eDrometer Digital Hydrometer for Brewers and Winemakers

My cousin, Greg Lanham, and I have many similarities. We're the same age (born four days apart), we grew up in Colorado, and we went to Colorado State University at the same time and got degrees in mechanical engineering. The main difference is that I was a lousy engineer but Greg is a very good engineer. That's why I know his digital hydrometer "designed to aid the artisan brewer, winemaker and distiller in their craft" will work as advertised.

One of the key measurements obtained with a hydrometer during alcohol production is sugar concentration; this is an important measurement because, basically, sugar is the food for the yeast. By knowing the amount of sugar, the craftsman can control the alcohol content and flavor of the beverage being produced. This value is measured at different points throughout the process to ensure a repeatable, quality product every time.

Because the eDrometer is so fast and easy to use the craftsman can easily take measurements before, during and after fermentation, allowing them to consistently dial in their recipe.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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The Snowden Principle

foobar

This is getting pooh-poohed in /r/homebrewing, and I have to agree. There already exist handheld electronic refractometers for this purpose, and they’re about a quarter the price.
- freshyill
  
  I was wondering why I would buy this when I can get a refractometer. I don’t know why, but I thought refractometers were more expensive. They’re all over Amazon for ~$30. Now I need to buy one. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=refractometer
http://twitter.com/HubrisSonic HubrisSonic

Madness!
http://www.mikezed.com mzed

Indeed… the price! I could break 50 analog hydrometers for that.
dragonfrog

Ah, just stick your hydrometer right in the fermenter – can’t get much faster than that. You only need two really accurate readings – at the beginning and end of brewing.
- sdmikev
  
  Eh, I’ve been brewing for 20 years and I’ve never even bothered.
  Having a glass of my latest stout right now, based on SN recipe, with my own twist.
  - huskerdont
    
    Wow, that’s pretty laid back. I have no need for a refractometer, considering I’m not making up my own recipes but at most altering existing ones, but I can’t imagine not being curious about final gravity and alcohol content.
    - sdmikev
      
      I make up my own recipes, based on a lot of early trial and error.
      My stout I just made was based on recipes culled from around the internet for SN, like I noted, then I went from my own starting place and what I like to drink.
      Note, I ALWAYS use CA White Labs 001 ale yeast, and 7 pounds of liquid malt extract for my base, then alter from there. Different hops, cracked special grains (Crystal, Black patent, etc..)
      For this, I used 2 ounces of Magnum in the boil for 60m, one OZ of Cennt for a half hour, one for the kettle finish and one whole flower Cascade in the secondary ferment for my dry hop.
      1 of the 7 pounds of ME was wheat, as well.
- uberbitter
  
  I find there is too much foam to get a good reading for the OG that way. Not that I would spend $500 on such a measuring device either…
  - dragonfrog
    
    Sure, for the OG I put a sample in a graduated cylinder, letting it overflow and carry the foam away. For the FG I put another sample in the graduated cylinder.
    
    I just mean in between – say if you want to know far along the fermentation is, to estimate the length of a diacetyl rest – you don’t need to know the gravity to the nearest single point. For that sort of thing, I can easily eyeball it to within 2 or 3 points without extracting a sample, and that’s quite good enough.
SeattlePete

Hydrometers suck, for the reasons stated. Refractometers need to be recalculated and adjusted for increasing alcohol in solution and will not give accurate readings as fermentation progresses.

A lot of homebrewers think that they can use a refractometer without applying the required mathematical correction and still make good beer. This is the device for them.
- uberbitter
  
  I agree hydrometers suck, but I don’t think that most of those homebrewers who find using a refractometer properly too bothersome will have $500 to shell out for this device.
retchdog

It’s amazing how something humanity has been doing for about 12,000 years now requires laboratory equipment.
- foobar
  
  It doesn’t require laboratory equipment, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t useful.
  - retchdog
    
    yeah, i know. i’m just imagining folks buying all this kit, brewing two or three beers according to stock recipes, and getting tired of it.
    
    i have two stout variants fermenting right now, though they’re only a gallon each. my total equipment expenditure has been about $20. admittedly, $6 of that was for a hydrometer.
- dragonfrog
  
  How to measure specific gravity, c. 1669:
  
  “Take of spring water what quantity you please, and make it more than blood-warm, and dissolve honey in it till ’tis strong enough to bear an egg, the breadth of a shilling”
  - retchdog
    
    pleasantly surprised to find that’s from a real recipe. i’ll have to try it. :)
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BOOM27DBLMZQIJVK4BQLE7K5YA Nagurski

Probably overkill for hobby/home operations, probably quite useful at any commercial level from brewpub on up.
Quibbler

A hydrometer has to be one of the simplest devices to use. I have been brewing for 40 years and that is all I need to test the final gravity. Sometimes I use a refractometer when mashing to test the conversion because they only take a drop to give a measurement.