Edrometer

richard

Just received my Edrometer in the post from STM instruments.

Will fine tune for value trimming later today.

The accuracy specs look impressive

grim

Run a test, run a test!

richard

Need 40% vodka to better fine tune / trim the unit. Problem is that vodka is generally sold in 43%. So this part still needs to be done.

None the less did some test on the Smirnoff vodka. Unit showed 42.5%. Confirmed with alcoholmeter.

Not too shabby.

richard

Checked on some old packaged carbonated cider ..... can not check packaged alcohol level if SG is above 1. But you can check other values.

Degassed the sample and got the following;

grim

How does this compare with temp corrected hydrometer readings?

richard

Confirmed it with temperature correction on alcoholmeter as best as I could.

As best could be seen from the meniscus line at approx 20 deg C ... value was "approx" 42.5% from alcoholmeter.

Ideally one would need a smaller range on alcoholmeter to be more accurate.

grim

So you are saying it is 0.5 abv off? Reads 42.5 vs 43%?

richard

I am saying that both the edrometer and alcoholmeter give 42.5% vs the 43% which is stated on the bottle.

Kapea

Calibration is only as good as the equipment used to calibrate with. Your online monitor may be very precise, but not very accurate, if the instruments you calibrate with are not accurate.

Sunshine

How does it react when sugar is in the booze? Most commercial vodkas are sugared up.

Smaug

Most? Never experienced that before.

punkin

I haven't really had a sweet vodka before either. A lot of liquers are though and it will be the same as the cider tests above where Richard says it cannot assess the abv if SG is above 1.

jacksonbrown

Me nether. I've heard of other stuff being added though. Maybe glycerine? I can't remember.
Easy to test for. Just put a splash in a clean glass bowl and let it dry out. Any reissue is questionable.

Smaug

Though it is true that ethanol has a sweet taste for some. Sweet taste on the pallet but not actually sugar sweet as in sucrose.

Kapea

A bit of late heads (alcohol kind) can add a perception of sweetness.

grim

In the states, you can go as high as 2g per liter.

grim

Can you try again with another distilled spirit? Against the label proof?

Half a point of proof is huge compared to the accuracy you can get with a decent hydrometer.

Although, according to the calibration report above, this is about 10x less accurate than the minimum accuracy required for gauging with a density meter, so maybe a half point is in-line.

Kapea

It's picking up interfence from proximity to the bottled cider... ;<)

richard

Have organised for Monday a comparative test against an Anton Paar unit.

What I did notice from having repeated the process later on .. is that I may have been a bit fast in doing the reading i.e. you need to let the unit stabilise before a final final reading is taken.

We will see.

I will also take some other product as well.

Sunshine

yes, @Grim is right: 2g /L. it is not, that it tastes sweet, it gives a rounder mouth feel. You don't have to to declare it on the label as long as it is not more than those 2g. Is the same in the EU law too.

Kapea

Late heads give a rounder mouthfeel... But no more than 2g/L.

Words escape me.

richard

Tried a sweetened Southern Comfort Lime. Above SG of 1 so no alcohol measurement. Showed a sugar content of 32.1

richard

Getting the hang of it and better readings after having let the readings stabilise.. I still need to calibrate against a 40% ABV product. .... if only I could find one.

Need to make sure no air bubbles and let the unit stabilise.

43% against whiskey (43% on label).
43.1% against same vodka 43% on label).

zymurgybob

If it just measures density, it only tells you what your liquid is when you have a binary mixture of two compounds (and a scale to translate). For instance, I could add sugar to an ethanol-water mixture to get an SG of .995, and you wouldn't know how much of each was in that mixture.

richard

Tested the unit yesterday afternoon against an Anton Paar unit.

Still trying to find a 40% alcohol to calibrate it against.

Vodka      Label 43%  
Anton Paar 43.04% ABV | SG 0.94299
Edrometer  42.90% ABV | SG 0.94520

Whiskey 1  Label 43%  
Anton Paar 42.75% ABV  
Edrometer  42.70% ABV

Whiskey 2  Label 43%  
Anton Paar 43.10% ABV  
Edrometer  42.90% ABV  

grim

Thanks, now we're talking. Those results look much better.

Smaug

There are even discrepancies between two of the Anton Parr units in a side by side.

grim

Yeah but that's much tighter than previous, based on those numbers, it's a good deal.

CothermanDistilling

Yes, that is impressive for the price...

bbok

most traceable instruments I am familiar with will have a spec of ± 10% of full scale

Kapea

10% ?

That's a typo, right?