Northern Brewer Final Gravity Hydrometer

[RunDadRun]

Can someone please double check my logic here or offer some experience/advice? I recently purchased the Lab Grade Hydrometer .980-1.020 from NB linked below. When i got it home, i tested it with distilled water (at calibration temp) and got a reading of .997. Not a huge difference, but considering that it was almost half an inch on the scale, it was quite noticeable. After some discussion, they sent me a brand new replacement. The new one registered almost exactly the same reading (maybe a slight be better)! I am pretty disappointed.

So, has anyone purchased this product? what has your experience been?

Am I being unreasonable in my belief that something labeled as "lab grade" should be pretty much dead on out of the box?

Before anyone points it out, yes i know i can just make note of the difference and correct for it. And, yes, i know that as long as it registers the same amount off each time i will still be able to detect the small changes in gravity that i was looking to detect in my aged/sour beers.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/lad-grade-hydrometer-980-1-020


Thanks for the help.

 

[Gavin C]

Can someone please double check my logic here or offer some experience/advice? I recently purchased the Lab Grade Hydrometer .980-1.020 from NB linked below. When i got it home, i tested it with distilled water (at calibration temp) and got a reading of .997. Not a huge difference, but considering that it was almost half an inch on the scale, it was quite noticeable. After some discussion, they sent me a brand new replacement. The new one registered almost exactly the same reading (maybe a slight be better)! I am pretty disappointed.

So, has anyone purchased this product? what has your experience been?

Am I being unreasonable in my belief that something labeled as "lab grade" should be pretty much dead on out of the box?

Before anyone points it out, yes i know i can just make note of the difference and correct for it. And, yes, i know that as long as it registers the same amount off each time i will still be able to detect the small changes in gravity that i was looking to detect in my aged/sour beers.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/lad-grade-hydrometer-980-1-020


Thanks for the help.

I have one. It works flawlessly.

Did you make sure that both hydrometer and water were at the calibration temperature of 60°F

If the water was warmer the hydrometer will measure lower than 1.000

Lab-grade is a nothing term. Just marketing. They could just as easily have called it space-grade or dumpster-grade.