Confused

[Copperhead57]

I run a 30 gallon sugar wash. Didn't check sg. Or ph. I was in a hurry because I had to go out of town for a few days. It was 30 gallon mountain spring water 60lb sugar 2 7oz tomatoe paste a squirt of lemon juice. Came. home two weeks later and. checked it. Seems fine.. Done a stripping run in my pot still ..collected everything.. Put it in a biig pot had 4 gallon . Went to check the proof of it and the proof meter says 0. Thought the meter was bad so I tasted it and it about took my head off. Never tasted anything so hot. Got another meter samething . Put some in a spoon and lit it up. Burnt a pale blue almost clear no residue or anything on the spoon. Never had this week before. What could it be. Thanks for your feedback.

[Salt Must Flow]

Are you positive it was a Proof & Tralles hydrometer?

If you used a Specific Gravity/Potential Alcohol hydrometer it would certainly behave as you described. That's the wrong tool for measuring proof/% ABV of ethanol.

You really want to get that sorted out because your Proof & Tralles hydrometer is what tells you what the % ABV of your total collected Low Wines is. Usually people have a target % ABV and that indicates when to stop stripping (shut down the still). If you do the exact same recipe over & over again, knowing what the % ABV is coming off the spout can also correlate with what the % ABV of your total collected Low Wines. In other words, once your Low Wines are 40% ABV, it may be coming off the spout at 10% ABV. Knowing what % ABV is coming off the spout can let you know how far along you are through the stripping run. Testing the total collected Low Wines also lets you know how far along you are. Some use boiler temp to correlate with when to stop. You can also use total collected volume to correlate when to stop. Either way you do it, you need to be able to measure % ABV before you can even begin to correlate with anything. Without knowing what the % ABV is, you could have left a lot of ethanol in the boiler. Alternatively, you could be stripping longer than you need to. You just don't know without first knowing what the % ABV is.

You also need that Proof & Tralles hydrometer to be reliable in order to proof down your product after you made your cuts from your Spirit Run. You can calculate the ratio of water to spirit, but first you need to know what the % ABV of the ethanol is that you intend to dilute.

[Copperhead57]

It was a proof and tralles meter. I tried 2 of them same results.

[Saltbush Bill]

Can you please put up a photo of what you are using to test the ABV of your spirit.
I still think you are using the wrong tool, spirit isnt going to burn at 0% abv.

[Copperhead road]

Can you please put up a photo of what you are using to test the ABV of your spirit.
I still think you are using the wrong tool, spirit isnt going to burn at 0% abv.

Salty correct me if I am wrong or have I been using the wrong description for the past 10 years.
Alcometer or alcoholmeter is what you use for checking ABV% when proofing down you spirits or in the parrot while running still.

Hydrometer is what’s used to check the specific gravity SP of the wash in your fermenter.

I have never heard of an Alcometer being called a hydrometer. Even when Emptyglass built my still he called me and said he was sending me a commercial Alcometer to fit the commercial size parrot.

There called Alcometers at the HBS here also.

I guess I have always called them what I was originally told they were called.

[Saltbush Bill]

Generaly called an Alcometer, but there are many different types of hydrometers. Some measure ABV, others are used for other purposes in other industries.
All as far as i know measure viscosity of a known liquid to get a reading.

[SW_Shiner]

Can you please put up a photo of what you are using to test the ABV of your spirit.
I still think you are using the wrong tool, spirit isnt going to burn at 0% abv.

Salty correct me if I am wrong or have I been using the wrong description for the past 10 years.
Alcometer or alcoholmeter is what you use for checking ABV% when proofing down you spirits or in the parrot while running still.

Hydrometer is what’s used to check the specific gravity SP of the wash in your fermenter.

I have never heard of an Alcometer being called a hydrometer. Even when Emptyglass built my still he called me and said he was sending me a commercial Alcometer to fit the commercial size parrot.

There called Alcometers at the HBS here also.

I guess I have always called them what I was originally told they were called.

They are all hydrometers. A hydrometer is a tool used to measure the density of a liquid. One day someone happened to give the Proof And Tralles Hydrometer the nickname of alcometer, probably to make it faster to differentiate between the two, and it stuck.

[shadylane]

I always thought a hydrometer was calibrated to 1.000 hence the term hydro.

[SW_Shiner]

Hydrometers are calibrated for different uses, such as a lactometer for measuring the density (creaminess) of milk, a saccharometer for measuring the density of sugar in a liquid, or an alcoholometer for measuring higher levels of alcohol in spirits. The ones we use are calibrated to the specific gravity of water.
I believe its called a hydrometer as it measures liquids.

[shadylane]

Can you please put up a photo of what you are using to test the ABV of your spirit.
I still think you are using the wrong tool, spirit isnt going to burn at 0% abv.

[Saltbush Bill]

Proof and Tralle, might be a terminology mostly used in the USA, most other countries use ABV.

[Yummyrum]

Hydrometers are calibrated for different uses, such as a lactometer for measuring the density (creaminess) of milk, a saccharometer for measuring the density of sugar in a liquid, or an alcoholometer for measuring higher levels of alcohol in spirits. The ones we use are calibrated to the specific gravity of water.
I believe its called a hydrometer as it measures liquids.

I think this sums it up . And agree , it is called a hydrometer as it measures liquids .

At all the schools I worked , we always have a draw of Hydrometers . They all measurer different ranges . Then we have some in there such as a Wine /Beer hydrometer and a Lead acid Battery charge hydrometer to show the practical scales that can be applied gor real world applications .

[Copperhead57]

Its a alcometer. I know the difference

[Homebrewer11777]

Proof and Tralles hydrometer is the same thing as an alcometer. Brewing hydrometer will measure specific gravity and maybe brix + potential alcohol. Both measure density of the solution, difference is that the alcometer is calibrated for the differences in density of alcohol/water solutions while the specific gravity hydrometer is calibrated for sugar/water solutions. The alcometer is useless if there is any sugar in the solution.

