Official Broken Hydrometer Count

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Yeah, me too.
Quite often I don't even take FG readings anymore (with the hydrometer). There's nothing I can do to change it, anyway.
Ha!
Yeah I’ve had a couple of brew days recently where the only reason I check the gravity is so I can make myself feel like a stud by hitting my expected gravity.
Otherwise, I’m with you. Not much I can do and it won’t make a big difference if I’m off a few points.

Maybe I’ll start another thread…..
I think it would be a fun challenge to brew a beer with zero measuring.
Literally grab grains from the bins and dump them into the mill. Same for hops. Also don’t use a timer for the boil.
Temp control for fermentation- nah
 
I used the same hydrometer for 10 years of brewing without breakage.I then broke two in one month period. I have since switched to a refractometer with no issues. Add 2 to the count!
 
how are they made then?
That's a very good question...
The top end is very smooth, I've never seen a seam or joint in that area, but they must close the tube there, it can't be anywhere else, since the paper sleeve is tacked down at the top when calibrating.

One thing is sure, it's top class glassblowing!
 
Quite often I don't even take FG readings anymore (with the hydrometer). There's nothing I can do to change it, anyway.
same. i will occasionally measure FG if there is some beer left over in the fermenter after racking to my keg, but there isn't always something left over... and i'm lazy. so my expected 1.010 beer is 1.013 - so what? very few people could detect the difference (i'm certainly not one of them), and i'm not going to do anything about it. i'm quite confident in my ability to control temps (including ramping up at the end of primary) and foster a solid fermentation. the difference between 6.5% abv and 6.6% is meaningless.

95% of the time i do use my refract to take OG, but that's because i will do something about it if i don't like the number: add DME, add water, adjust my expectations to a lower or higher yield, change mashing process next batch, etc.
 
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Maybe I’ll start another thread…..
I think it would be a fun challenge to brew a beer with zero measuring.
Literally grab grains from the bins and dump them into the mill. Same for hops. Also don’t use a timer for the boil.
Temp control for fermentation- nah
i think this would be a cool thing to do.

other proposed rules:
no starters/no rehydration.
no nutrients.
no OG or FG measurements? (controversial...)

i think the one thing that should be allowed is measuring/managing mash temp.

this approach/style shall henceforth be known as slackbeer... or ForceBeer (cue the scene where Luke is on the trench run in EP4 and about to use his sighting instrument to fire the kill-shot, when Obi_wan's voice tells him to "use the force" and he puts the instrument away...)
 
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i think this would be a cool thing to do.

other proposed rules:
no starters/no rehydration.
no nutrients.
no OG or FG measurements? (controversial...)

i think the one thing that should be allowed is measuring/managing mash temp.

this approach/style shall henceforth be known as slackbeer... or ForceBeer (cue the scene where Luke is on the trench run in EP4 and about to use his sighting instrument to fire the kill-shot, when Obi_wan's voice tells him to "use the force" and he puts the instrument away...)
I’m ok with these rules. Although I may take a gravity reading, I wouldn’t make any adjustments from it.
Btw- who uses nutes for beer?

As far as mash temp- I use an anvil foundry, so I’ll know the temp and volume of water.

What’s this gonna prove? Absolutely nothing. But I’m still excited to try it out.

I have a couple of beers I wanna brew first (Christmas beers) but then I’ll do this experiment.
 
Does this count? I'm breaking this one just for spite.

No wonder I haven't gotten anywhere close to my target FG/OG...
 

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No wonder I haven't gotten anywhere close to my target FG/OG...
As @balrog said, it's only an offset.
There's nothing broken or need to be broken for. Just subtract the 4 (or 5)* points from any reading.

* It's hard to get an exact read from the higher view point.

I never understood why so many fill the hydrometer testing tube all the way to the top. The tube is transparent, you can read just as well through it, with the liquid surface at eye level. As long as the hydrometer floats and is not bottoming out.
 
I never understood why so many fill the hydrometer testing tube all the way to the top.
it's called the instagram effect: you do illogical things in order to get a better picture.

i'll bet dollars to doughnuts that these people don't fill their sample tubes all the way to the top when they're not going to take a pic.
 
As @balrog said, it's only an offset.
There's nothing broken or need to be broken for. Just subtract the 4 (or 5)* points from any reading.

* It's hard to get an exact read from the higher view point.

I never understood why so many fill the hydrometer testing tube all the way to the top. The tube is transparent, you can read just as well through it, with the liquid surface at eye level. As long as the hydrometer floats and is not bottoming out.
That has long baffled me as well.
 
Anybody ever have a twofer? I broke both of mine today, in one roll off the counter of my home built protective hydro storage device.

A few months ago, after breaking one at the city house, I was at the farm and noticed that my wife had emptied one of those cardboard tubes that breadcrumbs are packaged in (think Pringles tube). It occurred to me that I could put both my hydrometers in the tube, with some bubble wrap between them, poke two holes in the lid for the ends of the stems to extend through, and have secure storage for both. Worked great until yesterday. I had pulled a preboil sample and was going to use my Dot thermometer to check the temp. The cable between the display and the probe was behind the storage tube and when I picked up the probe the slack went out of the cable and pushed the tube, with both hydros in it, off the counter. Of course, it landed on the lid, where the top inch or so of both stems were exposed, and broke them both. Best laid plans, and all like that…

2625+2=2627
 
I keep my hydrometer safely packed inside its tube, with paper at both ends, and that tube inside the hydrometer sample cylinder.

Today, in a fit of idiocy, I dropped this assembly from four feet above a concrete garage floor. As I heard the crash, and saw the hydrometer cylinder cleft into two large pieces, I felt sure I'd be adding another hydrometer to this count.

Fortunately, such is not the case. My original and only glass 3-scale hydrometer survives!
 
Well, I guess I'm officially a homebrewer now. I finally broke my first hydrometer. It was the same one that came in my starter kit that I bought back in 2016. I guess 7 years is a good life for a hydrometer though. Good thing I got my readings done before I broke it today, my LHBS is 3 hours away. Will Amazon here I come! Cheers!
 
Well, I guess I'm officially a homebrewer now. I finally broke my first hydrometer. It was the same one that came in my starter kit that I bought back in 2016. I guess 7 years is a good life for a hydrometer though. Good thing I got my readings done before I broke it today, my LHBS is 3 hours away. Will Amazon here I come! Cheers!



how did the blessed soul part?
 
how did the blessed soul part?
I was washing it after taking my og reading and the stem just snapped in my hand. It was really a game day hydrometer. I have dropped it a couple of times and it has even rolled off the kitchen table with no damage. At least no visible damage. ;) "sigh" guess the old boy lived a good life. :mug:
 
I keep my hydrometer safely packed inside its tube, with paper at both ends, and that tube inside the hydrometer sample cylinder.

Today, in a fit of idiocy, I dropped this assembly from four feet above a concrete garage floor. As I heard the crash, and saw the hydrometer cylinder cleft into two large pieces, I felt sure I'd be adding another hydrometer to this count.

Fortunately, such is not the case. My original and only glass 3-scale hydrometer survives!
2627 + 1 = 2628
 
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