Don't Drop your Hydrometer: How to Make Mead and Wine
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
- Yeah, it happens. Things break. This was our nice glass graduated cylinder. Learn from my mistakes and don't let your hydrometer drop into your cylinder!
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I thought you were gonna say you broke your hydrometer and I was BAFFLED. Sorry about the cylinder though. Rest in pepperonis.
Nope, the hydro survived!
I use a cheap plastic cylinder but I try to never drop my hydrometer in to avoid breaking it. Thank you for reminding me to be careful with my equipment.
Glad to help
I use a Fermtech wine thief or the tube in which the hydrometer came.
Amazed it broke the bottom of the tube rather than the hydrometer itself, I have lost a lot of hydrometers in the same way.
I always buy the cheap plastic graduated cylinders. (No less breakable than glass, just cheaper). I like to buy hydrometers three or more at a time. I use one, hide one, and the third i like to break over a naturally occurring deposit of iron or nickel ore at midnight during a full moon while dancing widdershins and reciting incantations. This appeases the brew gods...😅
Oh no! Thanks for the note.
BTW, I'm pretty sure my first measurement was off on that batch I asked questions about. It finished up just fine. I think it was 1.095 not 1.195. Lol. BIG difference. Just not knowing how to read it correctly. So they finished at 13 ish %... I'm excited to try them this weekend. Thank you for your guidance.
Luckily, the cylinder I use is about 24 years old and made of plastic. I bought it when I was doing my failed attempt to study biology.
But anyway I'm pretty sure my hydropeter will break sooner or later, because things made of glass have a limited life expectancy in my vicinity. 😂
Dun dun dun! I’ll take a broken tube over a broken hydrometer any day! Though I haven’t ran into either issue since using my herculometer. 😂💚
I have been doing this... ouch... and thanks for the heads up!
I've been there...🤬 I ordered a plastic one from Amazon and received a glass one.😂 I still want a plastic one...😆
Cheers!
🤠🥃
Dang! Almost did that with my last brew. Always freak when I put the hydrometer in and it clangs.
Yeah, the video where I did this comes out Sunday. I did it several times, and realized it every time!
Oh crap!
Yeah, always realized it too late.
Bummer. Thank you for the PSA!
I was expecting this to be about the Hydroppeter, not the graduated cylinder. Good to know.. Hope cleanup was easy and you found all the glass before the fuzzballs.
We did find it all and cleaned up. Thank you. The cats are normally in closed rooms during filming, for reasons, lol.
I gently laid my hydrometer into my glass beaker and the whole hydrometer shattered from the bottom.. didn't even realize it was broken until I went to pick it back up again. That was the 2nd hydrometer I broke lol. So I got a polycarbonate hydrometer and never have issues now
Bummer! 😢
**cautionary tale** From working in a science lab setting for 30 years, broken glass is just a thing you accept, but still every time it happens, I get just a little mad at myself. It's usually an avoidable thing, just a little more cautiousness and it wouldn't have happened.
In less than 3 weeks, I smashed two items: a hydrometer measuring cylinder because it fell over, because I didn't move it out of the way as I was moving my big pitcher. Then, brand new cylinder, same scenario, but the safety collar was in the right place so the cylinder didn't break as it hit the counter top. However the hydrometer inside the cylinder did not survive. BBs and glass not fun.
TLDR: lay your equipment down as much as possible.
My problem was that I didn't have enough liquid in my cylinder and my hydrometer broke once I dropped it in confidently. I will use the Amazon link lol
I went with the buy 2 theory... I broke several Hydrometers until I did this, so I did the same with cylinders, lol. It seems to have worked for me. ;)
Yup, buy one, it will break. Buy two, never breaks. Lol.
I messed up enough that the hydrometer went through the glass bottom and broke on the floor. Trying to do better but some training wheels will never come off. Plastic for me.
Real pain. Im im northern Canada and have broken 3. Takes a week to get, which, of course throws everything out the window lol
I have broken two or three in my entire life.
RIP 💔
I recently experienced something similar. was sanitizing my equipment and my glass cylinder fell over ON TOP of my hydrometer. Smashed the hydrometer into a million tiny glass shards. I can now say with authority that it's just a piece of printed paper in there, stuffed in the hydrometer.. makes me think with enough shaking the paper could slide and change the results....
