In article >, reply@grouponly wrote:
>Greetings,
>
> Thanks to all who helped with my question the other day.
>
>What I'm trying to figure out is practical hydrometer usage. Sure,
>I know how to use it, but in what ?

A wine thief. It's a long hollow tube that you can "shake" up and down in your
carboy that will allow wine to go into the tube, but won't let it flow back out
again without pressing a lever on the bottom. The tube is of sufficient
diameter to float your hydrometer in it. After getting your reading, you can
either put the wine back into the carboy, or do a taste test by releasing the
wine into a glass (which I'd only recommend if you're contemplating bottling -
it doesn't take very many tastings to start having an effect on your headspace).

Woods