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Author Topic: Glass Disaster  (Read 7074 times)

Offline bayareabrewer

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #30 on: January 09, 2017, 11:59:01 am »
I have no desire to go back to glass carboys whatsoever. I'm just too much of a klutz :)

Perhaps it would be helpful to add that I've been using the same hydrometer for >100 batches since 1999.  ;)

I....what?!......that's impossible!  :D

If I remember, I'll take a picture later.  It reads 1.003 in plain water at 60 F, so I've had to subtract that for many many years.  I did drop the thing at least twice, but it didn't break.  :)

I'll still never be as awesome as Denny though.  ;D

I know the answer to this, since someone would have done it already, but is there a reason a hydrometer couldn't be made out of plastic?

Offline flars

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #31 on: January 09, 2017, 12:02:26 pm »
I have no desire to go back to glass carboys whatsoever. I'm just too much of a klutz :)

Perhaps it would be helpful to add that I've been using the same hydrometer for >100 batches since 1999.  ;)

I....what?!......that's impossible!  :D

It is possible.  I still have the first one purchased in 1987.  Though it reads 0.004 high now.

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #32 on: January 09, 2017, 12:09:17 pm »
I know the answer to this, since someone would have done it already, but is there a reason a hydrometer couldn't be made out of plastic?

Sure you could.  However, glass is easier to clean and sanitize and will not harbor wild beasts -- ha!
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline bayareabrewer

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #33 on: January 09, 2017, 12:14:15 pm »
I know the answer to this, since someone would have done it already, but is there a reason a hydrometer couldn't be made out of plastic?

Sure you could.  However, glass is easier to clean and sanitize and will not harbor wild beasts -- ha!

true, but I'm not dipping my hydrometer into my fermenting beer, I'm pulling a sample and testing it in a beaker, then either drinking the sample or dumping it.

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #34 on: January 09, 2017, 12:16:31 pm »
I know the answer to this, since someone would have done it already, but is there a reason a hydrometer couldn't be made out of plastic?

Sure you could.  However, glass is easier to clean and sanitize and will not harbor wild beasts -- ha!

true, but I'm not dipping my hydrometer into my fermenting beer, I'm pulling a sample and testing it in a beaker, then either drinking the sample or dumping it.

Me too -- I's just making a funny.  :)
Dave

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Offline Stevie

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #35 on: January 09, 2017, 12:16:41 pm »
I know the answer to this, since someone would have done it already, but is there a reason a hydrometer couldn't be made out of plastic?

Sure you could.  However, glass is easier to clean and sanitize and will not harbor wild beasts -- ha!
Already done. http://www.northernbrewer.com/herculometer-triple-scale-hydrometer?gclid=Cj0KEQiAhs3DBRDmu-rVkuif0N8BEiQAWuUJr-fER1uCvafxjX3fqZCnhvE1TBv2M97QKZrgddDPeBwaAuQ28P8HAQ

Best practices call for measuring gravity of a sample and not adding the sample back to the batch. Considering this has lead me to only rinse my hydrometer and test flask with warm water after use.

Offline bayareabrewer

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #36 on: January 09, 2017, 12:40:56 pm »
I know the answer to this, since someone would have done it already, but is there a reason a hydrometer couldn't be made out of plastic?

Sure you could.  However, glass is easier to clean and sanitize and will not harbor wild beasts -- ha!
Already done. http://www.northernbrewer.com/herculometer-triple-scale-hydrometer?gclid=Cj0KEQiAhs3DBRDmu-rVkuif0N8BEiQAWuUJr-fER1uCvafxjX3fqZCnhvE1TBv2M97QKZrgddDPeBwaAuQ28P8HAQ

Best practices call for measuring gravity of a sample and not adding the sample back to the batch. Considering this has lead me to only rinse my hydrometer and test flask with warm water after use.

you rock! This will be my next purchase.

Offline Hand of Dom

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #37 on: January 09, 2017, 01:58:37 pm »
I know the answer to this, since someone would have done it already, but is there a reason a hydrometer couldn't be made out of plastic?

Sure you could.  However, glass is easier to clean and sanitize and will not harbor wild beasts -- ha!
Already done. http://www.northernbrewer.com/herculometer-triple-scale-hydrometer?gclid=Cj0KEQiAhs3DBRDmu-rVkuif0N8BEiQAWuUJr-fER1uCvafxjX3fqZCnhvE1TBv2M97QKZrgddDPeBwaAuQ28P8HAQ

Best practices call for measuring gravity of a sample and not adding the sample back to the batch. Considering this has lead me to only rinse my hydrometer and test flask with warm water after use.

Gravity samples are for tasting, not for pouring back in.
Dom

Currently drinking - Amarillo saison
Currently fermenting - Pale ale 1 - 2017

Offline erockrph

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #38 on: January 09, 2017, 03:41:37 pm »
I have no desire to go back to glass carboys whatsoever. I'm just too much of a klutz :)

Perhaps it would be helpful to add that I've been using the same hydrometer for >100 batches since 1999.  ;)

I....what?!......that's impossible!  :D

If I remember, I'll take a picture later.  It reads 1.003 in plain water at 60 F, so I've had to subtract that for many many years.  I did drop the thing at least twice, but it didn't break.  :)

I'll still never be as awesome as Denny though.  ;D
My first one broke when I slid it back in to the plastic tube it comes in after using it one day. No joke, it hit the thin plastic on the bottom of the tube and shattered. I bought my dual-scale refractometer shortly after that. ;)
Eric B.

