# Hydrometers I have broken



## Tom_S (Aug 11, 2014)

You're not a real wine maker until you've broken your hydrometer. My first was my favorite, a nice triple scale hydrometer with different colored scales which made it easy to read. I had cleaned it and dried it off and dropped it into the plastic tube it came in, when it broke through the bottom end and smashed on the tile floor of the kitchen. The second one I broke when washing it, it was all soapy and slipped out of my hands and hit the bottom of the sink.

What are some interesting ways you've destroyed your most important wine making tool?


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## Wiz (Aug 11, 2014)

Don't you know, we don't talk about such things on this forum.


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## mikewatkins727 (Aug 11, 2014)

Tom_S said:


> You're not a real wine maker until you've broken your hydrometer. My first was my favorite, a nice triple scale hydrometer with different colored scales which made it easy to read. I had cleaned it and dried it off and dropped it into the plastic tube it came in, when it broke through the bottom end and smashed on the tile floor of the kitchen. The second one I broke when washing it, it was all soapy and slipped out of my hands and hit the bottom of the sink.
> 
> What are some interesting ways you've destroyed your most important wine making tool?



It appears *you* shouldn't wash your own hydrometer, let someone else do it.


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## Wiz (Aug 11, 2014)

Living in Costa Rica and have all my winemaking supplies shipped in from the U.S., I keep 2 or 3 available as backup.


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## JohnT (Aug 12, 2014)

I certainly have broken my share. 

Once, went to slip a hydrometer into the front pocket of my winery apron. missed the pocket, dropped the hydrometer. 

I also once slipped it into my back pocket, forgot I had it in there and sat on it! Ouch!

Agree with Wiz. It is bad jou-jou to speak of such things.


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## seth8530 (Aug 12, 2014)

Heh I believe that slipping a hydrometer into your clothing is just about as good of an idea as slipping a loaded into your waste band.

That being said, I broke one in a box onetime, but I blame my brother for that since it was stored under his bed.


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## francois_du_nord (Aug 12, 2014)

I've broken at least 2 over the years. I don't recall the exact specifics, but the "into the storage tube and out the bottom" sounds very familiar.

The other thing that I should never buy, but can't help myself is the glass airlocks. There is something so sanitary about glass. But they cost 3X the price, and are about 1/10th as durable. Broken at least 2 of those too. 

Oh yeah, and one carboy. 

Maybe I'd better just stick to plastic.


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## Steve_M (Oct 28, 2016)

I can now join the club.


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## FreddyC (Oct 28, 2016)

I seem to break my fine hydrometer every year. You know the one that goes from 5 Brix to Negative 5 Brix with the really thin neck? Damn thing breaks every year. I think I am on #4


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## heatherd (Oct 28, 2016)

I broke a bunch, but since I bought a backup I haven't broken any.


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## bkisel (Oct 29, 2016)

Why can't they be made out of plastic or a stronger glass? 

I've only broken two but I've not yet had this hobby four years - will be four years come January. Since breaking the second one now I too also keep an extra on hand.


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## bkisel (Oct 29, 2016)

Wiz said:


> Don't you know, we don't talk about such things on this forum.



Hey, at least the thread isn't titled "Carboys I Have Broken".


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## bkisel (Oct 29, 2016)

Steve_M said:


> I can now join the club.



Nice camera work... Not so much the subject.


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## Johnd (Oct 29, 2016)

bkisel said:


> Why can't they be made out of plastic or a stronger glass?
> 
> I've only broken two but I've not yet had this hobby four years - will be four years come January. Since breaking the second one now I too also keep an extra on hand.



I saw one in a magazine the other day made of clear plastic or polycarbonate.


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## cmason1957 (Oct 29, 2016)

Johnd said:


> I saw one in a magazine the other day made of clear plastic or polycarbonate.



If you see it again and there is a link that can be posted, please do so. I would love to not always have the or four on hand. For me, they seem to go along fine for a fairly long time, then break in bunches. And I am over due.


