Anton Paar Easydens Resonant U-tube Hydrometer

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duncan.brown

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Prompted by @Brooothru I pulled the trigger on an Easydens. I am totally in love with it. Four digit temperature-compensated precision for SG (or three digits for Plato). I put 25 ml of beer in a 250ml glass reagent flask, shake the crap out of it to degas it and then take the reading. Accurate and reliable every time with less than 10ml sample size and the readings are instantaneous. It’s pricey, but worth every penny as I don’t have to average a bunch of readings on my Milwaukee digital refractometer and convert from Brix to SG.

@Brooothru and others, what do you do to clean it? For beer, it looks like a flush with isopropyl alcohol and then a flush with deionized water is fine, but the instructions are a bit fuzzy on this.

Also I’m a massive nerd so I had to look up how it works:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6479486/
 
How pricey is "pricey"?

Brew on :mug:
I had a discount code from More Beer that took some of the pain away, but still about 3 Benjamin$. Worth it? Time will tell. So far, very easy to use, very quick, very accurate, though documentation is a weakness even if it is printed in about 12 different languages.

You can track 10 fermentations simultaneously, but I'm yet to discover how to delete them when it's time make room for new ones. Except for that one issue, the learning curve is short and intuitive. I'm likin' this new toy...er.. ....'instrument.'
 
[QUOTE="duncan.brown, post: 9245504]
what do you do to clean it? For beer, it looks like a flush with isopropyl alcohol and then a flush with deionized water is fine, but the instructions are a bit fuzzy on this.
[/QUOTE]

I just fill the syringe with 10 ml of distilled water, pushing it into the collection vessel through the discharge tube. After that I push a syringe-full of air through the unit to purge any remaining water, though the instructions only indicate to drain the water and allow the unit to air dry. Wipe down the exterior with a clean cloth. Done.
 
You can track 10 fermentations simultaneously, but I'm yet to discover how to delete them when it's time make room for new ones.

I’m glad it’s not just me… I haven’t figured out how to delete a batch either. I left a comment in the App Store, so I’ll update this thread if the developer responds.
 
[QUOTE="duncan.brown, post: 9245504]
what do you do to clean it? For beer, it looks like a flush with isopropyl alcohol and then a flush with deionized water is fine, but the instructions are a bit fuzzy on this.

I just fill the syringe with 10 ml of distilled water, pushing it into the collection vessel through the discharge tube. After that I push a syringe-full of air through the unit to purge any remaining water, though the instructions only indicate to drain the water and allow the unit to air dry. Wipe down the exterior with a clean cloth. Done.
[/QUOTE]

Exactly what I do 👍
 
do you think the new SmartRef will work just as effectively for OG and SG? Bit cheaper and easier to clean.
Interesting device!

The 'well' for liquid samples looks identical to the ones on the digital automated refractometers (I have one of those as well as the Anton-Paar EasyDens. The SmartRef would appear to be easier to clean than the EasyDens, but I wonder about the consistency and accuracy of readings.

I found the digital 'well sampling' electronic refractometer to be both less accurate and not at all consistent in their readings when compared to traditional hydrometers (properly calibrated and temperature corrected). Conversely the EasyDens has performed flawlessly. The price differential isn't that great to make me switch to the SmartRef, and the care and cleaning of the EasyDens isn't really much of a chore.

If I were sure of the SmartRef's accuracy, AND if I broke or lost my EasyDens, I might be inclined to try one. The Bluetooth interfaces of both devices appear identical, and are intuitive and easy to use, along with internal logging and tracking. Very useful tool.
 
After cleaning and flushing store the ED upside down to make sure that last bit of water has time to drain out. Also a periodic cleaning with Alconox is a good idea.
 
Dragging out an old thread...
I just purchased a new EasyDens and I can't get it to work. It keeps wanting to connect to a SmartRef which I don't have. It won't let me beyond that. Not sure what to do now...
 
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Try those buttons?
 
Nope. It won't let me get past the above screen. It wants to connect to a smartref which I don't have.
I've gone through all the settings, reloaded the app...
Not sure what to do next...
 
Do you have another device you could install the app on? When I first got mine it would not recognize the EasyDens much the same as what you are experiencing. Went through all the phone settings to grant permissions for the app but no go. I finally installed it on an older tablet and bingo connected right away. Maybe worth a try if you have an extra device lying around.
 
Do you have another device you could install the app on? When I first got mine it would not recognize the EasyDens much the same as what you are experiencing. Went through all the phone settings to grant permissions for the app but no go. I finally installed it on an older tablet and bingo connected right away. Maybe worth a try if you have an extra device lying around.

I'll give that a try... Thanks
 
I'll give that a try... Thanks
When I first got my EasyDens I had a Samsung phone and it connected seamlessly. Ditto when I switched to the ‘dark side’ and got an iPhone 4 months ago.

I tried connecting to SmartRef this morning when I was taking a gravity reading. Had no problem either connecting or switching back. There was a recent update of the EasyDens app, at least on the iOS side. You might want to try reinstalling the app if you if the problem persists. Good luck.

After using EasyDens since last summer, I can’t imagine going back to either a refractometer or hydrometer. Really like this toy.
 
Well I finally got it to work properly.
Do you have another device you could install the app on? When I first got mine it would not recognize the EasyDens much the same as what you are experiencing. Went through all the phone settings to grant permissions for the app but no go. I finally installed it on an older tablet and bingo connected right away. Maybe worth a try if you have an extra device lying around.
It wouldn't connect with my Samsung phone, but it did with a new Lenovo tablet, both running Android 10.... whoda thunk?

Thanks for the suggestions! After work I'll take a reading and see how it works...
 
Here's a quick review.... I like it. It's fast, you don't waste a lot of beer (although less opportunity to taste ;) ), easy to clean too. I'll have a better look at it when I brew next, but not sure it will replace my beloved refractometer.
 
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