Hydrometers

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Tim Gregory
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Hydrometers

Post by Tim Gregory » Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:34 pm

Goddamn, I break a lot of them! :evil:

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LiverDance
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Re: Hydrometers

Post by LiverDance » Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:43 pm

I think my count was in the double digits before I got a refractometer :roll:
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.

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Re: Hydrometers

Post by KMcK » Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:12 pm

Tim Gregory wrote:Goddamn, I break a lot of them! :evil:
So lead is the secret ingredient in your beer.
McKeggerator:
  • no beer :(

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Re: Hydrometers

Post by chalmers » Fri Mar 04, 2011 5:07 pm

LiverDance wrote:I think my count was in the double digits before I got a refractometer :roll:
Yeah, and that's been working out great for us, eh?

**We can't get the damn thing to "make sense". Double checking with a hydrometer (that only I'm allowed to touch, due to Mr. Spilly Hands), has the refractometer way out of whack. And yes, I've calibrated it it on water @ 20C, and measure at 20C, but still can't get it to work out. :(

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Re: Hydrometers

Post by jason.loxton » Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:02 pm

Just broke another one yesterday. Think it's time for a refractometer.

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Tim Gregory
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Re: Hydrometers

Post by Tim Gregory » Fri Mar 04, 2011 7:00 pm

I broke my 4th one this year :o today. Four beers brewed this year, four broken hydrometers. Time to start shopping for a refractometer.

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derek
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Re: Hydrometers

Post by derek » Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:03 pm

?????? I am ashamed to say it had never occurred to me that a refractometer could as easily measure Finished gravity (or at least sugar content) as Original gravity. Every winemaker I know carries around a refractometer during harvest season, to get the sugar content on the actual grapes, and I've just thought of it as something you do with the grapes. I confess to limited imagination. A work crew on my property loaded a tank containing at least a tonne of water onto a truck last week. Not seeing them do it, I asked them the next morning, how? There were only two of them, and no winch. He said "it was empty". I still didn't get it, so he told me they pumped it. Oh, yeah. Obvious, I guess.

If I'd actually measured the gravity on my last two batches, I'd probably be right there with Tim. As it is, I went through two hydrometers on the previous two batches, then winged it on the last two (one recipe was a repeat of one of those, the other was Nash's - why would I need the gravity? :-) )

So when we do the group buy on refractometers, please count me in!
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mr x
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Re: Hydrometers

Post by mr x » Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:39 pm

I think AK71 just ordered one from eBay. I bought the cheapest one I could find, and I'm pretty pleased with it's toughness and accuracy. I too have broken my fair share of hydrometers.... :(
At Alexander Keith's we follow the recipes first developed by the great brewmaster to the absolute letter. :wtf:

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Re: Hydrometers

Post by Jimmy » Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:56 pm

mr x wrote:I think AK71 just ordered one from eBay. I bought the cheapest one I could find, and I'm pretty pleased with it's toughness and accuracy. I too have broken my fair share of hydrometers.... :(
viewtopic.php?p=2924#p2924

Can't get much cheaper than that! I think I will order one tonight :cheers2:

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Re: Hydrometers

Post by akr71 » Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:51 pm

I did. Currently waiting delivery. Its been shipped (how long does something take to get to North American from China?)

I saw where this thread was going earlier and intended to point people toward that thread, but its been a busy day.

Oh, I was also cursing this thread earlier. I'm only on my 2nd hydrometer - my first was close to 10 years old, but was never used until I decided to go all-grain and figured I better figure out how to use it. This afternoon (after I read the thread) I was cleaning up/organizing some brewing gear and found a glass thermometer that was DOA (bubbles inside it). I tossed it in a bag to throw it out and somehow dropped it on the floor. :x I know it was broken already, but didn't want to be sweeping up broken glass too.

I blame you! ;)
Andy
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mr x
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Re: Hydrometers

Post by mr x » Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:11 pm

My last few orders from Asia took 4 weeks. Canada customs is slow I think.
At Alexander Keith's we follow the recipes first developed by the great brewmaster to the absolute letter. :wtf:

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Re: Hydrometers

Post by CorneliusAlphonse » Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:25 pm

I ordered a temperature controller off ebay on February 8th, it was marked as shipped from hong Kong on the 10th or 11th, and it arrived in the mail on Thursday (March 3).. so that is 20 days from there to here via air mail. I'm guessing it's customs that made it take that long.

I'll post a thread about the temp regulator once I get it working, if anyone is interested.
planning: beer for my cousin's wedding
Fermenting: black ipa
Conditioning:
Kegged: barrel barleywine from 2014 - i think i still have this somewhere

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