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Leaving the hydrometer in the carbouy?

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T

Trenchie

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 1, 2017
54
1
0
Hello,

I think i'm at that stage (day 10) in my first mead batch, that there's little more I can do than just wait. but I want to see the SP at any point in time.

how would it work, in placing the hydrometer in the carboy, leaving it there ?

I see some issues with bubbles rising the Hydrometer, maybe as the hydro sinks, it draws down some surface scum that was once dry above the liquid. you might also need to shake the carbouy to dislodge the hydro from the side or if stuck under the shoulder.

thanks
 
Lots of people do that. Just give it a spin to break up any bubbles that might float it up. But most of what I make has some foam or floaties on the surface, so getting a good reading is not possible without taking the sample from under that.
 
My only reservation against putting a hydrometer in a carboy is that it might be difficult to get it out in one piece later. If you break your hydrometer, the batch is ruined.


A pail is no problem since you can just reach in and grab it.
 
pwizard said:
My only reservation against putting a hydrometer in a carboy is that it might be difficult to get it out in one piece later. If you break your hydrometer, the batch is ruined.
Click to expand...

that's my concern with dipping the hydrometer into the carboy every other day.

I hope to come up with a simple insertion/extraction tool, easily sanitized. I'm thinking something like a dog catcher, that has the loop through a pole ... only miniature.

heck I could use a plastic straw and some cooking string.
 
Beer Bug is an electronic hydrometer that you can simply leave in the carboy and it sends a signal to your computer at prearranged times. Not entirely sure of the value of such instruments for the home mead maker but they are available... http://www.northernbrewer.com/beerbug.

But if you have a refractometer you can simply take a drop of the fermenting liquor and determine the gravity or brix thataway. However, refractometers are not designed to be used with alcohol so you need to apply a formula to the reading to take account of the increasing amounts of alcohol..
 
I guess I'm old school - I take samples with a sanitized turkey baster and squirt into a sanitized glass cylinder. The sample gets poured back in after taking a reading.
 
bernardsmith said:
Beer Bug is an electronic hydrometer that you can simply leave in the carboy and it sends a signal to your computer at prearranged times. Not entirely sure of the value of such instruments for the home mead maker but they are available... http://www.northernbrewer.com/beerbug.

But if you have a refractometer you can simply take a drop of the fermenting liquor and determine the gravity or brix thataway. However, refractometers are not designed to be used with alcohol so you need to apply a formula to the reading to take account of the increasing amounts of alcohol..
Click to expand...
Waiting for the day it reads pH too

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
pokerfacepablo said:
Waiting for the day it reads pH too

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

But in truth, this seems a very simple piece of technology. If the weight is suspended by a thread and the density of a liquid changes then wouldn't the nominal force the weight is exerting on the thread change? (the less dense the liquid the more force the weight would exert on the thread, the more dense the liquid the less force it would exert. If the thread was then attached to a piezo-electric strip where the force on the strip changed that force would be converted to an electrical current, such that the more the strip was bent the greater the current and the less the strip was bent the less the current generated. Measuring the difference in current would then provide you with the difference in force and if that force was then calibrated to the specific gravity, Voila! you have the Beer Bug
 
Well, it is a god idea and its easy to take readings. But if you use a yeast that tends to leave much sulphur in the mead and you need to degass the must/mead its not preferable to have the hydrometer in there when you whip of the co2...

Sent from mTalk
 
aha! and that is why this device is called a beer bug and not a mead or wine bug... Brewers tend to avoid opening their fermentors to the air and recoil at the very thought of stirring their brews to expel anything.
 
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