Syringe Hydrometer?

[TcJ]

I'm in the process of fermenting my very first 5-gallon batch, so I'm obviously a newbie.

As I was pulling off the cover of my bucket to take a gravity reading, I thought there has to be a better way. I imagined a tool that is a variant of a battery hydrometer, where the wort gets sucked up by raising the plunger, you take a reading, and then return the wort by lowering the plunger. The end of the syringe is sized to the airlock hole in the top of the bucket.

No contamination, no loss of wort. I couldn't find such a device anywhere. Any reason why this wouldn't work?

 

[QuercusMax]

Why not brew an extra 4oz so you don't worry about losing the wort from your hydro sample? Returning wort back is just asking for contamination unless you clean the hell out of that thing.

Also you'll need to think about how to vent the co2 coming off your hydro sample.

 

[flars]

No reason it would not work. You could probably make the syringe. I still wouldn't return the sample though. The samples are for tasting.
edit: The hydrometer would still need to float freely.

 

[fartinmartin]

It would work, BUT .
I reckon by the time you get the tube into the wort thats a fair size sample not very dissimilar to 70ml in a test jar !
That is way more than a probe down the airlock hole, and the drip sample put onto a refractometer !
Letting the sample back into the wort is never a good idea, even in the scenario I described above for the refractometer .
Much better take a sample from the valve on the fermentor, just a few drips and get that on the refractometer , far less risk of contamination.

Basic rule for me is once the lid is on and the air lock in, the lid don't come off till it's bottling time, three weeks minimum, put something down the airlock, NO, why?

 

[hunter_le five]

I'm in the process of fermenting my very first 5-gallon batch, so I'm obviously a newbie.

As I was pulling off the cover of my bucket to take a gravity reading, I thought there has to be a better way. I imagined a tool that is a variant of a battery hydrometer, where the wort gets sucked up by raising the plunger, you take a reading, and then return the wort by lowering the plunger. The end of the syringe is sized to the airlock hole in the top of the bucket.

No contamination, no loss of wort. I couldn't find such a device anywhere. Any reason why this wouldn't work?

I just take my hydro reading directly in the bucket. Simple, easy, zero wort loss.

Also, if you drink the hydro sample, there is zero wort loss.

 

[TcJ]

Drinking the wort is definitely the best argument against returning the wort!

I notice that several of the suppliers suggest doing basically the same thing with the Femtech wine thief... so I suppose some brewers think the risk of returning wort to the fermenter isn't that great. The advantage of the syringe over the wine thief is that you can draw the sample through the airlock hole, and easily get enough to float the hydrometer. Of course, drawing the sample from a spigot would be even safer.

 

[flars]

Drinking the wort is definitely the best argument against returning the wort!

I notice that several of the suppliers suggest doing basically the same thing with the Femtech wine thief... so I suppose some brewers think the risk of returning wort to the fermenter isn't that great. The advantage of the syringe over the wine thief is that you can draw the sample through the airlock hole, and easily get enough to float the hydrometer. Of course, drawing the sample from a spigot would be even safer.

When you draw a sample from the spigot, residual beer is left in the spigot. The residual can start a bacterial colony, which can infect the beer as it is bottled through the spigot. It's better to take a sample from the top.

 

[whattheschmidt]

I bought a turkey baster to take readings - sanitize it, grab out to the marked spot on it and put in the tube for the reading.

Like others said, the loss of wort isn't a big deal, I often take a small drink of it then dump it just to see where I'm at too.

 

[fartinmartin]

Well I concede to Flars, I had not considered enough the taking from the tap. Now given it more thought the tap is horrible ! So a dip sample through the airlock hole seems to be the best.

However, once you have done a few (well lots) you will like most of us I think only take a sample once its ready to bottle, and we seem to know when that is.

 

[Yooper]

the picture looks like a wine thief. They work great!

http://www.highgravitybrew.com/store/pc/Plastic-Wine-Thief-p513.htm

 

[IslandLizard]

I broke a hydrometer in the wine thief. Yes, it torpedoed lower than anyone could have expected and bottomed out. Gravity was low, the beer was done.

Without lifting the lid, which I agree on should not be done, you can sneak a skinny 1/4" tube down the grommet hole and siphon enough beer out to fill your hydrometer test tube. Gives you a good tasting sample too. Don't even start that until after 2 weeks.