I recently received a refractometer and tried it out on a batch of mead that has been in secondary for about 3 months. I took a reading of some distilled water, both read 1.00. I then dissolved 30g of sugar into 250ml of water and took a reading; both showed around 1.045. However, when I measure my mead, I get pretty much exactly 1.00 on the hydrometer but 10 brix (1.040 sg) on the refractometer. Interestingly, the mead tastes quite …
I've been using This picture from beersmith.com of a refractometer (Looks like the same refractometer as mine) scale to go back-and-forth between my brew notes (at the computer) when doing ABV calculations. I sometimes record the SG reading during the brew because I'll have the target OG of the recipe in mind and just not "thinking" in Brix. Today, I noticed the scale at beersmith and the one in my refractometer (pic below) are not the same! Shouldn't both just …
I have a refractometer for measuring my OG and FG for my home brews. Eventually, I found out about wort correction. Are cider and wort too different to use the same correction tool?
For years, I've always taken my gravity readings with the hydrometer that came with my original homebrew kit. There's nothing wrong with it, but I've been thinking lately about switching over to a refractometer. While I enjoy tasting the progress of the beer at various stages, I'd like to limit the amount of beer I pull out of my batch to take gravity readings (an pbvious benefit of the refractometer). Which of these two tools is more accurate/precise in taking …
I use a Refractometer when I brew mostly for the boil off phase of an all grain batch. This helps me make sure I get to the exact FG I want for the specific type of beer. It works well and I don’t have problems. One day while drinking one of my Märzen beers I wondered what the gravity of my beer would be now. Even though I’d taken the FG before racking and knew it was on point. So …
I have an IPA that I've brewed in five gallon batches before. OG at 1.065 and FG at 1.010. Those were hydrometer readings. I scaled it down for a one gallon batch, and pitched half a packet of yeast (Safale US-05) instead of a full packet. My OG was 1.060 using a refractometer, but my FG is reading 1.041 after 2.5 weeks of fermentation. Is something throwing the refractometer off? I haven't had this issue before. Maybe I under-pitched? But …
I recently purchase a digital refractometer and use an online calculator to convert the ºBrix value to SG. My question is, at what temperature is the resultant SG calibrated?
Got this refractometer recently. Haven't used a different one before and I'm new to home brewing in general. I was dry hopping my beer that's fermenting and decided to take a reading but it was very difficult to differentiate where the line was. There wasn't a harsh transition between white and blue. The picture on the left is as taken, the one on the right is after boosting contrast a bit. This is the reading from the wort after boiling …
I started home brewing about 2 years ago with extract kits and now getting a little more involve with acquiring additional tools of the trade. I know how important checking the gravity is, but I have a some what silly question regarding refractometers. I am also a saltwater aquarium hobbyist so I use a refactometer to check the salinity in the water, which is testing the gravity. The question, is the refractometer used in home brewing the same as one …
I have tried to use a refractometer when brewing. I can never get an accurate pre-boil specific gravity reading that consistently aligns with my post boil, cooled wort hydrometer reading. I spoke with another homebrewer who has the same issue. He ultimately decided to defer only to the hydrometer. Am I doing something wrong with the refractometer or is best to get a pre-boil sample, put in the refrigerator for awhile and then take a hydrometer reading? There would still …
I do small batch brewing (3.5l-4l) and using hydrometer is a big pain for them, as I need to take very big amount of beer out to test it. I've learned to do OG readings with refractometer, but I get very wrong results when I do FG reading (after applying refractometer formula). Refractometer is very well calibrated (checking it before every measurement), but I get results like 3.1% brix, which yields very low FG results, like 1.001. That sounds unfeasible …
What's the best method for calibrating a refractometer? I've been using my cheapo refracto to take pre- and post-boil readings, but I also check with a hydrometer because I don't trust it yet. The two devices generally agree but usually the refracto is a couple of gravity points higher. The hydrometer has been checked as OK with distilled water and temperature adjustment is applied. I have calibrated the refracto with distilled water as per the included instructions, but I'm wondering …
I do not have a refractometer and am considering buying one. My own concern is how precise you can get the readings. How many brix are you plus or minus when you do a reading? Is it as precise as a hydrometer, or close to? Do you still use a hydrometer for accurate readings before and after fermentation?
Brewed a big Belgian beer last week. And using my refractometer (poorly, as it turns out), I wasn't able to get a solid reading of the OG. Now a week later I've taken a sample of the beer and want to retroactively determine the OG using the current gravity, as determined by a hydrometer. Will this work? My method was this: Get a hydrometer reading. In this case, 1.024. Take a refractometer reading. 11.1 brix. Using the MoreBeer refractometer correction …
I am using a refractometer to determine gravities. I am aware of course that values measured need to be corrected depending on OG of the fermenting batch. What I don't know is, what kind of sugars am I measuring. Am I only measuring fermentable sugars or also non-fermentables, i.e. should the measured final gravity of a malty beer be higher than the one of a really dry beer? Or is the measured final gravity only dependent on the yeast/attenuation?