Hydrometer

[nickolas388]

Hey everyone,

I'm going to be using a hydrometer for the first time while brewing. I've actually done 6 batches so far, but have never used it lol. Can anyone recommend a hydrometer tube they use? I have the hydrometer, but the cheap plastic tube that came with my kit broke. Can I use a science tube? I see a few of the science tubes on Amazon, not sure if they will work.

Thanks everyone

 

[Jako]

Hey everyone,

I'm going to be using a hydrometer for the first time while brewing. I've actually done 6 batches so far, but have never used it lol. Can anyone recommend a hydrometer tube they use? I have the hydrometer, but the cheap plastic tube that came with my kit broke. Can I use a science tube? I see a few of the science tubes on Amazon, not sure if they will work.

Thanks everyone

i just drop it in the wort and call it a day.

don't forget to clean it first.

 

[Konadog]

Just about anything will work, if you have a local brew supply house, go there and support them. If not, https://www.morebeer.com/products/hydrometer-jar-10.html

 

[Jako]

Just about anything will work, if you have a local brew supply house, go there and support them. If not, https://www.morebeer.com/products/hydrometer-jar-10.html

i second this. my LHBS has the same price as online stores. i paid a few bucks less for my beer gun i was shocked to tell the truth.

 

[lump42]

Science tubes, never heard them called that. Much better name The technical name is graduated cylinders, you'll get more results using that name. You can definitely use them, but just be sure that it is deep enough and wide enough for the hydrometer to float freely, probably a 250 ml. It would also help if it is clear and not just translucent like some of the lab plastics tend to be.

Alternatively, you can check the prices on hydrometer flasks, they are not guaranteed volumes and all the plastic ones I've seen are clear.

I've always been leary of dropping the hydrometer directly into the kette. I've heard tales and seen plenty of posts here where someone dropped it in, the hydrometer hit the bottom and broke. Drinking lead shot and glass shards isn't a risk I want to take. Set it in gently if you go that route.

 

[S-Met]

Do you have a tall, narrow glass? I use a 250ml graduated cylinder, it came with the hydrometer. You could also use a bar pint glass. The downside is you lose a pint every sample, but its hardly a loss if you drink it afterwards.

What do you use to ferment, bucket, carboy or wide-mouth vessel? I wouldn't drop a hydrometer in a standard #6.5 or #6 bung carboy because getting it out would be a pain, but fine in a large mouth or bucket.

 

[Jako]

Science tubes, never heard them called that. Much better name The technical name is graduated cylinders, you'll get more results using that name. You can definitely use them, but just be sure that it is deep enough and wide enough for the hydrometer to float freely, probably a 250 ml. It would also help if it is clear and not just translucent like some of the lab plastics tend to be.

Alternatively, you can check the prices on hydrometer flasks, they are not guaranteed volumes and all the plastic ones I've seen are clear.

I've always been leary of dropping the hydrometer directly into the kette. I've heard tales and seen plenty of posts here where someone dropped it in, the hydrometer hit the bottom and broke. Drinking lead shot and glass shards isn't a risk I want to take. Set it in gently if you go that route.

(this is more of a joke) how far would i have to drop my hydrometer for it to go 6 gallons deep in the kettle haha.

 

[NGD]

I've always been leary of dropping the hydrometer directly into the kette. I've heard tales and seen plenty of posts here where someone dropped it in, the hydrometer hit the bottom and broke. Drinking lead shot and glass shards isn't a risk I want to take. Set it in gently if you go that route.

This made me laugh. Unless your dropping it in a small batch or from a decent height, seems like it would be difficult to break.

Then again I can also see myself after a w00tstout thinking it was a good idea to try and drop it in and “almost” touch the bottom of the fermenter from 2 ft above the level of the wort.

A graduated cylinder from the local home brew shop should be cheap..or get a refractometer and only lose a drop of beer....but those samples are not as satisfying to taste. [emoji14]

 

[nickolas388]

i just drop it in the wort and call it a day.

don't forget to clean it first.

oh boy...idk about that lol. i feel like id mess it up.

Just about anything will work, if you have a local brew supply house, go there and support them. If not, https://www.morebeer.com/products/hydrometer-jar-10.html

thanks for the link, the unfortunately the shipping is 10 bucks lol

i second this. my LHBS has the same price as online stores. i paid a few bucks less for my beer gun i was shocked to tell the truth.

no local brew shop around my new address, which stinks.

