do you mean the refractometer is suggesting there's no sugar, it's reading between 1.055 and 1.060. Can't tell from the pic but I assume you must have a bunch of compacted trub in the tube that the hydrometer is resting on.

Bunch of trub in the bottom of the test cylinder sounds plausible. Especially since it looks like the wort has a ton of suspended particulates.

OP: Any chance you are testing the dregs from the BK after most of the wort was transfered to the fermenter?

Brew on

 

[Daver77]

What do you mean the refractometer is suggesting there's no sugar, it's reading between 1.055 and 1.060. Can't tell from the pic but I assume you must have a bunch of compacted trub in the tube that the hydrometer is resting on.

no trub at all. and it's the hydrometer I fixed the typo

 

[Daver77]

Bunch of trub in the bottom of the test cylinder sounds plausible. Especially since it looks like the wort has a ton of suspended particulates.

OP: Any chance you are testing the dregs from the BK after most of the wort was transfered to the fermenter?

Brew on

I promise you no trub.

I have been brewing for several years I have never seen this happen

 

[chickypad]

no trub at all. and it's the hydrometer I fixed the typo

Well if the hyrometer was reading no sugar that thing would sink all the way down and be reading 1.000. I'd love to see a video of you pushing the hydrometer to the bottom seeing it shoot back up if it's really not stuck on something.

 

[armedcor]

Looks like a alcometer.

 

[Daver77]

Well if the hyrometer was reading no sugar that thing would sink all the way down and be reading 1.000. I'd love to see a video of you pushing the hydrometer to the bottom seeing it shoot back up if it's really not stuck on something.

not going to happen, not atlas i check gravity before kegging.

 

[Daver77]

Well if the hyrometer was reading no sugar that thing would sink all the way down and be reading 1.000. I'd love to see a video of you pushing the hydrometer to the bottom seeing it shoot back up if it's really not stuck on something.

1.000 is floating high not down from what I can see

 

[Daver77]

OK so what if I use orange juice?
It's got sugar no?

 

[Daver77]

Here you go...I'm baffled
https://youtu.be/OrtFJv3CvNw

BTW this is the first time I use this hydrometer it's brand new

 

[ram5ey]

And now you gotta drink all that orange juice. I almost lost it when you said that.

No chance that you have final gravity hydrometer?

 

[sd_brewbie]

I think you have an Alchohol Hydrometer... for measuring proof of distilled spirits... not gravity readings for beer.

 

[Daver77]

I think you have an Alchohol Hydrometer... for measuring proof of distilled spirits... not gravity readings for beer.

Unbelievable! I guess that's it!:cross:

Crap

 

[chickypad]

OMG. Saw those 0's at the top and thought that was 1.000, didn't see the numbers were going down not up. So what have you been using for your other batches?

 

[doug293cz]

Looks like a alcometer.

You got it!

OP: You can't use that hydrometer for measuring wort or fermented beer. It is only intended for measuring distilled spirits. Get a proper hydrometer that measures SG. The one you have does not measure SG.

Brew on

 

[Daver77]

OMG. Saw those 0's at the top and thought that was 1.000, didn't see the numbers were going down not up. So what have you been using for your other batches?

Dude, I grabbed it from the store because I liked the way the numbers read I had no idea what this was.

For my other batch it has been a hydrometer, this is the first time I use this one. :smack:

Thanks for helping me figure this out. Anyway, I hit my number 76% efficiency on my new 10 gal set up.

 

[ol-hazza]

On the plus side if you buy a condensor you can distill your beer, re hydrate it with distilled water, use that alcohol hydrometer and get super accurate abv readings. Well as accurate as the hydrometer will read, which is probably not very as its not a short range one.....

Feel free to disregard all of this information.

 

[armedcor]

Haha called it! Same thing happened to me last year. The hbs sent it by accident and I couldn't understand for the life of me why it was reading like that.

 

[GuitsBoy]

I was going to say, the numbers look like theyre going backwards if it were specific gravity.

Either that, or you brewed some 1.250 SG beer.

 

[stpug]

And now you gotta drink all that orange juice. I almost lost it when you said that.

^^this . Classic!

 

[ajdelange]

I think you have an Alchohol Hydrometer... for measuring proof of distilled spirits... not gravity readings for beer.

No question about it. It says 'TRALLE' right on it. Those numbers are either ABV in % or proof. If you put it into a 50% ABV solution of distilled water and ethanol it would read 100 if calibrated in proof and 50 if calibrated for ABV.

As for the idea of distilling the beer and then using this to determine the ABV please take note of how close together the markings are for the levels of alcohol in beer. To get anything like an accurate reading you would have to distill 4 separate aliquots of 100 mL collecting only 25 mL of distillate from each (or one of 400 mL collecting 100 mL). The 100 mL in the receiver would then be at 4 x the ABV of the beer and read high enough on the hydrometer that you can read it accurately enough. The standard procedure for beer calls for a 100 mL sample diluted to 150 mL with 100 mL distillate recovered. Density is then measured with an electronic instrument orders of magnitude more accurate that the hydrometer (and orders of magnitude more expensive). Your recovery would be somewhat lower with the concentration procedure I suggested.