oops

[JohnT]

What a common "cellar rat" mistake..

I broke my last hydrometer (on the concrete floor and not in the wine).

Started out with 3 about 9 years ago.

Break one and say "Damn, well, I still have two more".

Break another and say "Crap!, well I still have one more. I have to remember to buy a couple".

Break another and say "S&*T!!!! Honey, where are my car keys? I need to run an errand".

I've got to remember this... One hydrometer every 3 years..

johnT.

 

[ffemt128]

What a common "cellar rat" mistake..

I broke my last hydrometer (on the concrete floor and not in the wine).

Started out with 3 about 9 years ago.

Break one and say "Damn, well, I still have two more".

Break another and say "Crap!, well I still have one more. I have to remember to buy a couple".

Break another and say "S&*T!!!! Honey, where are my car keys? I need to run an errand".

I've got to remember this... One hydrometer every 3 years..

johnT.

I bought 3 after I broke my first. I hear they don't like to be lonely.

 

[xoltri]

I bought 3 after I broke my first. I hear they don't like to be lonely.

I just bought a refractometer from ebay for $30 and printed out a conversion chart for after fermentation has started. It never breaks, is just as accurate, and takes way less time and hassle than my hydrometer.

View attachment brixcorrections.pdf

 

[JohnT]

I just bought a refractometer from ebay for $30 and printed out a conversion chart for after fermentation has started. It never breaks, is just as accurate, and takes way less time and hassle than my hydrometer.

I already have a ATC refractometer. I just seems easier to use a hydrometer (once fermentation has started) then do all of those calculations.

 

[xoltri]

I already have a ATC refractometer. I just seems easier to use a hydrometer (once fermentation has started) then do all of those calculations.

That's why I made that chart. For an example, if you started at a brix reading of 25, using the chart you'll know that fermentation is finished if your somewhere between 8.8 and 9.6.

If you started at a brix reading of say 19.5, using the chart you'll know fermentation is done somewhere between 6.5 and 7.3 brix.

To make the chart I just manually plugged in all the numbers and recorded the results. That way I don't have to do the calculations ever again.

It's great to be able to just grab a few drops for a sample size and do a quick test. All I really care about is what did it start at and is it finished yet and this is a quick way to accomplish that.

Another tip I have is if you are getting a blurry line on your refractometer try turning it upside down for 10 seconds or so. That makes all the solids in the solution fall away from the prism and gives you a sharper reading.

 

[Tom]

Nice tip. Will have to do that next time.

 

[Wade E]

Great Job xoltri. I printed it out and will hang that on the wall.

 

[St Allie]

EEK it's annoying when that happens...


touch wood..I haven't broken one yet.

 

[SteveL]

I have been pretty lucky in that I have not broken a hydrometer either. I still have three of them though. My test jars however, I have been through 5 of them. I finally got over my fixation on glass test jars and bought a plastic one.

Another thing, I saw this today on the site of one of the vendors that I buy brewing supplies from. It is a refractometer that has Brix and SG. Kind of cool.