Now you have the solution, a wine thief and a hydrometer jar. I use a 250
ml glass graduated cylindar as it is handy for other things but the plastic
one will work fine. One other thing, it almost sounds like you throw the
sample away after you use it. No reason to, just pour it back in. That
assumes that your equipment was clean. The hydrometer does nothing to the
sample to mess it up.

Ray

<reply@grouponly> wrote in message
...
> 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 ? Books/articles always say to,
> "draw off a sample", or somesuch. Now I'm using a basic glass
> "made in France" hydrometer. If I were to Primary Ferment down
> to, say, 1.010 as Frishman suggests I'm gonna need a glass
> something at least 7.5 in. deep to allow for a little leeway. Sounds
> easy. But when I actually start measuring glasses around the house
> it's obvious that any sample I draw off is gonna be close to half
> a bottle. Pretty nice sample !
>
> Then you've got to discard a lot or risk dirtying or oxidating a
> fair volume in order to return it. Seems clumsy. There ought to
> be a better way, I think. So I'm asking the ng for advise to how
> (and how much) they draw for sampling. Related questions
> could be:
>
> 1. During Primary Ferment can't you pop the lid and drop the
> hydrometer in the bucket, or is this risky ? How often?
>
> 2. Do I need to buy some special "shorty" meter or am I
> missing something obvious?
>
> BTW, the best "beaker" I've found so far are the cheapo
> glass tall votive candles they sell all over for .99cents USA.
> Dollar Store, K-Mart, Safeway all have them -Occasionally
> with a lovely tacky picture of the Virgin de Guadelupe on it.
> The wax comes out cleanly, they are dishwashable, they
> are about 3 inches wide, and they are 8 inches tall and don't
> narrow at the neck like many olive-oil bottles.
> (I've read somewhere that you shouldn't measure through
> a narrowed neck as it throws off the reading).
>
> Andrew
>