Refractometers

[Alun]

Hey everyone,

                      Does any one have experience with using refractometers to measure the gravity of wort and fermenting beer?

example refractometer

Also are there any down sides to the digital ones?

digital example for wine

Cheers

[Grant R Baker]

I have been using a standard refractometer for about 3 years now... a god send for mashing and brewing.

Simple way to check what your mash gravity (or pre-boil) gravity is and the Original Gravity (post boil) before fermenting.

Specially after the mashing if you numbers are too high or low before the boil you have the chance to decide what to do (add water, DME or perform a boil off etc).

Make sure you calibrate the Hydrometer every 30minutes or so... air temp effects its readings.

With fermenting beer and finished beer is easier to measure with a hydrometer.. Refractometer readings for fermented beer are not accurate.. but there are a few websites with calculators to help you work it out.

I have not used the digital... but I can't see why it would not work.

[Alun]

Cheers Grant I really appreciate the info ;o)

[Ralph]

Yep. Love my refractometer for measurements of OG of mash going into boil as well as FG etc. You can grab a very small sample of wort from a boiling pot and measure it pretty much straight away which is a god send compared to cooling a sample for a hydro measurement.

I have used digital refractometers and they would work well. Just watch as they will be much more precise, but if you do not have your calibration right they might not be very accurate.

I bought a cheap refracto off alibaba. I calibrated it and then comparing it to hydrometer measurements of the same wort it seems to give good results.

[Alun]

Hey Ralph,

                    Thanks for the feedback. Do you know if the calibration process difficult? 

[Ralph]

nah pretty easy. Get a solution of known brix and twist the little screw until it reads right for a standard one. Digital I think you need a standard solution (like 10% brix) and then press a button and it calibrates itself? Again pretty simple.

[Dan]

+1 for me. I switched  to a refractometer when I dropped and smashed my hydrometer.I wouldnt go back now. The only thing to remember is you need to convert your measurements from brix to SG using a scale for beer brewing. Even if you buy one with both scales they are usually set up for measuring sucrose not maltose. Beersmith does this or there are tables on the net.

[Alun]

That's cool!  I do see that beersmith does that now. I'm getting more and more tempted to buy one :o) 

Cheers

[Ralph]

My cheapo refracto has a SG scale for brewing next to the brix scale when you look through the sight. Seems to be reasonably accurate. No need for conversion charts or programs.

[Dan]

Yeah, mines the cheapo as well. The scales are pretty close up to about 1.040-1.050. higher than that they get a bit inaccurate for beer.

[paul m]

I consider myself a slow brewer or should i say i faff around alot during my brew day (the last one did take most of the day!) I'm always on the look out for kit etc that would save me time on brew day. Do you reckon it saves you time over collecting wort, cooling and measuring with hydrometer? 

cheers

Paul

[Grant R Baker]

30 seconds to take a reading anytime you want... verses how ever long it take to cool a sample. Yeah a small saving in time.

[Ralph]

Yup. Saves heaps of time over hydro measurement for hot wort measuring.