Hi guys 
I’m doing homebrewing for the first time and I heard about tools for density measurement.
Which tools are you using for density measurement? I wondering whether I should stick with Anton Paar’s EasyDens.
I use a hydrometer.
Uhh… $400 bucks! I’ll stick with a hydrometer as well.
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The Easy Dens does rock, though. I hope this isn’t something they’re doing officially.
Is it about the price or do you think a hydrometer is better? I saw, that easydens also has an app included, is this helpful?
$400 is a bit pricey for a meter that measures SG. I too use a hydrometer. I also use a refractometer to get a rough idea where my gravities are during the brew day.
That said, if you are starting out doing extract batches, which I assume you are, a hydrometer and a good thermometer (for temperature correction) are the most economical way to get good reliable gravity measurements
A top quality, professional brewer’s set of Plato saccharometers (hydrometers) can be had for under $50, and a homebrew hydrometer for $6, and these will do the exact same thing. If you want a to use a small sample, a gadget, and your phone, a digital refractometer and a free online calculator will do the same thing with an even smaller sample – just a couple of drops – for a third of the cost. But it’s your money.
Refractometer on raw wort for me and hydrometer on finished beer. I also use a Tilt hydrometer in my fermenter to monitor fermentation progress. The Tilt can easily be 2 or 3 thousandths off (high or low) due to its measurement method, but its adequate for my use of gauging degree of attenuation and when to keg for spunding.
Do you know whether the Tilt works okay in a stainless fermenter? I don’t use a conical, but my fermenting vessels are fairly thick stainless - sort of a “milk can” design. I ferment in a chest freezer for temperature control but, of course, could always open the lid if necessary to sync a device with the Tilt.
I mostly ferment in a 10 gallon corny keg, and the Tilt works fine with that.
I do have to open the lid of my chest freezer though. It won’t read through both the keg and the freezer.
I use my Tilt in a Stainless Blichmann conical. I do have to be reasonably close to the fermenter for it to read.
My tilts are floating in a glass carboy inside a chest freezer in the basement. I can get a reading from the living room couch on 1st floor every time.
A question for those using the Tilt - how much does a heavy krausen affect the gravity reading?
For me the chico yeast variety throws up a really heavy krausen that sometimes never falls.
Sorry, little late to the party. I use both the easy dens and a tilt for each of my ssbrewtech fermenters.
The tilts can read through the fermenter, just have to be within about 6 ft or so. I one day plan to do a raspberry pi setup so the data can go straight to brewfather.
Everytime I pull the tilt after kegging it’s fairly caked in yeast and hop material, how much it’s impacting the results I’m unsure of. The thing with the tilt is it is best used as a tool to track how fermentation is going, i don’t let it give me my final reading. For example I use it to know when to start my diacytel rest and to know when fermentation is complete, but I always confirm final readings with the easy dens.
As for the easy dens, I think it’s worth the price. I love the small sample size, it auto adjusts for temperature between 86 and 41 f I believe (although I’ve ran it with samples at 140 and it read the same). Because the sample is so small it’s very quick to cool them to appropriate temp in fridge or freezer. Super easy to clean, just flush it with warm distilled water.
Ultimately, it really comes down to personal preference and what you are willing to spend. I also love knowing I have a device I can truly trust and calibrate my tilts to as well. Most my other hydrometers have small differences in readings and I never knew which one was actually correct. You can easily calibrate the easy dens with distilled water too. Anyways, short story long, I love it. Hope this helps.
I do know one brewer with the EasyDens but he has not used it enough yet to have an opinion, IIRC. Thanks to all for responding with the Tilt. I have one and have noticed that it can be off. I calibrated it (possibly one of the most tedious homebrewing-related things I have done and my wife wants to know where all the sugar went) and it was accurate but it seems to read .003-.004 low. 1.010 according to a hydrometer is often 1.006. I have seen it down around 1.002 or 1.003 as well. I really have no need to cast the stats out to Google Sheets (I mean it’s cool but I have no real need for it) and with it being off it’s not a great tool for capturing the spund window either unless it’s consistently off every time. Glad to hear others are seeing the same thing. I thought I got a lemon.
Also: I’m surprised that Marge would let Homer spend that kind of money on a piece of brewing equipment. 
I have been using easy dens daily for couple of month. I love it. It is a great tool. Accurate, easy to use, easy to clean.