After several days of anticipation (see my post linked below) I received my gift this morning. Turns out my SS works in the brewing industry and hooked me up with a refractometer! I had to do a bit of research for this one, but it turns out this is a hydrometer that measures the gravity of a liquid based on how it refracts light. COOL! The best part is that it automatically compensates for temperature, meaning I can measure the gravity really easily during any stage of the brew. I'm pretty excited to learn more about using this. As an added bonus: no more broken hydrometers scattering glass and lead beads all over my house!

For those of you not familiar with brewing terms, this gadget tells me how dense the beer is, allowing me to find out how much alcohol is in it.

old post for context: http://www.reddit.com/r/secretsanta/comments/14pn1v/received_message_from_my_secret_santa_this_just/