Triple Scale Hydrometer: Beer Wine Alcohol

Typically it takes 7-10 days to ferment at 25 Degree Celsius after which you can start bottling your homebrew beer or wine.

Excessive carbonation aka bottle bombs usually happens due to a rookie mistake of bottling too early. Use a hydrometer before bottling to ensure all fermentable sugar has been converted to alcohol/ethanol by the yeast before you proceed for bottling. Also carefully weighing the priming sugar is what it takes to control the carbonation (about 8gm per liter).

1 Brix = 1 degree Plato = 1% of sugar (10gm of sugar per liter).

1gm of sugar gives ~0.45ml of pure ethanol. For a more detailed guide on measurement refer to the post on the measurement of alcohol

Pros:

1. It is sturdy, rugged, and robust. I have never heard anybody breaking their refractometer. While hydrometers have an affinity to roll off the table and break.
2. It is portable and easy to use. In the fruit mandi/shop you can easily ask for a two drop sample (compared to 250ml for hydrometer). For beer making it is easy to cool 2 drops of wort for mashing efficiency as well.
3. For a small batch home brewer, you will lose 250ml of beer/wine every time you take a measurement. A refractometer consumes just 2 drops.
4. Hydrometer’s gravity reading gets impacted by tiny bubbles in carbonated drinks. Refractometer reading is not impacted by it.

Cons:

1. It is useful for initial reading only. The refractometer cannot be used for final gravity as alcohol and acetic acid also alters the refractive index of water.
2. The refractometer has to be recalibrated with distilled water and a 10% BRIX solution for accurate readings.
3. If you don’t have an ATC refractometer, then the temperature compensation table can get very confusing.
4. If you take the 2 drop sample from the top of the wort, chances are that the floating oil film will change the refractometer reading. As a good practice, use a pipette (plastic dropper) and take the sample from 1 inch below the water level.

In short, a refractometer cannot completely replace hydrometer but it can make measurements simple during a field trip.

A triple scale is a nifty density meter used to measure the extent of fermentation in any brew, especially wine and beer. It sells under multiple names Mustimeter, BRIX Hydrometer, or Specific Gravity Hydrometer. It is a basic tool that measures the density of your beverage. It is calibrated to give BRIX, density, and potential alcohol from one single instrument.

Essentially gently lower the hydrometer in your wine or beer. Wait for it to settle and take the reading. Make sure you check the lower meniscus, and there are no dissolved CO2 (bubbling) in the beverage.

Measure Alcohol in Beer Wine and Alcohol at home

Watch this video on YouTube

Sugar + yeast + no oxygen => Ethanol

Converting sugar into alcohol/wine or ethanol is one of the simplest and oldest food transformation possible. Read about our toddy wine to get the detailed recipe. Essentially, you would take 200gm of sugar in 1 liter of water. Boil it and cool it to room temperature. Then add 1-3gm of hydrated turbo yeast and cover it with an airlock. In 2-3 days the fermentation will be complete. Check the hydrometer to measure the extent of fermentation. The specific gravity would drop from 20% BRIX to 0 Brix indicating all the sugar has converted to alcohol.

A hydrometer is a floatation device used to measure the density of liquids. Pure Water at 20 degrees will read 1.000. As alcohol (Whiskey, rum, brandy) is added/produced in the solution the density will reduce. As sugar is added into the solution the density will increase. Simple example Honey and Chashni are thicker and denser than water.

We use this property to measure the amount of sugar in the wine must or beer wort. Then as the fermentation proceeds, we use the property that alcohol is lighter than water to measure the extent of fermentation (measurement of alcohol)

Do read about how to make a hydrometer at home and how one can calibrate a hydrometer before experiments.

Application of Hydrometer

Hydrometers are used in variety of industries and applications as well.

1. Lactometer: or fat-meter is used to measure the fat content in the milk solution. If the farmer has adulterated the milk with water or starch then the density of milk will increase.
2. A battery meter is used to measure the H2SO4 (battery acid) concentration in a lead-acid battery. A charged battery will have sulphuric acid but a discharged battery will have water and lead sulfate sticking to the electrodes.
3. Swimming pool & aquarium hydrometers measure the saline content. The salt concentration has to be regulated to keep the water fit. As the salt concentration increases the density of the water also increases.

Parts of a Hydrometer

Hydrometer consists of 3 main parts

1. Ballast: the weight that is at the base of the hydrometer. It is usually made of lead. However, some cheaper hydrometers use iron. Iron tends to get rusted (increase the weight) and hence the cheaper hydrometer needs to be recalibrated.
2. Float: Also called bulb: This is made glass and is filled with air. The bulb provides the balance to the weight. Essentially the volume of the bulb has to be matched with the weight in the ballast. As the density decreases, the hydrometer will sink more to restore the balance.
3. The stem: It is the thin cylindrical tube with calibration. Lesser the density the more stem will sink.

Can I measure Humidity?

Many people confuse hydrometer with hygrometer. While the hydrometer measures the density of fluid, hygrometer measures the relative humidity in the air.

Hydrometers are simple instruments. You can make them at home. You can make a hydrometer more accurate by calibrating them at home.

What is specific gravity?

Specific gravity or Relative density is the density of the liquid as compared to that of distilled water. 1 Liter (1000cc) of water at 4 degrees measures 1kg. As we add more sugar/salt the density increases. As we add more alcohol (spirit, wine, beer) or fat (milk) the density decreases. We are using this physical property to estimate the potential alcohol in your drinks.