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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor
Hydrometer
What is this thingamajiggy?
It is a hydrometer.
It is used in wine and beer making to measure the specific gravity (or relative density) compared with water. Alcohol’s specific gravity will be lower than water and the hydrometer will sink deeper into the liquid. Denser liquids such as milk, acids or brines will have a higher specific gravity and therefor the hydrometer will not sink as far.
To use a hydrometer properly it should be immersed into the liquid that you are testing and given a spin in order to release any air bubbles which might alter the results and then to read the level of the liquid at the meniscus (the center of the curved surface of a liquid)(Sorry, I should have warned you that there would be basic chemistry involved. I promise to avoid getting into Avogadro’s number and other minutiae).
This tool is imperative to determine if there is enough sugar in a liquid in order to ferment and to determine how much alcohol has been produced. Is this an overly simplified answer? Ultimately, yes. I did go to the University of Chicago, but I did take “Rocks” for my Physical Science requirement.
Glass instruments and rock hard floors don't mix
Unfortunately, this instrument is made of glass.
Which means that after using it, it could roll off your counter top and fall onto the floor. And at my house, the kitchen floor is slate, a metamorphic rock. Which is really, really hard.
Sigh. Now to find another in a jiffy.
What! You gave away the answer! What kind of quiz is this? A lot of people who misspent their youth concocting homemade beer in the basement hoping the parents wouldn’t notice, would know the answer. By the way, the parents soon figured it out. Beer too gives off a lovely aroma when brewing.
Let’s make these quiz’s a little harder! Sheesh.
Roger that, Roger! And I am aware of the sweet and pungent smells of brewing beer. That is why we don’t do it anymore. That and I prefer wine.
I promise to make the quizzes harder. Maybe one on what I am using to clarify the Rose Ole?