Hydrometer reading differently in cup vs pot

[Gust-o-wind]

Still can't seem to add pictures. I'll give it a little time and try again.

[BAP]

Still can't seem to add pictures. I'll give it a little time and try again.

There is no uploading pictures on this site anymore. The owners have not updated the software to allow it. You need upload a link to some other photo hosting site so people can click on a link to go see the pictures.

[buckeye gold]

I have one final comment then I am out of suggestions. Do you have another hydrometer to check it with. If two different hydrometers do the same thing then I can't think of any answer for you other then just accept the difference and bottle it. The difference isn't big enough to do any harm, it's within normal ranges.

[Gust-o-wind]

There is no uploading pictures on this site anymore. The owners have not updated the software to allow it. You need upload a link to some other photo hosting site so people can click on a link to go see the pictures.

Thanks for the explanation.

[Gust-o-wind]

I have one final comment then I am out of suggestions. Do you have another hydrometer to check it with. If two different hydrometers do the same thing then I can't think of any answer for you other then just accept the difference and bottle it. The difference isn't big enough to do any harm, it's within normal ranges.

Yes I have a short hydrometer that I use at the evaporator. I will try it and see if it does the same thing next time I'm canning some syrup.

[maple flats]

We don't need pictures, I've been making syrup for 26 years. My thinking on the difference is the temperature. In the pot the mass of the syrup remains constant for several minutes at least, in the hydrometer cup, even if preheated 2 or 3 times, it cools much faster. While you believe it was within 1 degree I think the difference was much more in the hydrometer cup. You can solve the issue 2 ways, get a Murphy cup, it will tell you exactly what the hydrometer should read at the exact temperature in the cup, just get them to agree for perfect 66.9% sugar. The other way is to get a refractometer, get it perfectly calibrated and use that. Either will work. I prefer the murphy cup but some like a refractometer better, With a refractometer, once put the drop or drops on the lens, you just wait for the temperature to stabilize then get the reading. I have a refractometer I won in a drawing at a maple show a few yrs ago, I tried it a few times but never really go along with it, maybe it was just me.

[BAP]

We don't need pictures, I've been making syrup for 26 years. My thinking on the difference is the temperature. In the pot the mass of the syrup remains constant for several minutes at least, in the hydrometer cup, even if preheated 2 or 3 times, it cools much faster. While you believe it was within 1 degree I think the difference was much more in the hydrometer cup. You can solve the issue 2 ways, get a Murphy cup, it will tell you exactly what the hydrometer should read at the exact temperature in the cup, just get them to agree for perfect 66.9% sugar. The other way is to get a refractometer, get it perfectly calibrated and use that. Either will work. I prefer the murphy cup but some like a refractometer better, With a refractometer, once put the drop or drops on the lens, you just wait for the temperature to stabilize then get the reading. I have a refractometer I won in a drawing at a maple show a few yrs ago, I tried it a few times but never really go along with it, maybe it was just me.

Why do you think that there is no need for pictures on this site anymore? That’s part of the reason why traffic is dwindling down on here. People have a problem and try to post pictures for someone to help solve the problem and they can’t. So they go to other forms of social media where they can easily post pictures and never come back.

[Gust-o-wind]

We don't need pictures, I've been making syrup for 26 years. My thinking on the difference is the temperature. In the pot the mass of the syrup remains constant for several minutes at least, in the hydrometer cup, even if preheated 2 or 3 times, it cools much faster. While you believe it was within 1 degree I think the difference was much more in the hydrometer cup. You can solve the issue 2 ways, get a Murphy cup, it will tell you exactly what the hydrometer should read at the exact temperature in the cup, just get them to agree for perfect 66.9% sugar. The other way is to get a refractometer, get it perfectly calibrated and use that. Either will work. I prefer the murphy cup but some like a refractometer better, With a refractometer, once put the drop or drops on the lens, you just wait for the temperature to stabilize then get the reading. I have a refractometer I won in a drawing at a maple show a few yrs ago, I tried it a few times but never really go along with it, maybe it was just me.

Dave, I appreciate your effort to help figure this out, but it seems I'm not making the situation clear enough, which is why I wanted to post pictures. In this one situation that I've been trying to explain, everything was at "room temperature" - the pot, the syrup in the pot, the hydrometer, the hydrometer cup, and the air temperature were all within a few degrees of each other - approximately 62°F. Nothing was going to change more than a degree or two even if I had let it sit for hours. According to the temperature correction chart that I'm using, it would take 16 degrees fahrenheit of temperature difference for the hydrometer to read 0.8 brix different.

It must seem that I don't know how to use a hydrometer, but I also have been making or helping make syrup for over 26 years in various capacities.

[buckeye gold]

I have found in life that we sometimes run into dilemmas that vex us. In my old age I have come to the point where I do all I can reasonably do to solve it then when that fails I ask one simple question: Is this a problem that really truly must be resolved and what is the impact if I don't? I have discovered the "good enough factor". The world isn't going to end and no one is going to be harmed if I just "let it go". So where I am at is good enough, move on and rest peacefully, it really doesn't matter beyond my own personal feelings. Now if it is a must solve problem I can't solve I need to back up to where I know everything is good and diagnose from there. Sometimes we need a knew set of eyes on the problem as well. It seems to me you are at this crossroads and it's time to either apply the good enough rule or get someone else physically involved. My personal view is the "good enough rule applies", but it's your choice. I think you have gotten some good advice, but now the ball is in your court. We can only do so much virtually. Good luck.

[Gust-o-wind]

I have found in life that we sometimes run into dilemmas that vex us. In my old age I have come to the point where I do all I can reasonably do to solve it then when that fails I ask one simple question: Is this a problem that really truly must be resolved and what is the impact if I don't? I have discovered the "good enough factor". The world isn't going to end and no one is going to be harmed if I just "let it go". So where I am at is good enough, move on and rest peacefully, it really doesn't matter beyond my own personal feelings. Now if it is a must solve problem I can't solve I need to back up to where I know everything is good and diagnose from there. Sometimes we need a knew set of eyes on the problem as well. It seems to me you are at this crossroads and it's time to either apply the good enough rule or get someone else physically involved. My personal view is the "good enough rule applies", but it's your choice. I think you have gotten some good advice, but now the ball is in your court. We can only do so much virtually. Good luck.

Good advice, thanks.