hydrometer sample cooler

[sketerbuck]

I made a cooler that will take a sample of boiling wort and cool it to 80f in about ten seconds. I dont know how to post a link on here but if your interested you can look at it on youtube at

 

[Revvy]

Pretty damn smart...I usually just chuck it in the fridge and wait and wait and wait...

 

[jpc]

Awesome!!!

Do you have a materials list?

 

[sketerbuck]

http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j56/sketerbuck/?action=view&current=CIMG5221.jpg
This is all the material....the lighter is just there for size comparison...I used a small can of pvc glue as a mold to wrap the tubing around. The rest is pretty self explanatory.

 

[jpc]

http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j56/sketerbuck/?action=view&current=CIMG5221.jpg
This is all the material....the lighter is just there for size comparison

OK, let me ask another way...

What is the white plastic jar? I was thinking that an empty PBW container would work perfectly... Also, how long is the copper coil? A rough estimate would do.

 

[Bobby_M]

Awesome!!!

Do you have a materials list?

1. Refractometer.
2. See item one.

 

[JuanMoore]

Looks like a mini version of what I use to cool my whole batch. The "cold" tap water here is above 90 in the summer, so immersion or counterflow chillers don't work so well.

 

[The Pol]

1. Refractometer.
2. See item one.

My thought exactly

 

[MacBruver]

Pretty cool. The only thing that would worry me is having to flush it out and make sure there's not any liquid or extra sugars hanging out in there. With how small of a volume it is for subsequent samples it could throw them off. I didn't listen to the audio so I don't know if you talk about it, but does it siphon everything out of the coil pretty well?

I just got a $39 refractometer off ebay, and it is great... very easy to use/read and only takes a couple drops. Prior to that I just used this calculator:

http://www.brewheads.com/gravcorrect.php

Since I have my laptop sitting there anyway it's pretty quick.

 

[bad coffee]

You could also just chuck your sample tube in a glass of ice water. Takes about 5 minutes to cool while you're doing other things.

I got tired of using my fish tank refracto for brewing so I bought a brix one...

B

 

[JesseRC]

yeah that seems like a lot of trouble just to take a sample, and I'm sure there is still some wort in the copper tube. But hey if it works for you cool. I'm always looking for ways simplify my brewday. THis is just more stuff to clean.

 

[passedpawn]

1. Refractometer.
2. See item one.

I don't get it. Do you freeze the refractometer then somehow apply it to the hydro tube? How does this work?

j/k.

 

[Randar]

1. Refractometer.
2. See item one.

Amen. Indispensable tool once you know how to use it and are comfortable with it. I also have a glass pippette and siphon bulb I use to draw a sample. Tall thin glass pippette cool it quickly and allows my to drop straight onto refractometer or to dip into a carboy and get a nice sample from the center of the carboy...

 

[MacBruver]

FYI here's one like the one I got. I thought I paid $39, but it ended up only being $29. I was the only bidder.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-0-32-ATC-Br...ultDomain_0?hash=item5ad4ec0e86#ht_2813wt_939

I was expecting something that felt like a plastic toy, but it's cast metal and glass, really solid.

 

[Randar]

FYI here's one like the one I got. I thought I paid $39, but it ended up only being $29. I was the only bidder.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-0-32-ATC-Br...ultDomain_0?hash=item5ad4ec0e86#ht_2813wt_939

I was expecting something that felt like a plastic toy, but it's cast metal and glass, really solid.

Yep, I basically have the same one. Important part for anyone looking to buy is an ATC model so you don't have to worry about temp adjustments inside of the normal range. When you're dealing with only a couple of drops of liquid, by the time is it drawn and dropped to the sight glass, it's basically qithin the given range of 50-86 degrees F.

Here is the one sold at NB, basically same as that ebay link I think.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewi...-refractometers/brix-refractometer-w-atc.html

 

[MrInternet]

Why do they say "use in conjunction with a hydrometer"? I thought these were supposed to be more accurate than hydrometers, that's the point right?

 

[rocketman768]

Refractometers are based on the assumption that you only have sugar and water in solution. After fermentation (e.g. when you are trying to read your final gravity) you also have alcohol present, so you must apply a correction to your refractometer reading, or use a hydrometer.

 

[MacBruver]

Why do they say "use in conjunction with a hydrometer"? I thought these were supposed to be more accurate than hydrometers, that's the point right?

It's not that the refractometer is more accurate, it's that it's easier to use when brewing, since it only requires a couple of drops of liquid and you don't have to worry about chilling it down.

It is a pain in the ass to use a refractometer to do gravity calculations once fermentation has started, because the alcohol content throws off the reading. You have to do all kinds of corrections to get it to come out right, and even then it's a bit of a guess.

So, to sum up:

- refractometer while brewing
- hydrometer while fermenting

 

[SugarJohnson]

On the subject of those calculations, has anyone used MoreBeers spreedsheet that corrects for this. I just checked it out and it seems simple. Does the calcs for you. Wondering if others found it accurate, if so no hydro would be needed?

PS- 3 year olds and hydrometers don't mix, just ask my son captain chaos who is personally on his 3rd.

 

[mcgeebc]

If you go the refractometer route, you could always use this as a beer bong.

Chill and bong the beer in one step. You might have stumbled upon something here.

 

[Randar]

On the subject of those calculations, has anyone used MoreBeers spreedsheet that corrects for this. I just checked it out and it seems simple. Does the calcs for you. Wondering if others found it accurate, if so no hydro would be needed?

PS- 3 year olds and hydrometers don't mix, just ask my son captain chaos who is personally on his 3rd.

I've used the refractometer calibration and calc in Beersmith before and it's been relatively accurate. Enough for me to not be concerned with any small variations. Maybe I'll try the MoreBeer one on me next batch.

 

[sketerbuck]

I am aware of other ways of cooling wort and testing it but this was one of those things that just got made while drinking in the garage. There is lots of stuff on the list to buy ahead a refractometer ...BTW because of the drop at the end all of the sample is sucked out of the tube and it takes about 20 seconds to run some sanitizer threw it when your done.