It could, but the paper is usually glued in or wedged so it won't move.
RIP cylinder; since i made the (probably common) mistake of getting a measuring cylinder that is way too big i thought about getting an acrylic tube with the right diameter and length for my hydrometer and close it off at the bottom using a silicone bung.
That would make for easy cleaning and avoid this issue, given that the bung stays in place.
@user-zr9hu3tf1y if you need an excessive amount of liquid to float the hydrometer.
@@user-zr9hu3tf1y sorry for the late response, basically what CSB said:
technically a cylinder can't be too big; one can get a gravity reading in 15 gallon bucket, however a lot of liquid is necessary for it to be deep enough that hydrometer can float...
so it's an issue of conveniece, with the 250ml measuring cylinder i own i have to take 4 or 5 samples with the baster until the hydrometer floats, and that bothers me to some degree.
With a smaller cylinder, just long enough that the whole hydrometer fits in and just a couple milimeters wider on the inside than the hydrometer one or two samples might suffice.
I did that too
Give it a few shots of FLEX SEAL, it'll be fine.
This is a fear of mine, up there with spiders and snakes. I prefer the glass cylinder and had looked for a replacement, just in case, without it coming with the hydrometer (I have 3 already). If you find a replacement please let everyone know.
We used a plastic one in the meantime, but the one we had is from this set: a.co/d/0j6ylNWM
@@CitySteadingBrews I have the same one. I prefer the glass to the plastic. I can read through the glass better. I did just find some cylinders on amazon even though they are graduated.
😢 I’ve done the same. It sucks not paying attention sometimes.
Yeah, I'm usually doing 5 things at once when making videos!
Did they same lol back to plastic.
😢😢😢
I have never broken a hydrometer... however... I baaaarely tapped the hydrometer to the lip of it's glass test tube jar and a 2" crack appeared down from the lip of the jar.
I now have a plastic test jar. SIgh.
💔RIP
why not use plastic cylinder tube?
You can. The glass is nice though and easy to read.
It Must have been imported...." Fra-gi-lee"..😅
LOL, not a fingah!
I broke a hydrometer doing the same thing
Hi all, I hope it’s ok for me to ask this here! I’m thinking about dumping a mead for the first time. I made a pomegranate mead using pomegranate juice I found at Aldi. The mostly finished mead (it is pasteurized but not bottled) tastes very much like the bitter hard seeds of the pomegranate, to the point that it is strongly reminiscent of mustard… Is there anything I can do to save it? I’m open to all suggestions. Thank you!!
Could it just be super dry and young?
@@CitySteadingBrews Started it on 4/6 and it did go to 1.004, should I try sweetening it? This is the 21st mead I've made and I've never had anything taste like it before. I does remind me of the flavor you get when you crunch the hard seeds of the pomegranate.
Probably sweetening and aging it will set you as right as rain. I certainly wouldn't consider dumping it just yet. I've had brews take 4-6 months to mature out. Yours sounds very dry to me. Pomegranate can be very fickle. You might also try adding hibiscus along with your sweetening agent of choice. Good luck!
It's hard for me to say without tasting it, but it could just have been bad juice too.
@@CitySteadingBrews That's what I'm wondering too. I'm guessing whatever processing the fruit went through didn't remove much of the seeds and just pulverized them into the juice... I'll try sweetening a small sample and see if it makes any difference. Thank you for your response and all you do! You inspired me to start this amazing hobby! Keep up the good work, I look forward to see what you brew next!
After breaking 2 of them 9i dropped them) I got a plastic one
I just like the glass better I guess.
That is awful. I have 3 hydrometers, 2 for beer and wine, specific gravity type, I keep a spare just in case... and a balling type I've had since the mid ninety's.
LOL
Yup, broken glass is hysterical 😀
🤦♂️
Mine is plastic 😋
Hy-Dropiter... yup, been there, did that. Time to get The Unbreakable Hydrometer out...
The hydrometer didn't break.
Fill the cylinder first. Then the hydrometer doesn't reach the bottom. Yes I learned this lesson the hard way. Oh and thanks to CSB I now have a hurculometer and no longer have issues with broken hydrometers
You can overfill easily that way.
@@CitySteadingBrews cheaper to wipe up a spill than to replace a cylinder.
Many ways to achieve a goal.