Taking samples with a large syringe?

I've been using a 30-cm glass eyedropper. The only problem I've had is that if there are solids in the wort (e.g., grated orange peel), they can get stuck in the eyedropper and be hard to get out. I use a refractometer to measure gravity, not a hygrometer, so I don't need a big volume.

Where did you get that? I have a couple of eyedroppers I picked up at a local drugstore, but they're the usual size (maybe a third of what you're using) and won't reach into a carboy enough to pull a sample. I've used a bottling wand (with the valve at the tip removed) to grab a sample, which goes into a juice glass. From there, I use one of the eyedroppers to pull a sample for the refractometer. A longer eyedropper would save a step.

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I wonder if maybe he meant 30 cc instead of 30 cm -- an eyedropper a foot long would certainly be an uncommon object.

Isn't the refractometer useless after there is alcohol present? Steve

This is the sort of thing I have in mind, although since I haven't seen one in person yet (so to speak), I'm not sure how wide it it and whether it would fit into the neck of a demijohn.

My solution, repeated from a previous posting. All you need is a 2 hole stopper with 2 small hoses attached, and your sample tube.

"Get a 2-hole stopper that fits your sample tube top. Attach two pieces of small tubing to the two holes. Place the stopper into the sample tube. Sanitise one hose, drop it in the carboy, and suck on the other, holding the sample tube below the top of the beer in the carboy. When you have enough sample, pull the tube from the carboy, continuing suction so the liquid flows into the sample tube, rather than dripping into the fermenter. Very safe, works through the small hole in bucket lids, and no waste or drippage like a baster.

The first time I tried this, I didn't have a stopper, and just wrapped a wad of saran wrap around the two hoses, and pressed the wad over the top of the sample tube, for the same results. "

I did mean 30 cm. Sorry, but I can't seem to remember where I bought it. I know I bought it from an online source, probably a general chem supply business rather than a brewing supply one.

You can calculate the effect of the alcohol and compensate for it:

The OP said he wanted something to use with demijohns. I don't know anything about demijohns, but that syringe looks like it wouldn't be very convenient for the kinds of beer fermenters I use -- too short and stubby to reach in through the neck of the glass carboy, or through the airlock hole on the plastic bucket.

If you have ProMash, it'll also do the math for you. I'd guess that other brewing software packages do as well (but I've only used ProMash).

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I remember ones that size used in veterinary tasks