extra hydrometer

[3274mike]

two years no problem last 30 days broke 3 hydrometers ughhhh

 

[Julie]

ROFLMAO, well I guess this is a good measure that you have graduated to being a full fledged winemaker!!!!!!!

 

[Arne]

I feel for ya, Mike. Guess ya best buy a couple of extras next time you get supplies. Having an extra or two usually insures you are not going to break one. Sounds like you have a jinx on your back. Hope the jinx stays away from your wines. Arne.

 

[jamesngalveston]

cheaper by the dozen.

 

[Runningwolf]

Mike it's been a while since I broke a hydrometer but this year I broke two hydrometer jars in two days. My jars are 250ml glass cylinders and I dropped the hydrometer in them when they were empty and it poked a hole in them each time. That was an expensive lesson learned.

 

[sour_grapes]

That is too funny, Mike. Hopefully, this phase will pass!

I am a newbie, so I have only broken one (a few months ago). I promptly went out and bought a replacement. That's right, singular. A week or so later, I thought, "What am I, nuts or stupid?" So I did indeed buy a backup before it has been needed. As Arne points out, that has been enough to keep the breakage at bay.

 

[shoebiedoo]

two years no problem last 30 days broke 3 hydrometers ughhhh

Well, they say things happen in groups of three's so you should be good for a while!!!!!

 

[LoveTheWine]

I can't remember how old my last one was, thats how long it lasted... until 2 nights ago when it was soaking in sanitizer and my 6 yr old daughter got to it!

 

[JohnT]

My record for breaking hydrometers during a single fall season is 5. Yup, that's right, 5. This is after 25 years of winemaking.

So that is how many I keep in my winery, 5. I'll be in great shape right up until I break my own record!

 

[BernardSmith]

So perhaps the physicists amongst us can explain why they don't make hydrometers of ceramic or stainless steel or some unbreakable material. There is no inherent reason that they are made of glass or that they are transparent. The hydrometer is as old as Archimides. (OK, perhaps not quite as old as that Greek but he understood the principle) All it is is a specific mass that floats at measurably different depths depending on the ability of the liquid to support the mass. Water supports the specific mass at one level and alcohol at another and water with different quantities of sugar (or salt or anti-freeze ) at different levels... So all we need is a floating device whose height above the height of the liquid is calibrated for sugar concentrations. Why breakable glass? Because it is breakable (and so it has built in obsolescence?)

 

[JohnT]

So perhaps the physicists amongst us can explain why they don't make hydrometers of ceramic or stainless steel or some unbreakable material. There is no inherent reason that they are made of glass or that they are transparent. The hydrometer is as old as Archimides. (OK, perhaps not quite as old as that Greek but he understood the principle) All it is is a specific mass that floats at measurably different depths depending on the ability of the liquid to support the mass. Water supports the specific mass at one level and alcohol at another and water with different quantities of sugar (or salt or anti-freeze ) at different levels... So all we need is a floating device whose height above the height of the liquid is calibrated for sugar concentrations. Why breakable glass? Because it is breakable (and so it has built in obsolescence?)

Very good question. I have been on a hunt for a metal hydrometer for ages. I have been told that...

1) the amount of glass needed for a hydrometer is far lighter then the about needed of steel or brass. This makes for a much more accurate instrument.

2) glass is not corrosive.

3) glass does not bend or dent, but breaks. This comes into play when you are talking about a mass floating in a liquid.

 

[BernardSmith]

Very good question. I have been on a hunt for a metal hydrometer for ages. I have been told that...

1) the amount of glass needed for a hydrometer is far lighter then the about needed of steel or brass. This makes for a much more accurate instrument.

2) glass is not corrosive.

3) glass does not bend or dent, but breaks. This comes into play when you are talking about a mass floating in a liquid.

but ceramic is non corrosive , does not bend or break or dent and could be formed so that it is very thin and so the mass would not be (at least not obviously) an issue. I dunno... I think tradition is more powerful than reason...

 

[Arne]

but ceramic is non corrosive , does not bend or break or dent and could be formed so that it is very thin and so the mass would not be (at least not obviously) an issue. I dunno... I think tradition is more powerful than reason...

LOL, Bernard.
Laughing with you not at you. It is just job security. Knock on wood, mine are still in one piece. But you can tell they are really fragile, and I do have spares. Arne.

 

[sour_grapes]

but ceramic is non corrosive , does not bend or break or dent and could be formed so that it is very thin and so the mass would not be (at least not obviously) an issue. I dunno... I think tradition is more powerful than reason...

In general, ceramics ARE indeed brittle, and will break. Ummm, glass is a ceramic, after all.

 

[jamesngalveston]

although a glass hydrometer is a great device, as all its about to be antiquated. but keep a few for backup.

2014....Beerbug digital hydrometer that stores data wireless
edrometer digital hydrometer with digital readout.

 

[BernardSmith]

In general, ceramics ARE indeed brittle, and will break. Ummm, glass is a ceramic, after all.

Depends I think on the temperature at which the ceramic is fired. I have ceramic cooking pans and they are just about indestructible.

James... I am going to check into the digital instrument. That sounds like something for the 21st Century.

 

[sour_grapes]

Depends I think on the temperature at which the ceramic is fired. I have ceramic cooking pans and they are just about indestructible.

James... I am going to check into the digital instrument. That sounds like something for the 21st Century.

What I meant was that the failure mode of a ceramic is, in general fracture, not plastic deformation. In other words, ceramics tend not be be ductile. I was not referring to the amount of stress required to REACH failure.

 

[BernardSmith]

Thinking outside the box, people who have diabetes check their blood for sugar , don't they? The glucose meter they use measures the amount of sugar in their blood. Why wouldn't a device designed in a similar way not work for wine-makers? We currently use "specific gravity" as an indicator of the sugar in a must but really what we are interested in is not the gravity but the amount of fermentable sugar in the must at the beginning, throughout the fermentation process and at the end. Has no wine maker gone this route?

 

[jamesngalveston]

that one, beerbug..is in production...should be out this spring.
so is the other one

 

[BernardSmith]

But at what price?