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## Johnd (Oct 29, 2016)

cmason1957 said:


> If you see it again and there is a link that can be posted, please do so. I would love to not always have the or four on hand. For me, they seem to go along fine for a fairly long time, then break in bunches. And I am over due.



http://www.midwestsupplies.com/herculometertm-triple-scale-hydrometer


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## cmason1957 (Oct 29, 2016)

Thanks for the link. And a great price seems to a little more than a regular glass one, but not horrible.


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## heatherd (Oct 29, 2016)

Wow, that polycarbonate one is really cool!


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## cintipam (Oct 29, 2016)

Speaking of "carboys I have broken" is there a club I now belong to? 5 gal of ready to bottle Pinot Grigio is now all over the floor when I dropped another small but empty glass carboy on top of it. Yummy wonderful ready to drink PG. Luckily no injuries at all. I hang onto that. No injuries. It could have been so much worse. 

Pam in cinti


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## cmason1957 (Oct 29, 2016)

cintipam said:


> Speaking of "carboys I have broken" is there a club I now belong to? 5 gal of ready to bottle Pinot Grigio is now all over the floor when I dropped another small but empty glass carboy on top of it. Yummy wonderful ready to drink PG. Luckily no injuries at all. I hang onto that. No injuries. It could have been so much worse.
> 
> Pam in cinti



Oh no! I hope I don't join that club, ever. A small moment of silence was held at my house for your loss. Glad no injuries were sustained, besides the heart break.


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## cintipam (Oct 29, 2016)

I like to do wine work while hubby is away because he always has questions for me, and I feel I need to concentrate. This time he came home just when I was standing there in a little flood. Jumped right in, grabbed a bucket and a couple sponge mops and helped me clean it all up. Even that timing was perfect. So silence for the PG is appreciated, but I don't think I could have had a better more perfect broken carboy time.

And the room actually smells wonderful. New room scent?

Pam in cinti


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## cmason1957 (Oct 29, 2016)

Maybe we should suggest that to the scentsy folks. Fermenting grapes? Eau de Pinot?


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## cintipam (Oct 29, 2016)

Sounds like a whole new perfume line to me. Altho with my hubby I'd need to dab some Corona behind my ears to attract him. But honestly that whole floor of the house is fruitylicious smelling. Even better than fermenting grapes. 

Pam in cinti


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## bkisel (Oct 29, 2016)

Here is the video on the "Herculometer"...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7uLxrJ_ikk&feature=youtu.be"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7uLxrJ_ikk&feature=youtu.be[/ame]


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## jgmann67 (Nov 3, 2016)

I broke my first hydrometer while sanitizing my equipment to make my first batch of wine. Slipped right out of my hand onto a tile floor... into a gagillion pieces.

I must be a natural born winemaker.


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## Boatboy24 (Nov 3, 2016)

bkisel said:


> Here is the video on the "Herculometer"...
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7uLxrJ_ikk&feature=youtu.be



I had no idea such a product even existed. And only ten bucks too!

http://www.northernbrewer.com/herculometer-triple-scale-hydrometer?gclid=CImE7qyJjdACFQgPaQodsDkMSQ


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## Johnd (Nov 3, 2016)

I saw this a while back, but was waiting for one of y'all to get it first to see how they work. Did anybody get one yet???????


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## Amanda660 (Nov 3, 2016)

I break at least one or two a year so I started keeping one in reserve. Didn't break one for over a year until I loaned my spare out to a friend who just started wine making and didn't have one yet - of course I'm all like please, no, please...just borrow my spare until you order one........I swear it was just days after it left my house that I dropped my one and only! I already have the Herculometer in my shopping basket. Victory is mine!


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## drainsurgeon (Nov 4, 2016)

cintipam said:


> I like to do wine work while hubby is away because he always has questions for me, and I feel I need to concentrate. This time he came home just when I was standing there in a little flood. Jumped right in, grabbed a bucket and a couple sponge mops and helped me clean it all up. Even that timing was perfect. So silence for the PG is appreciated, but I don't think I could have had a better more perfect broken carboy time.
> 
> And the room actually smells wonderful. New room scent?
> 
> ...


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