Kinda Stumped ( Hydrometer Use), Newbie Asks

I bought a plastic tall skinny beaker-like thing from my wine store to use when I take hydrometer readings. I don't like to spend a lot so I don't think it was too expensive. As long as everything is clean before I use it, I pour what I measure back into the batch. I usually use a clean 1 cup glass Pyrex container to draw off what I need to measure for a batch. If you're using a fermentation bucket, I just stir the batch, use my cup to grab some and pour it into my beaker thingy and then pop my hydrometer in. I have tried to put my hydrometer into a 1 gallon glass carboy to measure the SG that way, but if I keep the carboy topped up properly, then I've found that when you put the hydrometer in, it can overflow. If you're into larger batches, I don't see why you couldn't pop the hydrometer in - but you might want to be on the safe side by making sure it is always clean.

I usually only take the reading at the beginning and maybe one other time during the primary ferment. Watch your first batch, it will get very bubbly and frothy in the beginning, then it will calm down. If it continues to slow down, then it might mean your primary ferment is over and it is time to move it to a secondary. The only time I usually measure more often is when I'm going to add additional sugar to increase my % alcohol if my starting point is not about 11%. The current batch I have going is a Rhubarb wine - my initial % alcohol was 9%, but the recipe calls for holding some sugar back. My batch is fermenting pretty good right now, but when it starts to slow down, I will consider adding enough sugar to make sure my total % alcohol is 11%.

Welcome and good-luck! Darlene

You can do that once a day with no problem if your hydrometer is clean, but your palate will tell you when the wine is getting close to dryness.

Buy a plastic hydrometer jar. Wine Art makes one IIRC. Assuming the jar and hydrometer are clean when you start, just pour the wine back into the fermenter. No need to worry about oxidation in a wine that's still actively fermenting and saturated with CO2.

Tom S

A bit better is to push a strainer into the must (to keep the skins and seeds out) and suck out a sample with a turkey baster.

Tom S

That's a good idea.

I just use the little plastic tube that the Hydrometer came in.

There is a thing you can buy called a "Wine Thief" that does a good job of getting a sample out of your fermenter -- espeically those carboys!

Alex.

A wine thief. It's a long hollow tube that you can "shake" up and down in your carboy that will allow wine to go into the tube, but won't let it flow back out again without pressing a lever on the bottom. The tube is of sufficient diameter to float your hydrometer in it. After getting your reading, you can either put the wine back into the carboy, or do a taste test by releasing the wine into a glass (which I'd only recommend if you're contemplating bottling - it doesn't take very many tastings to start having an effect on your headspace).

Woods

This is a problem ??

Thanks to all who replied. I thought about the plastic thingy the hydrometer come in, but it's not long enough to read down to 1.000 for instance.

Bottom line: I broke down and ordered a hydrometer jar today. The kit came with a turkey baster.

Andrew

That's the way to go, you only need about 4 ounces to fill one up, a

100 ml graduated cylinder is another option. The wider the surface on the top the better off you are. A 250 ml graduate is probably a better one to use, but I never do that. Whatever is used you don't want the hydrometers bulb (base) to get too close to the walls of the vessel, surface tension will cause issues.

Both are around 5 bucks and last forever (at least a lot longer than your first hydrometer). I have noticed an odd phenomenon. The propensity to break a hydrometer seems directly proportional to the availability of a spare; I never seem to break them at home where I have spares, only when I'm somewhere else... :o).

Joe

And there you have the ONLY reason I have two of them.. :)

email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com please respond in this NG so others can share your wisdom as well!

Now you have the solution, a wine thief and a hydrometer jar. I use a 250 ml glass graduated cylindar as it is handy for other things but the plastic one will work fine. One other thing, it almost sounds like you throw the sample away after you use it. No reason to, just pour it back in. That assumes that your equipment was clean. The hydrometer does nothing to the sample to mess it up.

Ray