Range of hyrometer

[atakanokan]

Hi everyone,
I am going to buy a hydrometer however a question presented itself when doing research. What is the suggested range of the hydrometer when brewing beer? There are hydrometers with range of 0.800-0.900, 0.900-1.000, 1.000-1.100 and so on. Which one of these should I buy?

 

[freisste]

If all you do are "standard" gravity, 1.000-1.100 should be fine. However, it is possible to get below 1.000 and it is certainly possible to get above 1.100.

FWIW, my hydrometer goes from 0.990-1.120, I think. I could probably formulate something that gets above 1.120, but I have no plans to. Your LHBS should have something with a better range than what you are describing.

Maybe if it is listed as 1.000-1.100, the range is actually a little extended? Not sure.

 

[Yooper]

Most regular "triple scale" hydrometers go from .990 to 1.120 or so.

You don't want a "specialty" hydrometer that is more precise and has a smaller range.

 

[unionrdr]

My glass one I got from Cooper's goes up to 1.500. I has colored bands to help with ranges for beer & wine.

 

[woozy]

The ones with ranges in the less than 1.000 realm must be used for entirely other purposes (chemical? mechanical?) as they only measure liquids with less gravity than water which beer or wort will *never* have. Less than 1.00 might be useful for exceedingly dry wine and liquors although it's very hard to imaging a beer that low.

Any hydrometer meant for brewing or wine-making is probably okay. Just don't get an aquarium (salt water) hydrometer. (The upper limits of those tend to be 1.030)
-- edit ---
Yeah, just did a google search on hydrometers. If you don't specify *brewing* hydrometer you get aquarium hydrometers with range from 1.017- 1.031. Or a set of mechanical hydrometers with range from .8 - 1.0, 1.00 to 1.050, etc.

These ones clearly aren't meant for brewing. (Brewing, when compared to measuring toxicity levels in water or keeping tropical fish alive, is a really *crude* activity with a very wide range.)

 

[Yooper]

The ones with ranges less than 1.000 must be used for entirely other purposes (chemical? mechanical?) as they only measure liquids with less gravity than water which beer or wort will *never* have. Less than 1.00 might be useful for exceedingly dry wine and liquors although it's very hard to imaging a beer that low.

Any hydrometer meant for brewing or wine-making is probably okay. Just don't get an aquarium (salt water) hydrometer. (The upper limits of those tend to be 1.030)

Wine will go to .990 each time (assuming less than 18% ABV), and beer can sometimes drop below 1.000 although that's not common.

 

[woozy]

Wine will go to .990 each time (assuming less than 18% ABV), and beer can sometimes drop below 1.000 although that's not common.

I stand corrected.

Uh.. assuming they are less than 18% ABV??? Umm, forgive my derailing but wouldn't a higher alcohol wine drop even lower (in general)?

 

[Yooper]

I stand corrected.

Uh.. assuming they are less than 18% ABV??? Umm, forgive my derailing but wouldn't a higher alcohol wine drop even lower (in general)?

No, not necessarily. But the reason I said less than 18% is that most wine yeast strains will die by then, and then if there is still residual sugar in the wine, it'll stop before it goes completely dry. For example, if you start with a must of 1.150, it won't make it all the way to .990, and instead stop at more like 1.020. It'll still be near 18%, but it will be sweet due to the amount of unfermented sugars still in there.

I hope that makes sense!

And sorry we took this thread off topic!

 

[woozy]

No, not necessarily. But the reason I said less than 18% is that most wine yeast strains will die by then, and then if there is still residual sugar in the wine, it'll stop before it goes completely dry. For example, if you start with a must of 1.150, it won't make it all the way to .990, and instead stop at more like 1.020. It'll still be near 18%, but it will be sweet due to the amount of unfermented sugars still in there.

I hope that makes sense!

And sorry we took this thread off topic!

Ah, that's interesting. Wine making is a new world.

Not entirely off topic though. Reinforces that the OP wants a brewing or wine-making hydrometer with a range from roughly .9 - 1.12 or so. All the other hydrometers were specialty hydrometers for either other purposes (e.g. aquariums) or fine tuning for specific ranges.