Home of the BrewNosers

Hey Guys,

As Saturday is upon us and I am planning for my first brewday... wahoo! I had recently ordered a hydrometer of amazon to get the free shipping along with How To Brew by John Palmer. Anyway, it comes in and says that it is strictly for alcohol and cannot be used for beer or wine.. is this accurate or can it still be used?

Hope you guys can help

Cheers,
Andrew

Can you share which model you ordered? What gravity range does it show?

There are different sugars used for creating spirits vs. beer (simple sugars like glucose, sucrose vs. maltose, maltotriose and its siblings), but specific gravity is specific gravity, which is related to the concentration of the mix of sugars in your wort, and the reading you'll get pre-ferment should be accurate.

Where it may fall apart is that you also get dextrins and other long chain/complex sugars in wort that are not fermentable, which is different than in wash (aka wort for spirits). But even then, I think that means the calculation shown on the hydrometer (if it shows) may be a bit off. But you could do the calc manually here: https://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/

The conclusion is, as with many beer-related issues, Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew.

Oh, and congrats on your first brewday!