Hydrometer 'gotcha'

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zoebisch01

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This has never happened to me before, and I am not entirely sure the reason behind this (perhaps my Hydrometer had a film on it or something). But, I was taking a cold FG reading of my Cider (around mid 50's), had the hydro on the counter in the tube. So I spun it a little and let it set for a minute to stop moving around, while I was doing something else. I remembered when I put it in, I had seen it was hovering around 1.000 and I was like, great, looks right on. So, I get done with what I was doing to verify the reading, turn around and uhhh 1.014. I was like what the?!?

Take a guess as to what happened (I know what happened).
 
Wasn't the temps...probably stuck to the side or the vessel.

Degrees Fahrenheit - Adjustment to Reading
40 - Subtract .002
50 - Subtract .001
60 - CORRECT
70 - Add .001
80 - Add .002
90 - Add .004
100 - Add .005
110 - Add .007
120 - Add .008
130 - Add .010
140 - Add .013
150 - Add .015
 
Your hydro had dried wort on it from taking an OG reading prior to this reading. The wort got into the cider sample and bumped it up...
 
I think what he's saying is that in a matter of minutes the hydro went from 1.000 to 1.014, nothing to do with temp.

I have no clue what happened, but I'm curious.
 
Keep guessing. :D

If I hadn't have seen the Hydro at it's original point, I would have surely missed this. (which is why I am posting this 'gotcha')

:fro:
 
PseudoChef said:
CO2 still coming out of solution.


Winner!

Fortunately, I knew that my cider had fermented and the reading was wrong. Those tiny bubbles clung to the bottom of the Hydro and drove it right up. It was interesting to see.

This is certainly more common at cold temps as the amounts of dissolved CO2 are higher. I am guessing my Hydro had a small film on it which facilitated the bubbles clinging. Quite often we are only concerned about the little numbers on the side, not what else is going on in the tube. A quick run under some water did the trick. Went right back down to 1.000.
 
yeah, i saw that as soon as i posted mine :( i usually agitate mine with a skewer to degas it before i take my final reading

and thanks for the welcome, ive been lurking for a while now
 
zoebisch01 said:
Winner!

Fortunately, I knew that my cider had fermented and the reading was wrong. Those tiny bubbles clung to the bottom of the Hydro and drove it right to up. It was interesting to see.

This is certainly more common at cold temps as the amounts of dissolved CO2 are higher. I am guessing my Hydro had a small film on it which facilitated the bubbles clinging. Quite often we are only concerned about the little numbers on the side, not what else is going on in the tube. A quick run under some water did the trick. Went right back down to 1.000.

Whoo hoo!!

This actually just happened to me the other day with my imperial IPA. Read one minute 1.026 and the next was 1.036.
 
dang, I was gonna guess a cracked hydro. I had that happen a couple months ago, look close before drinking that sample, ouch!
 
Soulive said:
I always stir the hydro around in the tube to "de-gas" it. I learned to do that from Garrett Oliver...

The thing was, when it started I spun it around as I normally do to dislodge bubbles. These formed a minute or so later and tbh I didn't even see them until I looked. It was kind of comical. I was looking at the reading doing a triple take. Thinking "what the?". Then it dawned on me. Tiny tiny bubbles.
 
zoebisch01 said:
The thing was, when it started I spun it around as I normally do to dislodge bubbles. These formed a minute or so later and tbh I didn't even see them until I looked. It was kind of comical. I was looking at the reading doing a triple take. Thinking "what the?". Then it dawned on me. Tiny tiny bubbles.

Yeah, I learned that lesson many months ago. I've also made the reverse mistake of thinking my gravity was lower than it was. I don't know how I avoided bottle bombs...
 
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