Impact potential of a glass hydrometer

[Sir Sudster]

I found out a few days ago that a glass hydrometer will only bounce once on a concrete floor.

 

[El Pistolero]

I found out a few days ago that a glass hydrometer will only bounce once on a concrete floor.

I experienced this same failing of hydrometers for myself in 1971...you would have thought that they would have improved in quality somewhat in the last 30+ years

I will say this tho...you can buy a hydrometer now for the price of a couple of hamburgers (or one really good beer). Back then, for a poor college student anyway, breaking one meant you were gonna go without eating for a couple of weeks...either that or sell your 55 Ford

 

[Sir Sudster]

I hear ya Man!

 

[Sasquatch]

Just tie a rock to a stick with lines on it... calibrate it in the local lake, and you've got an unbreakable hydrometer... sample size may be an issue...

 

[RogerN]

I now own a plastic trial jar that bounces more than once. Never broke the Hydrometer, yet

Roger.

 

[Sasquatch]

Hydrometers actually have a bad rep in labs because they are constantly bonked on the rather thin glass at the tip... over time, it seems to weaken and fail unless extreme care is taken... one way is just to keep the hydrometer floating at all times, but that of course means you have a rather tippy tube full of water sitting around.... luckily, they are cheap.

 

[SwAMi75]

"The best thing to do is buy two of them!"--My LHBS owner

 

[wild]

I keep waiting for the SS version.

Wild

 

[Vampyre]

i found out that if you try and just pour out the wort from the theif with hydro meter still inside you its neck will break when it hits your porclien sink!!!

 

[Janx]

I have a hydrometer solution that addresses all these problems...

 

[Turricaine]

I'm really lazy about using my hydrometer anyway. I guess this is set to change with time. I mean I started brewing beer five years ago but only recently started on the AG approach. But yeah, the hydrometer is def. a fundamental piece of apparatus if you want to get involved with the technical side of homebrewing.

 

[Janx]

I've been AG brewing for over 10 years and I never use one.

But, yeah, if you want to get technical about it a la the Designing Great Beers book, you do need one. Probably a fully stocked laboratory too

Don't they make a digital hydrometer yet like those cool digital pH pens?