Science tubes, never heard them called that. Much better name The technical name is graduated cylinders, you'll get more results using that name. You can definitely use them, but just be sure that it is deep enough and wide enough for the hydrometer to float freely, probably a 250 ml. It would also help if it is clear and not just translucent like some of the lab plastics tend to be.

Alternatively, you can check the prices on hydrometer flasks, they are not guaranteed volumes and all the plastic ones I've seen are clear.

I've always been leary of dropping the hydrometer directly into the kette. I've heard tales and seen plenty of posts here where someone dropped it in, the hydrometer hit the bottom and broke. Drinking lead shot and glass shards isn't a risk I want to take. Set it in gently if you go that route.

lol, i didn't know the name. i found a few clear ones on amazon, but they're 100ml. Probably no good then..?

Do you have a tall, narrow glass? I use a 250ml graduated cylinder, it came with the hydrometer. You could also use a bar pint glass. The downside is you lose a pint every sample, but its hardly a loss if you drink it afterwards.

What do you use to ferment, bucket, carboy or wide-mouth vessel? I wouldn't drop a hydrometer in a standard #6.5 or #6 bung carboy because getting it out would be a pain, but fine in a large mouth or bucket.

do not have a narrow glass. yeeh..not sure if i would want to lose a pint, definitely wouldn't drink the wort haha. i use a bucket, i really do need a carboy at this point, being that i have done like 7 brews.

 

[S-Met]

Bucket is fine. I'm a fan of the fermonster, but anything works

 

[lump42]

This made me laugh. Unless your dropping it in a small batch or from a decent height, seems like it would be difficult to break.

I laughed the first few posts I had seen about it here. They come up at least annually. Then I switched from a 8gal to 15gal kettle. I could see it happening a bit more easily with a 5 gal batch.

 

[Soulshine2]

Hey everyone,

I'm going to be using a hydrometer for the first time while brewing. I've actually done 6 batches so far, but have never used it lol. Can anyone recommend a hydrometer tube they use? I have the hydrometer, but the cheap plastic tube that came with my kit broke. Can I use a science tube? I see a few of the science tubes on Amazon, not sure if they will work.

Thanks everyone

buy a test jar , sanitize it WELL. I bought one of those foam padded brief case looking things from harbor freight to keep my thermometer , test jar and both hydrometers in.

 

[Soulshine2]

I have to post this. I spend quite a bit of time on Pinterest grazing the home brew pages ,just as I do in here. I came across a pin for "how to calibrate your hydrometer" and so I thought I hadn't ever done mine . I just assumed it was when I got it. I'm glad I did .Let me tell you what I found. Its not good.
First of all I had to put my reading glasses on my 51 yr old eyes to see what temperature it should be calibrated and read at,which is 60*F .I had been using 68*F all this time. Now at this point I have to wonder how far off my brewing numbers up to this point have been. Its a wonder theyve turned out at all.
I can only guess that breweries are kept cool ...like around 60*F ?? and thats why it needs to be that temp . Ok, so , I take my test jar cylinder ,fill it up with cold tap water , put my floating thermometer in and it reads ...68*F so how now do I lower the temp so I can get to 60. I put one ice cube in and watch . I bob the thermometer up and down to work the cube up and down and get to 64 in no time . I grab a half cube,repeat the process and I finally reach 60*F steady.
I take out my hydrometer and float it , it reads waaaay low ,like way down below 1.000 . I wonder how it can be so far off. I let it sit longer and notice its sinking. I remove it from the water and as I wipe the water from the weighted bottom it continues to drip , i wipe more, it drips. I realize its cracked right at the tip where the glass was formed into the tip. Water had made its way inside the glass. No telling how long its been like this. JUNK. Good thing I'll be near my old LHBS soon.

