Official Broken Hydrometer Count

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One year and 27 brews under my belt and I'm still on my first beer hydrometer..

Just picked up my first proof and tralle hydrometer, it's longer and seems lighter and much more delicate than a beer hydro so I'm ordering two more as backup to have on hand when the inevitable occurs.
 
Make it 2350!
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2341

Hydrometer hit bottom of case and kept going, to the floor.
One of those round plastic sleeves/tubes with a plastic plug on each end? Those tubes are borderline criminal!

After breaking my first (by torpedo action), and already counted for here, as soon as I returned home with one of those I glued and taped one end well to the tube. That bottom will never drop out. I still have and use that same hydrometer with the tube, but that's only due to having 2 spares on hand. And being very careful when handling it, every time.
 
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and i was wondering why my gluco beers wern't finishing dry! not sure if that counts as ' broke'...but the one reading right, on the right..is ugly so i have to get a new one!

2352
 
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and i was wondering why my gluco beers wern't finishing dry! not sure if that counts as ' broke'...but the one reading right, on the right..is ugly so i have to get a new one!

2352
Picture is kinda hazy, and not in a good way. What's exactly considered "ugly" here, hydrometer wise?
 
Picture is kinda hazy, and not in a good way. What's exactly considered "ugly" here, hydrometer wise?

yeah camera is from the 90's...the one on the right at the bottom that's not in the pic is distingrating....but you can tell from the fuzzy image the one on the left in the same tap water is reading at 1.005, one on the right, 1.000

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i don't know...the one that's lying to me is pretty and the honest one is ugly...i might have found my dream of a single scale one though on ebay, and ordered it! don't remember these things costing 30 bucks before though....
 
yeah camera is from the 90's...the one on the right at the bottom that's not in the pic is distingrating....but you can tell from the fuzzy image the one on the left in the same tap water is reading at 1.005, one on the right, 1.000

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i don't know...the one that's lying to me is pretty and the honest one is ugly...i might have found my dream of a single scale one though on ebay, and ordered it! don't remember these things costing 30 bucks before though....
How is it disintegrating? It's a sealed glass tube.

From the looks, in your last picture, the one on the left with the pointy bottom looks like the one I have and use now. The "ugly" one on the right looks more like the one I had first, and broke. I thought the round bottom one was actually prettier. And it was definitely more accurate! My pointy one reads .002 too high, but easy to correct in the mind.

The ones with the multi colored scales look ugly to me, and are hard to read. WTF, it only has one purpose!

Agreed, single scale hydrometers have charm, even better if the scale's markings are further apart. Does your new one read in Brix or SG? What's the range?
$30 sounds like a lot, maybe it's more precise? Better take good care of it.
 
First of the new year?? I didn’t like the reading that one gave me anyway... had low efficiency since I bought it!

+1

2354
 
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My 'new' plain form one arrived broken... But i can see that plain form is the way to go if all you want is SG...This was H-B Instrument 1.000-1.070, has one SG on one side and another one on the other side...and .001 increament on the other sides! yea! too bad they didn't know how to package it..Must not have read this thread!

+1

2355
 
Took a gravity reading yesterday morning and left the hydrometer by the dish drying rack... Forgot to put it away (or inform my daughter) and when I got home she told me "the bad news" that she accidentally broke it.

First broken one in 6 years or more.
 
I put my thermometer in its case very carefully to ensure nothing was at risk of being damaged. Didnt have the cap on the other end and it slid right out. Now ive broken one thermometer and one hydrometer in my 8 years of brewing. Thats pretty good!
 
I put my thermometer in its case very carefully to ensure nothing was at risk of being damaged. Didnt have the cap on the other end and it slid right out. Now ive broken one thermometer and one hydrometer in my 8 years of brewing. Thats pretty good!

I did this with a sightglass not that long ago - forgot to cap it
I'd say in about 10+ years of brewing i've broken 1 (others have broken like 5)
 
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I did this with a sightglass not that long ago - forgot to cap it
I'd day in about 10+ years of brewing i've broken 1 (others have broken like 5)
The key to not breaking them is to not use them. Lol. I don't measure gravity on every batch.
 
I recently went to get my bottling hydrometer and the neck was broken. I did not even realize I broke it when I put it away last. First one that I broke since starting in 2008. Up to 2361 now.
 
Been brewing on and off for 13 years or so.....easily have broken 15+, I went on a run at one point that if I looked at them they broke. Haha
 
Always seen this thread and never opened it up. I guess I'll join in the fray ...

Today makes #5 broken
 
I didn't even get to break this one myself thanks to the post office.
 

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I keep these around but I find that I use a Refractometer more and more these days when beginning a new batch. Of course you still need a hydrometer for the end of fermentation.
 
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My 'new' plain form one arrived broken... But i can see that plain form is the way to go if all you want is SG...This was H-B Instrument 1.000-1.070, has one SG on one side and another one on the other side...and .001 increament on the other sides! yea! too bad they didn't know how to package it..Must not have read this thread!

+1

2355
bonus points for posting a pic of the deceased.
 
Put me down for 4 . 2 glass and 2 herculometers . The first herculometer was not technically broken but the paper scale would not stay in place so I always had to tap either the bottom or top of the hydro to get the paper in the right place. Second herculometer the black cap on the end came of and got water inside the tube so now the paper scale is wet unreadable and out of place ( also tried drying it out but paper scale was plaster to the side of tube). Been using a Milwaukee digital refractometer for years now and been very happy. Count now 2,591.
 
First Hydro break cleaning after last brew. Not bad considering I have been brewing for a little over a year now.

2592.

you've only been brewing a year? lol :D

edit: damn, i got three hydrometer's now i want to purposefully throw one on the floor....and i've been brewing for 25 years.....
 
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