Refractometer Puns

Hello all, I've searching for the best way to calibrate my refractometer. The included instructions say to calibrate with distilled water to 1.000 but I also picked up some calibration fluid since I read somewhere it was more accurate. I also just got done with a brew day and decided to do a hydrometer reading to test everything against it. Brewed a Winter Ale with target gravity of 1.066

• Hydrometer is showing 1.068
• refractometer calibrated with distilled Water is showing 1.063
• refractometer calibrated with 35ppt liquid is showing 1.074

So one method is .005 under and the other method is .006 over. all liquids are around 68 Degrees F. Should I just calibrate the refractometer to the Hydrometer reading and call it a day?

I can't justify the cost of a VST refractometer as I only want to have a refractometer for occasional use, to check the impact of changes to methods and equipment (not only pour-over, but also espresso).

Are the refractometers from Soonda that are sold on aliexpress for less than 100 USD any good? What about those from Milwaukee Instruments or Lnicez Instruments that sell on Amazon for not a lot more?

Thanks!

I was going to buy one from amazon and measure brix so I don't reduce, top off, too much. I was reading a refractometer may be less accurate if there is a lot of oil in the soup, I imagined I needed to stir before I took a sample but there is a lot of oil in pork bone broth.

Hi, I have a deep love for coffee, tinkering and data. Are there any DIY particle size analyzers (for grinder comparisons) or refractometers (for TDS extraction) for coffee? For the the particles, I know about the wonderful app by Coffeeadastra, but is there anything better?

Given my background, I would be willing to try to home-build a laser diffraction particle analyzer and/or a TDS meter for coffee. Not sure how realistic or cost-effective would it be, considering the optics, but I won't know until I start. Would there be interest in the community for such projects or the data wouldn't be so useful?

I am trying to brew a gluten-free Märzen with Munich roasted millet, pale millet malt, and rice syrup. My OG was 1.059 measured by a hydrometer. My wife broke the hydrometer (third one on my fourth brew) two days after this brew started. Our sink is angled steeply and a tall cylinder isn't stable in it, so I decided to switch to a refractometer. I should add that I'm using Safale US-05. I know Märzens are traditionally a lager. Beer is also traditionally made with barley. Stupid celiac disease.

The refractometer I ordered has SG on one side of the eyepiece, and Brix on the other. I measured the density of some sucrose/water mixtures and they were perfect, so I didn't have to calibrate it. Since SG was on the eyepiece already, I ignored the Brix reading.

No visible fermentation after 5 days or so. I checked gravity at 7 days as 1.027. I traveled for a week and checked gravity, again as 1.027. I was reading up on stuck fermentation here and saw some comments on adjusting refractometers for ethanol content. How much will that change the reading?

According to this, with a Brix of 6.8 (which would be 1.027 according to a conversion, I didn't write down the Brix number), I'm below 1.010?

Has anyone use the imagitarium refractometer? The instructions says to have both the lower white field and upper blue field to meet at zero, though most videos say to calibrate it at 35ppm is it some kind of their way to calibrate than the other types?

Hi, I am making red wine from grape, and after about three weeks of fermentation, I find that the refractometer reading is stuck at 7 B. So I checked the hydrometer reading and it is reading just below 0.99. I can't explain the difference. According to what I have read, a hydrometer reading of 0.99 means fermentation is complete. But refractometer seems to suggest that there is still some residual sugar.

Would you suggest continuing fermentation further, or is the wine ready to rack and age?

Thank you for your help.

I have been. I'm a long time beer and.wine Brewer but.new to kombucha. For my last couple kombucha brews, my pre and post measurements have been baasiclaly the same. I'm thinking this is because the byproducts of fermentation have a similar density as the sweetened tea mixture. Has anyone else found this to be the case?

