I need a new hydrometer

[jodell]

So I just finished brewing my new ipa recipe.

After my mash, I took a reading and it said I had 1.082 for pre-boil volume. For my recipe that would have been 115 percent efficiency....

Post boil. Ended up with exactly 10.5 gallons in the fermenter. Post boil gravity, 1.051....

I need a new hydrometer

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

Try to calibrate it...

https://byo.com/mead/item/411-calibrate-your-hydrometer-and-fermenter-techniques

 

[Yooper]

Did you take your reading at under 80 degrees or so, and then correct for temperature? I ask because any reading taken over 100 degrees or so is notoriously inaccurate, and unusable. If you take the sample from the mash, and cool it to under 80 degrees and then use the correction table, it's pretty accurate (not perfect, but good enough)

 

[jodell]

I did actually take a cool sample. I pulled a sample, let it cool to 85, but still got the really high first number and the terribley low second number.
This recipe was 24lbs and og was predicted to be 1.078 I believe (my computer is dead right now and has the recipe in beer smith but I'll confirm that later)

This is a really cheap hydrometer

 

[dthompson79]

I'm a fan of the narrow range precision hydrometers Morebeer and Northern brewer carry .980-1.020, 1.000-1.060, 1.060-1.120.
Easy to read and accurate

 

[jodell]

I'm a fan of the narrow range precision hydrometers Morebeer and Northern brewer carry .980-1.020, 1.000-1.060, 1.060-1.120.
Easy to read and accurate

I saw these on Williams brewing and they are on my Christmas list for my wife

 

[jodell]

The predicted OG was actually 1.075

I think the reason I am annoyed with this one and just going to replace it is that it should not give me a higher reading pre-boil. But since it did I am just going to replace it

 

[chickypad]

That sounds like more than just hydrometer calibration if you measured 1.082 pre and post boil it's 1.051. Even if it's miscalibrated the reading shouldn't go down post boil, but then to be off like 30-40 pts!? Are you sure you stirred your preboil wort well before taking the reading? Maybe you were getting a lot of first runnings.

Edit: I also think the 1.075 estimate is off. For 24 lbs in 10.5 gals that would be like 91% efficiency. 1.051 sounds more believable at 62% (though you said 10.5 into the fermenter, the efficiency would be a little higher if you left some behind in the kettle).

 

[jodell]

I am usually right at 90% on efficiency, (my last beer I had some issues happen in the middle of it, and since I don't trust this reading on this one I am not exactly sure what I hit).

And I did stir the whole boil kettle before I measured it. So I honestly don't know what is going on with it.

 

[ncbrewer]

Maybe try turning it upside down and back a few times to see if the scale moves - maybe it came loose.

 

[Lefou]

I saw these on Williams brewing and they are on my Christmas list for my wife

My wife saw the metal clip stainless insertion thermometer that came with my kit and said "Ooh, I like that. Maybe I can borrow it sometime?"
Have already replaced one hydrometer and twice fixed a broken plastic hydro test tube.

No. I DON'T want to share my toys!
In my other life, I used to acquire neat work stuff for my electronics toolkit ... digital RMS voltmeter, voltage testers, crimpers, electrician tools, etc. Over $700 worth of stuff is now scattered to the four winds over the last ten years.

 

[jodell]

Ah I figured it out.

So a lot of you all mentioned calibrating it, and I decided to try that even though I had originally planned on pitching this one and getting a new one.
Well I turned it upside down and tapped it...and the paper moved like half a cm. Then I brought it back upright and shook it, and it moved again.
So the paper inside is extremely loose, and that has what has been throwing these numbers off so bad. So I will be tossing this one and I told my wife I've got my eyes on the northern brewer set.

 

[jodell]

She loves me