Yes, I broke my hydrometer. How did it happen? Well, I was washing my hydrometer which comes in a jar. Apparently, the cover for this jar isn’t exactly tightly fitted with the jar. So I poured water into the jar along with the hydrometer inside and then, perhaps due to the way I was holding the jar, the cover gave way and the hydrometer dropped onto the floor. It broke into a million pieces. Note that the hydrometer is made of glass, so it stood no chance when it dropped onto the floor. Of course, I spent the entire 15 minutes going around looking for little pieces of broken glass which could pose a threat to my family’s feet.

What a waste. And why is it always so fragile? I now have to go and buy another hydrometer which cost about 18 bucks. This is probably the most important instrument for brewing beer. You can’t brew beer without it. It will tell you how much alcohol is there in your beer. And it can be used to figure out whether your brew’s fermentation is done or not. If the hydrometer reading is constant for 3 days running, then the brew should have completed fermentation and you can bottle your beer. You can also use it to play “light saber” with your fellow brewers if you so desire. However, you may need to “mod” the hydrometer to add a neon light to mimic it accurately.

If only someone designed a plastic hydrometer which will not break so easily. It should be possible to make a hydrometer from plastic as I think the hydrometer depends on the weight and the surface area and not on the material.