JimboMarimbo
Member
Stevenson Reeves’ printing error?
Stevenson Reeves’ wine and beer hydrometer is in general use and trusted to measure SG accurately; however the markings on the ‘potential alcohol’ scale differ from all the scientific tables I have seen, and from around 1.040 upwards become less and less accurate, indeed, towards the highest readings ‘out of the blue range’ they become completely ‘wrong’. I feel sure that a renowned and trusted manufacturer must be aware of this and I wonder why what I perceive to be a glaring error should persist over the decades this instrument has been in production.
For example at SG 1.100 Stevenson’s black line for potential alcohol reads a whisker under 16% abv, whereas, for example CJJ Berry’s chart shows 13.4% and the scientific VINOLAB website says 13.56%, Brewers Friend broadly agree around 13.26%. Moving on, Stevenson then seems to ‘lose it’ with SG 1.160 matching their last line of 17%, whereas Berry and Vinolab say 14.42%, and then the last marking of SG 1.120 on the hydrometer not even offering a guess, whereas the others say a steady 16.44%, interestingly still less than Stevenson said for SG 1.160.
Odd, perhaps some older and wiser heads than mine could offer a reason why this obvious wrong reading should persist, or am I missing something here?
Stevenson Reeves’ wine and beer hydrometer is in general use and trusted to measure SG accurately; however the markings on the ‘potential alcohol’ scale differ from all the scientific tables I have seen, and from around 1.040 upwards become less and less accurate, indeed, towards the highest readings ‘out of the blue range’ they become completely ‘wrong’. I feel sure that a renowned and trusted manufacturer must be aware of this and I wonder why what I perceive to be a glaring error should persist over the decades this instrument has been in production.
For example at SG 1.100 Stevenson’s black line for potential alcohol reads a whisker under 16% abv, whereas, for example CJJ Berry’s chart shows 13.4% and the scientific VINOLAB website says 13.56%, Brewers Friend broadly agree around 13.26%. Moving on, Stevenson then seems to ‘lose it’ with SG 1.160 matching their last line of 17%, whereas Berry and Vinolab say 14.42%, and then the last marking of SG 1.120 on the hydrometer not even offering a guess, whereas the others say a steady 16.44%, interestingly still less than Stevenson said for SG 1.160.
Odd, perhaps some older and wiser heads than mine could offer a reason why this obvious wrong reading should persist, or am I missing something here?
