Home Distiller

Hello All,

I was able to find and buy a miniature alcometer off of eBay. It took several weeks to arrive so I had forgot I even ordered it. It showed up today and boy is it tiny. I tested out a range of different ABVs and to my surprise, it is pretty accurate. I am going to use it to test 250 - 500 ml jars during airing, aging, and blending. I smelled, tasted, and tested 46 pint jars last night. The jars had been airing for 48 hours. The smelling and testing was fun but I don't really like pulling samples to put in my plastic tube that holds my alcometer. I use a turkey baster and then I have to fumble around with my fragile glass alcometer. I usually rinse everything to avoid any unnecessary smearing.

With this tiny lil fella I can just drop it into any jar and test the ABV. Then I can just wipe it off and then quickly move to the next jar. I will attach some pictures below. The price was great as well.

Thanks,
JB

JeeterBee wrote:Hello All,

I was able to find and buy a miniature alcometer off of eBay. It took several weeks to arrive so I had forgot I even ordered it. It showed up today and boy is it tiny. I tested out a range of different ABVs and to my surprise, it is pretty accurate. I am going to use it to test 250 - 500 ml jars during airing, aging, and blending. I smelled, tasted, and tested 46 pint jars last night. The jars had been airing for 48 hours. The smelling and testing was fun but I don't really like pulling samples to put in my plastic tube that holds my alcometer. I use a turkey baster and then I have to fumble around with my fragile glass alcometer. I usually rinse everything to avoid any unnecessary smearing.

With this tiny lil fella I can just drop it into any jar and test the ABV. Then I can just wipe it off and then quickly move to the next jar. I will attach some pictures below. The price was great as well.

Thanks,
JB

8D436499-0DC9-45E3-83F1-AAE179BE384B.jpeg

EAE55AAC-A3AD-427C-ADF5-850A8209D1BF.jpeg

ACD6BDE3-CBED-4E43-BC1A-D15A0512ECE3.jpeg

Damn, that’s cute. I have to have one or two. Not for final proofing, but looks great for the use you described, quick checks of jars. I’m sure I can search, but by chance do you have a link?

** Warning **. You said your tall tube was plastic and you use a turkey blaster. Don’t use those again for alcohol, especially high proof. Shit from the plastic will leach into your product, will ruin the plastic for other uses, and it’s not safe for anyone drinking your stuff. Please be safe and stay healthy.

Otis

Otis,

Try this link. I had hard time finding it. I try to stay away from plastic as much a possible. I have a glass tube called a wine thief but it can be messy and difficult to use. I need to buy one of the glass alcometer tubes with the wider base.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3868789222" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

JB

Thanks. $5 for two of them + free shipping. Seems like a steel to me. Mine are on their way. Otis

I bought some a while back when a handful cost bugger all. Mostly use them in the collection vessel when stripping.

OtisT wrote:Thanks. $5 for two of them + free shipping. Seems like a steel to me. Mine are on their way. Otis

I to have followed OtisT’s lead.....

Don’t know how it will look bobbing around in a commercial diameter parrot

Copperhead road wrote:

OtisT wrote:Thanks. $5 for two of them + free shipping. Seems like a steel to me. Mine are on their way. Otis

I to have followed OtisT’s lead.....

Don’t know how it will look bobbing around in a commercial diameter parrot

Me too

I have been playing with mine quite a bit. I wouldn't say they are 100% accurate but they are pretty dang close. I have been using both of the tiny ones and they read the same as each other. When it come to my regular sized alcometer vs. the mini ones, there seems to be a sweet spot of accuracy which is between 30% to 80% ABV. That works fine for me. That is the range in which I do most of my testing anyways. My only one small complaint is that the numbers get real small under 30. They are still readable though.

JB

I'm in! They are one the way!!

So cute. I bought some too.

I find them highly annoying. Always stick like glue to the side of the jar. Fine in a still vessel, but in a collection jar, where there is constant movement, they do my head in.

