Well, it took 4 years but I broke my hydrometer. I rinsed it off with hot water and, while holding the skinny end) instinctively shook the water off it. It broke. HOw have you busted yours?
I’ve broken one in about 4-5 years too, it rolled off the counter. A tip: buy two when you get your next one.
I’ve dropped a couple. Knocked one on my sink faucet. The one I have now is about six months old… Knock on wood
Tossed mine into a sink full of water. It went through the water like butter and broke when it hit the sink bottom. Now I have three and have not broken any in 6 years.
My mash tun has a collapsible suitcase handle on the back. I had set it between the handle and the lid and forgot about it. It shattered when I opened the lid
The same exact way, shaking the water off of it while hanging on the the skinny end.
My best: pulling a sample of the first runnings to check the gravity. After the sample cooled I was standing beside the boil kettle watching the run off, went to drop the hydrometer in the sample jar and completely missed the jar. Yep it landed in the boil kettle where it broke.
I skimmed as much glass out of the boil kettle as I could, the beer ended up fine.
It was a mystery. I keep mine stored in the tube that it came in, inside of a tackle box when not in use. Went to pull it out one day and it was broke. :roll: Luckily I keep a spare.
Used my first one for two years before I dropped it. Bought a replacement, and broke it the very first time I used it (dropped again). Replacement for that lasted 3 years, then it got busted in my luggage when I moved - and I dropped the replacement for it within a couple of weeks. Been using the one I have for three years now, but will buy two when I break it, because I know these accidents happen in pairs.
I keep a 5 gallon bucket of sanitizer and had just put some Ball canning jars in it to soak. Took a gravity sample, rinsed the hydrometer and dropped it in the 5 gallon bucket where it it the glass jars and broke. Pretty dumb.
thats wrong in so many ways :lol:
That’s funny, I don’t look at it like you do!! 
Hmm, do you think it’s bad mojo to respond to this thread if I still have my original hydrometer from 1999? I’ll admit that I don’t use it much anymore… I don’t measure OG (never really did) and I have been in the habit of leaving my beers in primary for a good 3 weeks or more. Most people I know who lose one have laid it on the kitchen counter only to have it roll off & hit the floor. Even though I still have my first one, I’ve still broken MANY glass carboys so I have THAT going for me. Cheers.
Put one in the silverware tray of my dishwasher while I dried off my hands and closed the door on it…
Since you brought up what I was already thinking (mine is from 2005), the guy I know who has broken several does it the same way every time. He likes to give the hydrometer a good spin as he drops it from above the surface. I have personally seen him break two when they bounced off the bottom of the bucket and I know there was at least a third.
After I broke my third one, I got a refractometer. Once you refract, you don’t go back. Oh yeah, I went there.
:cheers:
I went four years without even coming close to breaking the first one and today I shoudl have broken the second. In a drunken state, I missed putting it in it’s tube and it careened off the tube and actually bounced off the counter where I promptly caught it! I didn’t think they could bounce!
My wife broke mine for me. She says on accident…
Just broke my first one. Was racking beer to the secondary when my nearly 2 yer old son was around (nope, apparently I could not wait until nap time) and wanted to help so I gave him the test tube thing to hold with the hydrometer. Of course, right away he wanted to see what was in there so he tipped it to the side and the hydrometer slide out to the floor.
Can’t even be mad at anyone but myself on that one though…
I was finishing a brewday and was in a hurry to play Star Wars The Old Republic with a friend… grabbed the wet hydrometer but it slipped out of my hand and broke against the kitchen sink. Note to myself: Don’t get stressed out at the end of a perfect brewday! :’(