Interestingly (to me anyway haha) the specific gravity hydrometer is thrown off by the presence of alcohol in the wash (ethanol is less dense than water). This is why when a wash ferments from 1.060 OG to 1.000 FG brewers call this 100% apparent attenuation...while real attenuation is only about 82%.

[SW_Shiner]

Proof and Tralles hydrometer is the same thing as an alcometer. Correct, Tralles invented the scale that designates a hydrometer as an alcoholometer to measure the ABV of liquid. The proof scale was then added to it. Brewing hydrometer will measure specific gravity and maybe brix + potential alcohol. Commonly called a Triple Scale Hydrometer. Both measure density of the solution, difference is that the alcometer is calibrated for the differences in density of alcohol/water solutions while the specific gravity hydrometer is calibrated for sugar/water solutions. The alcometer is useless if there is any sugar in the solution.

Interestingly (to me anyway haha) the specific gravity hydrometer is thrown off by the presence of alcohol in the wash (ethanol is less dense than water). This is why when a wash ferments from 1.060 OG to 1.000 FG brewers call this 100% apparent attenuation...while real attenuation is only about 82%.This is also why ferments finish below the density of water, 0.980-1.000

[shadylane]

Its a alcometer. I know the difference

The alcometers said zero, but the booze burns at room temp.
Was the test tube deep enough for the alcometer too float?

[SW_Shiner]

A picture says a thousand words. Any chance of getting a pic with it floating in the sample? Would remove a lot of speculation as to what's happened.

I was thinking maybe cracked, but then it would get heavier and sink, unless some of the ballast has fallen out, or maybe the scale has shifted. Was temp correction done when measuring?

[Saltbush Bill]

The alcometer is knackered, there is no other explanation, that or its being used incorrectly.

[Yummyrum]

The alcometer is knackered, there is no other explanation, that or its being used incorrectly.

. Got another meter samething . Put some in a spoon and lit it up.

Two faulty meters ???

[Salt Must Flow]

The alcometer is knackered, there is no other explanation, that or its being used incorrectly.

. Got another meter samething . Put some in a spoon and lit it up.

Two faulty meters ???

Well if you think about it, SW_Shiner and Saltbush Bill requested a photo showing what Copperhead57 is describing. That is a perfectly logical request. We could all show photos of water reading 0 as well as any ratio of ethanol & water reading the corresponding % ABV, but it was Copperhead57's claim that he has strong ethanol reading 0% ABV allegedly with two appropriate spirit hydrometers. It was his claim so the onus is on him to back up his claim. Unless he does that ... anything anyone has to say about it is purely speculation.

[fzbwfk9r]

I run a 30 gallon sugar wash. Didn't check sg. Or ph. I was in a hurry because I had to go out of town for a few days. It was 30 gallon mountain spring water 60lb sugar 2 7oz tomatoe paste a squirt of lemon juice. Came. home two weeks later and. checked it. Seems fine.. Done a stripping run in my pot still ..collected everything.. Put it in a biig pot had 4 gallon . Went to check the proof of it and the proof meter says 0. Thought the meter was bad so I tasted it and it about took my head off. Never tasted anything so hot. Got another meter samething . Put some in a spoon and lit it up. Burnt a pale blue almost clear no residue or anything on the spoon. Never had this week before. What could it be. Thanks for your feedback.

Hey @Copperhead57 did you ever figure out what the issue was?

when you ran it, what did your results tell you?

[Copperhead57]

From the bead id say 90 proof never figured what happened.

[Copperhead road]

It’s a real mystery, but I dare say it wouldn’t be the first time that two hydrometers were incorrect.
That’s the only thing that makes any logic to me anyways….

[thecroweater]

Either the hydrometer is calibrated incorrectly for ethanol , the temperature was way higher than the meter is calibrated for most is 20°c/68°f but some eastern European ones are 15° or the alcometer simply wasn't free floating. Its just a weight sealed in tube, been used since at least around 400 BC in the medical profession Hippocrates)and specifically calibrated for distillation since at least 100 AD ( Miriam the jewess) and unless it has a leak it virtually can't read wrong

[PalCabral]

Either the hydrometer is calibrated incorrectly for ethanol , the temperature was way higher than the meter is calibrated for most is 20°c/68°f but some eastern European ones are 15° or the alcometer simply wasn't free floating. Its just a weight sealed in tube, been used since at least around 400 BC in the medical profession Hippocrates)and specifically calibrated for distillation since at least 100 AD ( Miriam the jewess) and unless it has a leak it virtually can't read wrong

Unless it was a construction fault from the factory? That could also explain why both were giving erroneous results, OP bought them at the same time (one to have as a spare) and they were both from the same broken batch of hydrometers.

[thecroweater]

Unless it was a construction fault from the factory? That could also explain why both were giving erroneous results, OP bought them at the same time (one to have as a spare) and they were both from the same broken batch of hydrometers.

Easy test for that, float them in a commercial spirit with a known proof

[PalCabral]

Unless it was a construction fault from the factory? That could also explain why both were giving erroneous results, OP bought them at the same time (one to have as a spare) and they were both from the same broken batch of hydrometers.

Easy test for that, float them in a commercial spirit with a known proof

I regularly do that with my refractometer.

Btw, I didn't know the east European hydrometers were calibrated at 15C. I have one a hydrometer that only showing between 60% and down to 40%, but it's always been a bit wonky. It's not impossible I found it one road trip in eastern Europe. I'll have a look at it now.

Edit: No, it's from France. I remember now, I bought it when I was living in Brussels. Well, I guess I'll never know why it's being wonky.