I use a copper wire hoop to hold them upright and away from the sides. I gave up on my idea of using them in a mini parrot because they get top heavy at low abvs.

They fit nicely in a 10ml measuring cylinder if you need to read tiny samples, but they are so fragile that dropping one into the empty cylinder is enough to break it.

NZChris wrote: They fit nicely in a 10ml measuring cylinder if you need to read tiny samples, but they are so fragile that dropping one into the empty cylinder is enough to break it.

I've been lucky then. I often forget they are in the collection jar and pour them into the storage vessel, then have to go fish it out... Haven't had one break yet....

I have the same ones so I made this for it. I call it a hummingbird

Does the mini parrot work ok?

Yes I only use it after the foreshots are gone and when the stream is slow. It works on my setup fine but probably not a larger still as the tube is only 1/4 inch.

I got a set of 3 off ebay which are a smaller size (7" tip to tip) & super handy

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/10PCS-High-prec ... 2439154858" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

0-40%

40-70%

70-100%

Best of all they're calibrated to 20c, and not 60f which is 15.555c which is what the online tables compensate for

Scott817 wrote:I have the same ones so I made this for it. I call it a hummingbird

curious - was the bottom fitting that the 1/4" line goes into already made for it?

hpby98 wrote:

Scott817 wrote:I have the same ones so I made this for it. I call it a hummingbird

curious - was the bottom fitting that the 1/4" line goes into already made for it?

No I drilled it out. It is just a 1/2 cap on a piece of 1/2 pipe and 3/4 to 1/2 reducer and some 1/4 copper tube and the piece of top is just another 1/2 cap

Here it is in action

Scott, that just kicks ass!!

Perfect!

That hummingbird is awesome.
Nice work.

Otis

Scott817 wrote:

hpby98 wrote:

Scott817 wrote:I have the same ones so I made this for it. I call it a hummingbird

curious - was the bottom fitting that the 1/4" line goes into already made for it?

No I drilled it out. It is just a 1/2 cap on a piece of 1/2 pipe and 3/4 to 1/2 reducer and some 1/4 copper tube and the piece of top is just another 1/2 cap

Thanks!

Mine came in last week. I haven't played with em yet, or anything else with this hobby. I guess I'm collecting toys at this point, lol

OtisT wrote:

JeeterBee wrote:Hello All,

I was able to find and buy a miniature alcometer off of eBay. It took several weeks to arrive so I had forgot I even ordered it. It showed up today and boy is it tiny. I tested out a range of different ABVs and to my surprise, it is pretty accurate. I am going to use it to test 250 - 500 ml jars during airing, aging, and blending. I smelled, tasted, and tested 46 pint jars last night. The jars had been airing for 48 hours. The smelling and testing was fun but I don't really like pulling samples to put in my plastic tube that holds my alcometer. I use a turkey baster and then I have to fumble around with my fragile glass alcometer. I usually rinse everything to avoid any unnecessary smearing.

With this tiny lil fella I can just drop it into any jar and test the ABV. Then I can just wipe it off and then quickly move to the next jar. I will attach some pictures below. The price was great as well.

Thanks,
JB

8D436499-0DC9-45E3-83F1-AAE179BE384B.jpeg

EAE55AAC-A3AD-427C-ADF5-850A8209D1BF.jpeg

ACD6BDE3-CBED-4E43-BC1A-D15A0512ECE3.jpeg

Damn, that’s cute. I have to have one or two. Not for final proofing, but looks great for the use you described, quick checks of jars. I’m sure I can search, but by chance do you have a link?

** Warning **. You said your tall tube was plastic and you use a turkey blaster. Don’t use those again for alcohol, especially high proof. Shit from the plastic will leach into your product, will ruin the plastic for other uses, and it’s not safe for anyone drinking your stuff. Please be safe and stay healthy.

Otis

Thanks for the tip Jeeter. I just ordered a couple. Looks like they could be handy. I see they come from the Ukraine. Might take a bit to get here. @Scott817, that Hummingbird is really cool. Nicely done.