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Offline JJeffers09

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #39 on: January 09, 2017, 05:23:21 pm »
I think a bad thought about my hydrometer and the damned thing breaks.
So you're already looking for another?

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Offline Hand of Dom

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #40 on: January 10, 2017, 04:19:43 am »
I have no desire to go back to glass carboys whatsoever. I'm just too much of a klutz :)

Perhaps it would be helpful to add that I've been using the same hydrometer for >100 batches since 1999.  ;)

I....what?!......that's impossible!  :D

If I remember, I'll take a picture later.  It reads 1.003 in plain water at 60 F, so I've had to subtract that for many many years.  I did drop the thing at least twice, but it didn't break.  :)

I'll still never be as awesome as Denny though.  ;D
My first one broke when I slid it back in to the plastic tube it comes in after using it one day. No joke, it hit the thin plastic on the bottom of the tube and shattered. I bought my dual-scale refractometer shortly after that. ;)
I did the same thing, except it pushed the cap out of the bottom end, and everything landed in the sink.
Dom

Currently drinking - Amarillo saison
Currently fermenting - Pale ale 1 - 2017

Offline kgs

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #41 on: January 10, 2017, 05:58:03 am »
I have no desire to go back to glass carboys whatsoever. I'm just too much of a klutz :)

Perhaps it would be helpful to add that I've been using the same hydrometer for >100 batches since 1999.  ;)

I....what?!......that's impossible!  :D

If I remember, I'll take a picture later.  It reads 1.003 in plain water at 60 F, so I've had to subtract that for many many years.  I did drop the thing at least twice, but it didn't break.  :)

I'll still never be as awesome as Denny though.  ;D
My first one broke when I slid it back in to the plastic tube it comes in after using it one day. No joke, it hit the thin plastic on the bottom of the tube and shattered. I bought my dual-scale refractometer shortly after that. ;)

My first couple of hydrometers broke in the flask as well. I've had my current hydrometer about seven years. When I put it in an empty flask, I keep my index finger on it and slide it in carefully, moving it down until it is resting on the bottom. Even when the flask has liquid in it, I ease it in. I check it now and again in plain water and it's doing fine. At this point it's the only glass in my process, unless I'm forgetting something, and it's kind of an old friend.
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Offline majorvices

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #42 on: January 10, 2017, 06:29:09 am »
No one except the OP will want to hear my opinions on glass vs. plastic.

Yes, glass is dangerous, and you need to be very careful with it.  However, plastics *can* at times harbor wild yeast and bacteria that can give your beers a "house flavor" that glass will not do.  Plastics are also oxygen permeable and for any long term aging, you can taste the effects of oxidation.  If always doing quick batches, this is less likely, but if keeping in there for a couple of months, you might pick up premature oxidized flavors.

There are certainly advantages and disadvantages of each.  Personally, I am interested in making the best beer possible.  As such, I use only glass.  For me, glass is worth the risks, and I am very careful with it.  I suppose at some point I could even seek out stainless steel carboys, as that would work even better, albeit you cannot see through the sides of stainless obviously, so that's a downside of that.

We all need to make up our own minds and do what we think is best for us and the risks we want to take.

I haven't read all the other posts but just gonna say at this level there isn't going to be any difference in quality of beer between plastic and glass except for the instances where you are aging the beer long term. In that case I do agree glass is slightly superior but only slightly. If you think there is no ingress on the rubber bunch and air lock on glass carboys you haven't really thought this through.

Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #43 on: January 10, 2017, 03:19:39 pm »
No one except the OP will want to hear my opinions on glass vs. plastic.

Yes, glass is dangerous, and you need to be very careful with it.  However, plastics *can* at times harbor wild yeast and bacteria that can give your beers a "house flavor" that glass will not do.  Plastics are also oxygen permeable and for any long term aging, you can taste the effects of oxidation.  If always doing quick batches, this is less likely, but if keeping in there for a couple of months, you might pick up premature oxidized flavors.

There are certainly advantages and disadvantages of each.  Personally, I am interested in making the best beer possible.  As such, I use only glass.  For me, glass is worth the risks, and I am very careful with it.  I suppose at some point I could even seek out stainless steel carboys, as that would work even better, albeit you cannot see through the sides of stainless obviously, so that's a downside of that.

We all need to make up our own minds and do what we think is best for us and the risks we want to take.

I haven't read all the other posts but just gonna say at this level there isn't going to be any difference in quality of beer between plastic and glass except for the instances where you are aging the beer long term. In that case I do agree glass is slightly superior but only slightly. If you think there is no ingress on the rubber bunch and air lock on glass carboys you haven't really thought this through.

Glass fermenter use is limited to sours for me.
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Offline cgranger

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Re: Glass Disaster
« Reply #44 on: January 10, 2017, 06:59:03 pm »
For you guys using something other than glass...can you still use a Fermwrap on them. Just wondering if either the heat or the electricity is a problem on plastic or stainless.


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