Is this hydrometer......wrong?

[giuzep89]

What you're seeing in the picture is a reading taken with tap water. Does the reading look off to you? My impression is that the long line that should be indicating 1.000 is too low compared to the surface of the water. But then again, I don't trust how I'm looking at this, and I'd rather defer judgement to you. Opinions?

 

[mashdar]

That's a very confusing hydrometer marking.

But yes, it appears to be out of calibration. I guess the line under 1.000 is the 1.000 line, but those are some odd color coding and line choices.

edit: reading is typically at the bottom of the meniscus, or ~0.999 in this case. So you can add 0.001 to all readings and be pretty accurate.

 

[Rish]

What you're seeing in the picture is a reading taken with tap water. Does the reading look off to you? My impression is that the long line that should be indicating 1.000 is too low compared to the surface of the water. But then again, I don't trust how I'm looking at this, and I'd rather defer judgement to you. Opinions?

View attachment 884715

Use distilled water instead of tap and make sure it is a the proper calibration temperature. You should be able to find it on the hydrometer. Likely 68* F.

 

[lumpher]

The way I read it is it's 1.003. It's messed up when experienced brewers read it differently...