I need a refractometer for small scale artisan jam production. We also plan to do molasses/brown sugar and other range of artisan products. But now I am at a loss at choosing a refractometer. I am looking at a few options but I am not sure larger range refractometers (0-80% Brix) are actually suitable/accurate considering I need to measure raw sugar can juice (>70% brix) and jams (>40% brix). Hopefully the refractometer can also be used for measurement of brix in fruits (12-15% Brix). I also prefer handheld refractometer because of its lower cost.

*Am working for an NGO dealing with surplus agricultural products from small scale disadvantaged farmers. Also please if anyone has experience dealing with fresh produce preservation can pm me. Help a sis out :(

I am looking at this one https://my.rs-online.com/web/p/refractometers/8998031/?cm_mmc=MY-PLA-DS3A-_-google-_-PLA_MY_EN_Test_%26_Measurement_Whoop-_-(MY:Whoop!)+Refractometers-_-8998031&matchtype=&aud-828197004210:pla-357115550804&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5JSLBhCxARIsAHgO2SdAy9P0dwX5XzbfS-XToxCUC3LOCB4kMzknULg3509gArfLalbrbt0aApUhEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Hey guys,

Im doing a project where I will be trying to test how much different tea preparations inhibit the activity of Amylase. We will be using black/green tea aswell as green tea extract. We've already got access to high quality Amylase, because one grad student at my uni is working with it atm. Sadly they are still working on an own Amylase Essay kit and its uncertain if they'll be finished when we are starting our project and its also not sure if theyll be able to provide us with a bought Assay kit yet.

We are additionally/alternatively planning to use a refractometer to measure the brix/sugar content in our different tea preparations before and after adding Amylase and starch and waiting a while. Does anyone know if the starch itself interferes with the refractometers measurements and if its a problem that the water isnt clear after adding the tea?

Another Idea would be a Iodine–starch test, so we take probes of the tea every minute or add it to the main solution. What do you all think about the feasibility of this idea?

I'd be grateful and open for any other ideas, thanks in advance to anyone who is able me any way :)

RIP my Oktoberfest I threw out at “1.030” because I though it had stalled.

Gather 'round for a tale of a fool who did not do enough research when he bought a new toy to make his life easier on brew day, and instead found himself feeling as if he were taking crazy pills for months.

I've got my system dialed in. I know my efficiencies. I had issues before with varying efficiencies across the same grain bill, so I started having my LHBS double mill my grains and that actually took care of the problem and gave me a consistent crush. Sure I could have bought my own mill, but then I'd feel the need to buy grain in bulk and then buy storage for it and I just don't have the space for that--but I digress.

For years now I have been able to hit my OG spot on with only mild variation if it was a particularly humid day or something and my evaporation rate was a bit different. Then, everything changed (spoiler alert: nothing changed except using a refractometer).

My gravities suddenly were much lower than expected. In fact, my second to last brew ended up with a 13% drop in efficiency. So I did what any reasonable person would do: blame someone else. I asked my LHBS owner if he had changed base malt brands: no. I asked him if he had changed or adjusted the gap on his mill recently: also no. So I adjusted my recipe and bought 3lbs. more malt.

Come my most recent brew day, I thought to myself, self, maybe you should check your refractometer and make sure it's reading the same as my hydrometer. It reads 0 in water, so it should be the same, but let's check anyway.

Well, to my surprise there was a decent discrepancy between my pre-boil gravity read with the refractometer and the hydrometer. Cue me feeling like a fool when I quickly realized that the Wort Correction Factor I'd seen referenced before was in fact for original gravity as well as final gravity.

See, I knew that in the presence of alcohol, refractometers just don't work correctly and you need to use a calculator to determine the accurate FG. BUT, what this fool failed to realize/research was that a refractometer doesn't read wort 100% correctly either. Sugar solution in water, yes. Wort, no.

I read up a bit at this link and realized that it's going to be a while before I am going to be able to rely on my refractometer alone on brew day to check my pre-boil and original gravities.

Tl;dr: refractometers use a correction factor to adjust fo