[bigfatjoey]

Any one out there have Brew Balls?

http://www.brewballstore.com/

Worth it?

[tygo]

I saw that advertisement in Zymurgy the issue before this last one and looked them up.  One they seem pricey for what they do.  Two, they're giving a pretty broad range of gravity's (assuming they're accurate).  And three, do you really need that information?  It's pretty obvious roughly where you are in the fermentation process just by looking at the fermentor, the airlock, etc.

[akr71]

They claim that their product is less risky toward contamination.  I would be more concerned about contamination from putting my dirty balls in the beer  than popping the airlock off for a gravity sample.

[MrNate]

It's pretty obvious roughly where you are in the fermentation process just by looking at the fermentor, the airlock, etc.

I use apathy. Very low risk of contamination from that.

[glitterbug]

These things look pretty cool

[denny]

They claim that their product is less risky toward contamination.  I would be more concerned about contamination from putting my dirty balls in the beer  than popping the airlock off for a gravity sample.

This is where I get to say "If you can't take a gravity reading without contaminating your beer, perhaps you should consider taking up knitting for a hobby"!

[glitterbug]

They claim that their product is less risky toward contamination.  I would be more concerned about contamination from putting my dirty balls in the beer  than popping the airlock off for a gravity sample.

This is where I get to say "If you can't take a gravity reading without contaminating your beer, perhaps you should consider taking up knitting for a hobby"!

They should be marketing the laziness enabling aspect of this product. You can get a good estimate of the gravity in a few seconds without the ''hassle" of taking a sample and using a hydrometer or counting airlock bubbles 

[majorvices]

I think it is a really interesting idea. Someone needs to buy a set and see how well they work.

[rabid_dingo]

They are customizable, so the broad range can be narrowed down, but if one really wanted to monitor
without opening the fermenter, wouldn't the hydrometer itself be just as effective in there. Crud aside it
would probably just "Center" itself in the carboy because of the neck.

[Beertracker]

"...I've got big balls
They're such big balls
And they're dirty big balls
And he's got big balls
And she's got big balls
But we've got the biggest balls of them all!"
AC/DC

Maybe BrewBalls should use AC/DC's song as their jingle? 

[Kaiser]

This is where I get to say "If you can't take a gravity reading without contaminating your beer, perhaps you should consider taking up knitting for a hobby"!

I love that one.

I cannot see them work well and reliably. When you put then in your beer, most of them will actually fall to the bottom during fermentation since the CO2 that is bubbling out of solution lowers their buoyancy significantly. You can see that when you are trying to gravity reading from a carbonated sample. If that is not happening then they may float more than they should b/c of the CO2 bubbles attached to them.

Based on that, they can’t be used to monitor gravity during fermentation. Once the beer is still you may have crud on them which changes their weight. And In addition to that, you can only use them in beers that are clear enough for you to see them. Try using them in a RIS.

IMHO, it’s a neat but rather useless idea for brewing.

Kai

[euge]

Not worth it. For reasons stated above. These probably will be bought by new brewers, who will abandon them after several uses.

[Kaiser]

And In addition to that, you can only use them in beers that are clear enough for you to see them. Try using them in a RIS.

Let me correct that. I think they are designed such that the colored marking will always float up. This means that you could see them floating at the surface given that there is no residual Kraeusen.

Kai

[denny]

Not worth it. For reasons stated above. These probably will be bought by new brewers, who will abandon them after several uses.

So, you're saying these will be the next "Fermentap"?

[euge]

Not worth it. For reasons stated above. These probably will be bought by new brewers, who will abandon them after several uses.

So, you're saying these will be the next "Fermentap"?

Quite likely, but there'll always be someone who swears by them.