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  • Anton Parr DMA 35

    Has anyone used the Anton Parr DMA 35? If so, what are your criticisms? We're considering purchasing one to replace glass hydrometers in our brewery. I've read that alcohol readings with this device are more intended for distillery use, rather than unfiltered beer. Has anyone taken accurate finished alcohol readings in unfiltered beer with the DMA 35?

    Thank you,

    Garrett Crowell
    Head Brewer
    Jester King Brewery

  • #2
    Anton Parr DMA 35

    Buy one yesterday! They only use a few ml each reading so you only need to pull a 50 ml or shorter sample. De-gass the beer, pull the sample into DMA 35 and you have your reading. It has multiple settings for gravity (SG or Plato) + other (API, etc). Alcohol is not accurate at beer range, it is more for taking samples of distilled spirits range. But you could calculate alcohol with OG and AE, which would be accurate with this unit. The only maintenance is a AA battery every 3 mo, and cleaning sample barrel with soapy water & rinse.

    It saves beer, and lots of time, and is more robust than hydrometers, but not something you want to throw around.

    Highly recommended purchase!

    Cheers

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    • #3
      Just to echo the points already made - the DMA35 and other digital meters are quicker, use far less sample and easier to check/calibrate than hydrometers.

      They can be teamed with a refractometer, then a simple calculation is all that's needed for accurate OG and abv determination.

      As zbrew2K says rightly, flush through after use to keep the internals clean and that's about all the maintenance needed.

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      • #4
        I'd love to get a second one.

        Comment


        • #5
          Awesome

          We love our DMA 35. We use it for checking wort during during runoff and all points during fermentation.
          No more subjectivity of hydrometer readings.

          Does anyone have a method for cleaning the internal parts? Our DI water reading used to be 0.1, now it's 0.2 and sometimes 0.3

          We rinse with DI water after every use and in between samples.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by porter View Post
            We love our DMA 35. We use it for checking wort during during runoff and all points during fermentation.
            No more subjectivity of hydrometer readings.

            Does anyone have a method for cleaning the internal parts? Our DI water reading used to be 0.1, now it's 0.2 and sometimes 0.3

            We rinse with DI water after every use and in between samples.
            Its fairly easy to take the plunger assembly apart and clean with iso or vodka. I also run some type of high alcohol through the cell once a week or so and recalibrate the meter with distilled water. The best thing I've found to keep it clean is being proactive- whenever possible I centrifuge my sample for 1-2 minutes at 3k rpm to knock the yeast and particulates out of suspension so they dont clog it up. That said, we run a lot of unfiltered wheat beer through ours and can keep it pretty clean.

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            • #7
              DMA35, the nail gun of the brewing profession

              I used to lend our DMA 35 to prospective brewer-clients. We try to get folks hooked on data-driven decision making.

              I argue that if you're in this business as your profession you need professional tools. The DMA35 is like moving up from a hammer to a nail gun- faster and better finish.

              Cleaning with dilute caustic will keep it free of protein build up.

              You could put a 1.0 micron syringe filter on the intake, if you want to filter the large chunks. I've never seen it to be an issue, but usually work only with finished beer.

              Anton Paar is overpriced, and Mettler makes a competitive instrument. See who you like for their customer service.

              Best,
              Scott Bruslind
              Analysis Laboratory
              โ€œWeโ€™re your friends,โ€ said my attorney. โ€œWeโ€™re not like the others.โ€ HS Thompson (1937-2005)

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by analabor View Post
                Anton Paar is overpriced, and Mettler makes a competitive instrument. See who you like for their customer service
                DMA35's can be sourced competitively!

                A lot of Mettler density kit was made by Kyoto, who also have some excellent units. Their DA-110 is a good alternative to the DMA35, especially for anyone on a tight budget.

                Definitely the key to digital meters is basic housekeeping - keeping them clean is simple and, as analabor says, a flush with 2% caustic will remove any protein build-up, eg. from wort gravity measurement.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by JKing View Post
                  Has anyone used the Anton Parr DMA 35? If so, what are your criticisms? We're considering purchasing one to replace glass hydrometers in our brewery. I've read that alcohol readings with this device are more intended for distillery use, rather than unfiltered beer. Has anyone taken accurate finished alcohol readings in unfiltered beer with the DMA 35?

                  Thank you,

                  Garrett Crowell
                  Head Brewer
                  Jester King Brewery
                  "Little Tony" is incredibly useful, just do not drop him.

                  As others have said, keep him clean with dilute caustic or alkaline laboratory cleaner like Decon, Extran, or whatever else is available in your neck of the woods.

