B-Dub
Well-Known Member
Anyone do this once and a while? My buddy works in a lab and said hydrometers are off quite a bit and doesn't trust them. He works with beer every day and I trust what he says.....for the most part anyway.
Ever check your hydrometer in water?
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SilverKing
Well-Known Member
i did once. it was good.
Yunus
Well-Known Member
Yeah I do this sometimes, mine has always been right or so close to right that I don't care about it. But I did this to get better idea of how to get an accurate reading. I can't just drop it in I have to wait for it to settle then tap it a little to make it give an accurate reading in my small test tube.
And you're posting this because??? As a justification for YOU not wanting to use one??? Is this a "Nyah Nyah Nyah, my friend says they're not accurate so I am going to ignore the merits of using them" kinda thread? That's Your Choice.
We check it's accuracy in distilled water...
AND guess what...they work fine for our purposes...it's rare that they are off enough tp cause brewers any problems. And even if they were, using the same hydrometer to take an OG and FG will still give us the ability to calculate the ABV of a beer...Og-fgX131 will still give us the abv. regardless of the true fg and og...the abv will be the same if the hydro is off the same amount of points each way...
And whether they are accurate or not..taking an OG and then checking it a few days later will still show that fermentation is occurring, AGAIN regardless of the actual numbers on the scale and their accuracy...If they have changed..guess what? You have fermentation, and that REALLY is all that you need to know. So you don't do something like use the airlock as a gauge of fermentation, and pitch more yeast 'cause it ain't bubbling...
SO regardless of how accurate your friend thinks they are, it's still no excuse NOT to use them in brewing...
We check it's accuracy in distilled water...
AND guess what...they work fine for our purposes...it's rare that they are off enough tp cause brewers any problems. And even if they were, using the same hydrometer to take an OG and FG will still give us the ability to calculate the ABV of a beer...Og-fgX131 will still give us the abv. regardless of the true fg and og...the abv will be the same if the hydro is off the same amount of points each way...
And whether they are accurate or not..taking an OG and then checking it a few days later will still show that fermentation is occurring, AGAIN regardless of the actual numbers on the scale and their accuracy...If they have changed..guess what? You have fermentation, and that REALLY is all that you need to know. So you don't do something like use the airlock as a gauge of fermentation, and pitch more yeast 'cause it ain't bubbling...
SO regardless of how accurate your friend thinks they are, it's still no excuse NOT to use them in brewing...
Pivzavod
Well-Known Member
My last batch was .008 of SG so I tested my hydrometer and it was pretty close to 1.000
WBC
Well-Known Member
Unless you crack them they are usually good and the distilled water check will prove it. You can brew without one and know absolutely nothing about the brew you just made. As long as it fermented you will have beer of some sort. I personally do use one so I can see what is going on. I can brew without one too and make great beer but I have been doing it a while and know from my past brews what it should look like and act like during fermentation.
enderwig
Well-Known Member
I agree totally. If my hydro is off by .005 and reads 1.015 when it should be 1.010, as long as I read 1.015 consecutively, I know fermentation is finished.
(p.s. my hydro is dead on!)
OP
OP
B-Dub
Well-Known Member
Let's pump the brakes a little here Revvy.
I use a hydrometer EVERY time I brew. First wort, last runnings, pre and post boil. And if I think my gravity is going to be high or low I will take one before the boil is over to adjust my time. Then when I think the ferment is over and one more time to make sure it is before cooling.
I have brewed professionally over 9 years in breweries ranging from 7, 20, 50 and 130 BBL brewhouses.
That experience withstanding and although my friend can be quite the cynic he does work in a LAB in a BREWERY!!!!
This is not a blast on hydrometers, more like "hey, check your testing equipment to make sure you are spot on."
DWRAHAHB
Also, if you take a reading and you want a lower FG, you might change your mash schedule just because your $12 glass tube is off by 3mm.
I use a hydrometer EVERY time I brew. First wort, last runnings, pre and post boil. And if I think my gravity is going to be high or low I will take one before the boil is over to adjust my time. Then when I think the ferment is over and one more time to make sure it is before cooling.
I have brewed professionally over 9 years in breweries ranging from 7, 20, 50 and 130 BBL brewhouses.
That experience withstanding and although my friend can be quite the cynic he does work in a LAB in a BREWERY!!!!
This is not a blast on hydrometers, more like "hey, check your testing equipment to make sure you are spot on."
DWRAHAHB
Also, if you take a reading and you want a lower FG, you might change your mash schedule just because your $12 glass tube is off by 3mm.
Let's pump the brakes a little here Revvy.
I use a hydrometer EVERY time I brew. First wort, last runnings, pre and post boil. And if I think my gravity is going to be high or low I will take one before the boil is over to adjust my time. Then when I think the ferment is over and one more time to make sure it is before cooling.
I have brewed professionally over 9 years in breweries ranging from 7, 20, 50 and 130 BBL brewhouses.
That experience withstanding and although my friend can be quite the cynic he does work in a LAB in a BREWERY!!!!
This is not a blast on hydrometers, more like "hey, check your testing equipment to make sure you are spot on."
DWRAHAHB
Believe or not you AREN'T the first person on here to have posted something like this except that they have actually used it as a justification for not using one. I was just asking...We get a lot of people masking their fear of using one in all sorts of stuff...
Maybe if YOU had phrased your post a little differently...All you did was dump the info and run...which seemed like some of the typical trollish stuff some people do on here.
Perhaps if you had actually SUGGESTED checking it or calibrating it in the post, my response (which is basically "get over it and use one") would have been a little different.
And my point is still the same...whether the numbers are accurate or not, you can still read the progress of your beer by them...
OP
OP
B-Dub
Well-Known Member
Point taken.
I just wanted to put it out there to see if anyone ever did check them. I have never had a hydrometer go bad unless it hit the floor.
Kind of a way to check and see if guys ever have a problem.
I just wanted to put it out there to see if anyone ever did check them. I have never had a hydrometer go bad unless it hit the floor.
Kind of a way to check and see if guys ever have a problem.
BrewinJack
Well-Known Member
Believe or not you AREN'T the first person on here to have posted something like this except that they have actually used it as a justification for not using one. I was just asking...We get a lot of people masking their fear of using one in all sorts of stuff...
Maybe if YOU had phrased your post a little differently...All you did was dump the info and run...which seemed like some of the typical trollish stuff some people do on here.
Maybe if you had actually SUGGESTED checking it or calibrating it in the post, my response (which is basically "get over it and use one") would have been a little different.
And my point is still the same...whether the numbers are accurate or not, you can still read the progress of your beer by them...
Revy is right, i used to use a hydromete which had no number on it, just three lines. A Green one (optimal SG, later found to be about 1.065), A blue one (SG to high, later found to be 1.090), and a Red one ( Distil/Bottling, SG of just under 1)... no numbers, just lines... it was a distillers wort hydrometer for when to chuck it into still... best hydrometer i ever had, even now with one with nice big numbers, it just allows me to do more then the old one... so a hydrometer doesnt need to be clibrated to an exact level because your personal hydrometer that only you use and your not doing comerical beer production or experimentation which need as accurate as you can get.... other then that what would you expect us to use??? I dont have a spare Gas Cronometer, or Mass Spectrometer just sitting around to check exact molecular content of my brew... seeing as either one of those would cost sevral thousand dallors...
Cheers
