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Understanding the Hydrometer |
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The hydrometer determines the specific gravity of a liquid. In plain English, it tells you the weight of a litre. You may have seen this instrument before. It is used for checking battery condition in cars, alcohol in wines and spirits and sugar levels in wines. It is all the same instrument, only the weight and the scale differs. |
| A hydrometer. | What it does. | |
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The hydrometer is graduated in grammes (remember - per litre) and a typical range would be from 980 to 1100. This is what is known as "s.g." or specific gravity. It is of course unnecessary to use all these digits (1001, 1002 etc) when you could simply state it as 1, 2 etc. Indeed some hydrometers use that type of scale, called the Oechsle scale. What it shows is: The weight difference (from 1000 g) of a litre. So +4 means 1004 g/litre and -4 means 996 g/litre. There is no difference in principle between this hydrometer and an alcohol meter or a car battery checker - they are all hydrometers and they all check the specific gravity. Next page: How does it work on wine? |
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Did you know that the hydrometer is the only lab equipment you really need, whether you are using turbo yeast for home distilling, making moonshine, using a wine making kit or brewing beer? If you haven't got one - get one! It will help you to determine the alcohol content, sweetening wines, tracking the fermentation, checking accurately when your wash is ready etc etc.
