Using a hydrometer to check pre boil gravity technique?

[olotti]

So my refractometer broke and I haven't had a chance to get a new one. So I was just going to fly blind and boil down to my final volume and see what I had for a fg but then I thought what about taking a sample just before putting the wort to boiling, chilling it down in the freezer, in this case it got to 55 deg and taking a hydrometer reading then. So that's what I did and came up with 1.050, my target is 1.054 but I forgot to stir the wort to mix it up and pulled most of my sample off the top half, so it's prob pretty close if this reading is accurate. So I guess that's my question, is this reading pretty accurate?

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

It's probably pretty close. What I usually do to check pre-boil gravity is get a small sample in a metal cup and put it in a pan of ice water until it's down to 60-ish. Usually takes 2 - 4 min with stirring/swirling. I also do this to check late boil gravity to see how close I am to my OG.

 

[menerdari]

I use to do almost the same, I put my sample in the freezer for a little while.
I use my refractometer now, I am sorry for your loss

 

[Subdivisions]

It's what I do. I stir it up pretty good before taking a sample. I usually just get it down to around 80 and add 2 points on for the temperature correction.

 

[PJM]

I don't chill mine at all. Just stir the wort, take a sample and then plug the number and temperature into a program that corrects for temperature.