Broken hydrometer in syrup pail...

[johnallin]

I'm sure many of you have dropped a hydrometer and had it break, but last night mine broke in the cup and the bottom section fell into the syrup I was testing. Dam* thing snapped at the bottom and, before I knew it had happened, it slipped out when I was dipping the cup into the pail to test the draw.

Does anyone know what the silver material is at the bottom of a hydrometer - and if it contains anything that should not come in contact with syrup? My hope is that I'm not the first and they are designed and built with food grade "stuff" for just such an event.

Thanks and I hope everyone is having the same banner year as we are over here.

[elm creek guy]

Pretty sure the silver stuff your refering to is lead.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Pretty sure the silver stuff your refering to is lead.

really? with all the "get the lead out" talk I would be surprised if it was.
Dr.Tim where are you?

[500592]

yup that would most likely be lead

[johnallin]

I called Leader and talked with Fred. He assured me it isn't lead, but amalgom and suitable for contact with syrup. Big concern is the glass shards, which will be caught by the filters , in our case. So we are ok.

Wouldn't mind some input from Dr. Tim, though just to be 100%.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

I called Leader and talked with Fred. He assured me it isn't lead, but amalgom and suitable for contact with syrup. Big concern is the glass shards, which will be caught by the filters , in our case. So we are ok.

Wouldn't mind some input from Dr. Tim, though just to be 100%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalgam_(dentistry)
I wouldn't call a material that has mercury in it suitable for food, but just my.5 cents Obama took the rest to pay for health care.

[adk1]

How much syrup are we talking about. maybe you should jsut chuck it

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Alright big problem. I had a hydrometer break this evening when going to test the draw off, and it splatted at the bottom and before i knew it i was dumping the syrup back into the pan, cause i had to test again... Question is, i saw some of those little round things in the hydrometer bottom, in the pan bobbing around. Also i caught a piece of glass in the cup and cleaned cup and threw away the hydrometer. I want to know what the little beads are, what to do and what are the big concerns with this. I will dump the pan if needed and my main concern is to get any potential glass out, any bead things out and what should i do? I do not want any harm to come from this. I am going to another guys store and buying another tomarrow, and i will ask him but what do you think? I really need to know.

[johnallin]

ClarkFarm,
I could only go by what the folks at Leader told me last year, it's amalgom and is, or was used for dental fillings.
To think that a hydrometer - made of glass - would be made with something toxic, in today's world, is kind of bizare to say the least.
That hydro was purchased new in 2009 and did not have the little spheres; but a solid mass of something in there.

Did not hear from Dt. Tim on this - is this a touchy subject?

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Mine was about 4 yrs old, and it had a solid mass of those little bead things, but you could pick them apart after the outside was opened up. Mine was made by Lapierre i believe, and i couldn't find any info on what they are made of and all that info. What did you do johnallin with your syrup when this happened? what do you all think should be done?

[DrTimPerkins]

The manufacturer would be the correct authority to ask what was in the hydrometer and how to deal with any syrup affected by a broken instrument. Most modern hydrometers are fine. Just carefully filter out the glass and whatever material was in the hydrometer promptly.

If you have an older hydrometer made with liquid mercury.....you should dispose of it in the appropriate manner (not in your household trash) and get a new one. Same thing with any mercury-based thermometers you may have......get rid of them. If you break one in your syrup, it must ALL be disposed of as hazardous material. If you break it in your evaporator.....you may end up having to hire company that can clean and decontaminate the evaporator and any affected equipment...big, big, big $. Far easier just to not use liquid mercury-style instruments like this.

[johnallin]

Hello Dr. Perkins, hope all is well, and thanks for your reply.

Is is even faintly possible that state inspected hydrometers are being sold that contain mercury or for that matter even amalgom?
I understand that liquid mercury has been off limits for some time and I would be shocked to see any hydrometers containing the same, but is amalgom any better? Afterall we are talking about a fragile glass instrument being handled by clumsy guys with big hands over a boiling batch of edible food-grade syrup... wow that's crazy if it's the case. We all have backups because breakage is part of the program and to be expected.

All kidding aside; I wouldn't think that could be happening when lead solder and galvanized have all been outlawed.
Not trying to stir anything up here, but with all the warnings and precautions taken with the use of plastics etc, this seems to be an equally critical item.

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

All is well now. I was told that the bb's couldnt be magnetic if lead was in them so i tried a magnet and most out. Also went to Loch's maple and they told me that there shouldnt be any harmfull things like that in one, so I bought another, and ran around with him in their operation for a bit, and then, they let me barrow a 5inch hand pump filter press to make sure it is all clean. Drained the pans, found the 1 little chunk of glass that i new was right there, and finished it with the new hydrometer, and filtered , and that was sparkling clean. I even doublechecked because while bottling i used a little prefilter and nothing was on it. So, between the orlon bag filter, the prefilter in the sap house and the filter press, which wasnt to dirty at all cause i filtered with the bag filter first, and then the filter before bottleing, i have clean syrup.
Now i will clean and hose all pans and get ready to boil more! glad everything was good, and so happy didnt have to waist 1 gal worth of nice light medium amber syrup.

[mapleman3]

Maybe too after the fact but a lot less worry using a hydrometer cup...if your small they make them only an inch in diameter...but lot less syrup if it breaks.

And always always have at least two hydrometers.

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[mapleman3]

Maybe too after the fact but a lot less worry using a hydrometer cup...if your small they make them only an inch in diameter...but lot less syrup if it breaks.

And always always have at least two hydrometers.

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And I just reread your post and you did use a cup....whew..unfortunate that it went in your bucket o syrup......

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