Hydrometer

[scorpien222]

Ok there should probably be a very simple answer to this but when you put a hydrometer in to water that contains no sugar what reading should you get from it ?? Mine is reading 1.000 is this right ?

 

[Golddiggie]

Distilled water should read 1.000.

Same thing for refractometers (they should read 0.0 brix)... With a refractometer, you can adjust it to read correctly. No such luck with a hydrometer.

 

[AndrewD]

It will read 1.000 when the water temp is at the calibration temp (usually 60 degrees).

 

[scorpien222]

Ok that's good I just wanted to make sure it was reading correctly with a higher alcohol content can it drop below 1.000 as I have seen a few references to reading of around 0.980 ?

 

[Golddiggie]

Ok that's good I just wanted to make sure it was reading correctly with a higher alcohol content can it drop below 1.000 as I have seen a few references to reading of around 0.980 ?

Yes... Depending on what you're fermenting, the yeast, etc. it can go even lower.

 

[scorpien222]

Am I thinking correctly that this is due to a higher alcohol content and not just a lower sugar content ? Not sure I have explained that properly if plain water reads 1.000 with nothing in it how can the hydrometer drop lower than plain water with no sugar ?

 

[Golddiggie]

Am I thinking correctly that this is due to a higher alcohol content and not just a lower sugar content ? Not sure I have explained that properly if plain water reads 1.000 with nothing in it how can the hydrometer drop lower than plain water with no sugar ?

The higher alcohol content reduces the viscosity of water to the point where it's able to read lower than 1.000... It doesn't happen very often in beers, but can in dry meads, wines, etc. This is due to there being enough sugar content to ferment and the yeast hasn't hit it's tolerance level yet. So, if you've formulated a mead to go to 10%, but use a yeast that will go to 14% (or higher) then you really can go super-dry and below 1.000. If you use an even stronger yeast, like one that can go to 18% (or above) then you have a greater chance of the reading going even lower. There are plenty of issues that can crop up from formulating this way. Easiest way to overcome them is to chemically stabilize what you're fermenting. But, that can present it's own set of difficulties/issues.

For a beer, I really wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

[scorpien222]

That makes more sense now thank you .