                  The plunger mechanism is a bitch to clean, leaks beer and needs regular disassembly for cleaning and maintenance purposes. I have experienced this over several units over the last several years. Also be careful you don't break anything in there! The plunger tube used to be quite breakable, but they may have changed the material to something more robust in the last couple years.

                  I've used the Mettler Toledo equivalent, and even with the price difference I still prefer Little Tony. He's much more user-friendly.

                  Also make sure you attemperate your samples to 20ยฐC (or whatever that is in Farenheit) as Little Tony will skew up or down for every degree you are out. With experience you can learn to automatically compensate for that within a few degrees though.

                  I am also pretty sure that the alcohol function on Little Tony is for a solution of water and alcohol only, such as if you have run an alcohol distillation and wish to measure it. I have never found little Tony reliable for this when running laboratory distillations for ABV measurement. His brother, Big Tony, has spoiled me!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    the more you pay, the more it's worth

                    TL Services is quite right about shopping for the DMA 35, and it's impolitic of me to call the DMA 35 overpriced.

                    Here's the thing- there has been no other instrument, whether it's the DMA35 or our DMA5000, that has been a better investment. We went into $40k of debt for an Anton Paar system (DMA5000 and SP-1m sample changer) and we paid it off in 2 years. The Anton Paar Beer Alcolyzer rescued me from years of distillations. Can you tell that I'm grateful?
                    Your mileage may vary, but whatever they're asking for the DMA35 will have a reasonable ROI. Just master it and make it work. You'll be a better brewer. The datalogger function is my favorite piece of overlooked functionality.

                    The Kyoto instrument is a perfectly suitable alternative, but no one melts and blows a better glass U-tube than those Austrians at Anton Paar.
                    โ€œWeโ€™re your friends,โ€ said my attorney. โ€œWeโ€™re not like the others.โ€ HS Thompson (1937-2005)

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I am testing out an Edrometer from STM now. It works great so far, and at a fraction of the cost. I will keep up with this if I run into any problems.
                      Joel Halbleib
                      Partner / Zymurgist
                      Hive and Barrel Meadery
                      6302 Old La Grange Rd
                      Crestwood, KY
                      www.hiveandbarrel.com

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Garrett,
                        We absolutely love ours for gravity readings (and have them both at the brewery and at Terreux).

                        Originally posted by porter View Post
                        We love our DMA 35. We use it for checking wort during during runoff and all points during fermentation.
                        No more subjectivity of hydrometer readings.

                        Does anyone have a method for cleaning the internal parts? Our DI water reading used to be 0.1, now it's 0.2 and sometimes 0.3

                        We rinse with DI water after every use and in between samples.
                        Porter,
                        We use a 1% alconox solution to clean in between usage (storing it with distilled water inbetween). It should solve your problem.

                        Cheers,
                        Andrew

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by BrewinLou View Post
                          I am testing out an Edrometer from STM now. It works great so far, and at a fraction of the cost. I will keep up with this if I run into any problems.
                          Does it accurately read Plato during and after fermentation? I use a digital refractometer in the brewhouse and hydrometers in the brewhouse. I'd be interested to see what the maintenance and life of the Edrometer looks like.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            We had two DMA-35s at my last job. It's out of the budget here right now and I am definitely going to miss it. They are fast and use almost no beer. One thing we did find was that the readings were 0.2 - 0.3ยบ P higher if we didn't spin the yeast and solids out of the sample.


                            Cheers!
                            Justin Stine
                            Head Brewer
                            The Waterfront Brewery
                            Key West, FL

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              DMA 35 and EasyDens

                              Hi everyone, full disclosure: I work for Anton Paar. I see some comments about the price compared to the Mettler Toledo model. I have not really seen the MT Densito listed at a lower price than us. We sell directly and you can also go our webshop and buy it direct from the factory in Austria. The catalog houses and Amazon also sell both models. Mettler-Toledo and Kyoto (the company that makes the Mettler unit) are both fine, ethical companies, so I don't want to give the impression that I am bashing them.

                              For a low cost alternative to the DMA 35, we have introduced the EasyDens. It is not as handy as the DMA 35 since it has no hand pump. You have to inject the sample. Further we saved some money by making you supply the display: Your smart phone! It communicates directly to your Android or Apple device via Bluetooth. You can download the free app in Google Play or iTunes and run it on your phone or tablet in the simulation mode. The price is $477 (as of today. The price is subject to currency fluctuations).

                              As of the moment, the EasyDens is not on Amazon. There is an instrument with a similar name but it is used for interpreting Xray film.

                              The EasyDens was made with the home brewer in mind but we have seen some nano breweries order it. For cleaning any of our instruments, we recommend Tergazyme from Alconox, available from the catalog houses and Amazon. If you call Alconox they will send you a sample packet.

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