 

[NGD]

I have to post this. I spend quite a bit of time on Pinterest grazing the home brew pages ,just as I do in here. I came across a pin for "how to calibrate your hydrometer" and so I thought I hadn't ever done mine . I just assumed it was when I got it. I'm glad I did .Let me tell you what I found. Its not good.
First of all I had to put my reading glasses on my 51 yr old eyes to see what temperature it should be calibrated and read at,which is 60*F .I had been using 68*F all this time. Now at this point I have to wonder how far off my brewing numbers up to this point have been. Its a wonder theyve turned out at all.
I can only guess that breweries are kept cool ...like around 60*F ?? and thats why it needs to be that temp . Ok, so , I take my test jar cylinder ,fill it up with cold tap water , put my floating thermometer in and it reads ...68*F so how now do I lower the temp so I can get to 60. I put one ice cube in and watch . I bob the thermometer up and down to work the cube up and down and get to 64 in no time . I grab a half cube,repeat the process and I finally reach 60*F steady.
I take out my hydrometer and float it , it reads waaaay low ,like way down below 1.000 . I wonder how it can be so far off. I let it sit longer and notice its sinking. I remove it from the water and as I wipe the water from the weighted bottom it continues to drip , i wipe more, it drips. I realize its cracked right at the tip where the glass was formed into the tip. Water had made its way inside the glass. No telling how long its been like this. JUNK. Good thing I'll be near my old LHBS soon.

I suddenly have this urge to recalibrate my hydrometer

 

[davidabcd]

After the second bottom fell off my second cheap hydrometer flask, I gave up on them and the wine thief/turkey baster.
I do gently lower the sanitized hydrometer into the liquid. It never occurred to me to drop it from any height though.
When taking the OG this way it can be a pain reading the hydrometer if the foam from aerating is dense. Plus, the hydrometer likes to do "laps" in the wort caused by the motion while aerating.
Downside is I don't have a reason to taste. Upside is all of the beer has a chance reach the bottle.

 

[Soulshine2]

I'm not sure what you just said. I've never put it in the BK whirlpool or whatever, ALWAYS the test jar(is this what youre referring to as a flask?). Never dropped it from any height. I've treated it as fragile as anyone possibly could, which piques my curiosity as to how the crack occurred .Perhaps its always been there (manufacturing flaw?) and the sudden cold water just made the inside of the room temperature (15 degree difference )hydrometer suck water into it, I could see that.
I didn't buy it new , it came with my kit when it was given to me . I doubt it was ever used but im sure with almost 10 yrs of temperature swings and moving , it somehow got damaged . I don't know. But now I need a new one before I even think of brewing again.
I might even get a refractometer while I'm at the LHBS .

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Hydrometers generally fit into a 100ml measuring cylinder just fine - even the "fat" finishing hydrometers (just! They allow more accurate measurements up to 1.020, which is nice if not essential).

I prefer glass to plastic cylinders - not much more expensive and another long glass thing that's easily broken, but I prefer glass for anything going near my wort.

Talking of breaking, hydrometers are notorious for it (the HBT count thread is up past 3000 from memory) and always break when you really need it, so if you're not really tight for cash, you might want to get a spare one (sort of thing to buy when you're making up an order to qualify for free shipping etc).

Do calibrate it - plenty of how-to guides on the web, but just checking it reads 1.000 in plain water is a good start and something that can be easily checked every time you use it.

 

[Soulshine2]

Hydrometers generally fit into a 100ml measuring cylinder just fine - even the "fat" finishing hydrometers (just! They allow more accurate measurements up to 1.020, which is nice if not essential).

I prefer glass to plastic cylinders - not much more expensive and another long glass thing that's easily broken, but I prefer glass for anything going near my wort.

Talking of breaking, hydrometers are notorious for it (the HBT count thread is up past 3000 from memory) and always break when you really need it, so if you're not really tight for cash, you might want to get a spare one (sort of thing to buy when you're making up an order to qualify for free shipping etc).

Do calibrate it - plenty of how-to guides on the web, but just checking it reads 1.000 in plain water is a good start and something that can be easily checked every time you use it.

ADD- and always check the temperature at which it reads true .

 

[jack13]

I discovered after many uses that my regular hydrometer reads 3 points too high (and that my finishing gravity hydrometer is spot on).

 

[RevFrank]

I moved to the Tilt Hydrometer. Just drop it in your fermentor and track it on your cell phone or tablet.

 

[Blazinlow86]

I have the typical 250ml plastic graduated cylinder but now I use the actual container the hydrometer comes in as it only takes about 150ml to fill. Cheers

 

[PeteSeattle]

I moved to the Tilt Hydrometer. Just drop it in your fermentor and track it on your cell phone or tablet.

+1 for tilt if your wallet is willing.