Cheap refractometers

[BeerCat]

@stevic I am also now the proud owner of some battery powered fairy lights. Been waiting for these all my life!

 

[stevey]

I just bought some led lights from magicaled, asking price £86, I paid £70. :thumb: Don't think I'm ever gonna click on "buy it now" again. :grin:

 

[Honk]

It'll depend on how 'hard' your water is, and whether the dissolved salts have much of an affect on the refractive index - a refractometer works by measuring the extent to which the sample changes the angle of refraction (bending) of linear polarized light through a prism, entirely different to how a hydrometer works

But its unlikely to be much of an effect, That said, you dont need deionised water, just distilled water, and thats a 30sec job to make enough at the same time as making a cup of tea

The amount of distilled water you can make just by holding a cold glass over the spout of your kettle while it boils is about 10x what you require to calibrate - so just calibrate it at same time as making a cuppa or pot-noodle :thumb:

Was brewing earlier and was pleased to note that calibrating with kettle distilled water my tap water also came out at 0.0 would of been worried if it hadn't as the tap water is what I brew with. Also the worts reading agreed with my hydrometer and is a lot easier to read.

 

[Hoddy]

Calibrated mine against my hydrometer when I brewed on Saturday. My refractometer was 7pts out from the packet. But once adjusted it was bang on for the remaining 5/6 measurements I did.

Pleased with that for £3.99 including postage [emoji1303]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[stevic]

I see a few of us have bought these now and wondering how others are doing with theirs as i seem to be having a bit of an issue.

I currently have a Wherry, of all the brews it could have been, on the go and i could not get it much below the dreaded 1020 on the refractometer despite using a Wilkos yeast sachet to try to avoid the stuck fermentation. So today i reverted to my hydrometer which gave me a reading of 1010 after taking another 1020 reading on the refractometer. I have done the calibration on the refractometer using distilled water and checked my hydrometer which is measuring correctly. It would appear mine is not that accurate unless i have done summat wrong.

 

[Leon103]

Forgot I had this. Could have used it today

 

[Drunkula]

I see a few of us have bought these now and wondering how others are doing with theirs as i seem to be having a bit of an issue.

Are you just looking at the reading as is, or doing refractometer correction? Once there's alcohol present you can't just read the value through the eyepiece, you haff to do sum mafffsss... or use a refractometer correction calculator!

 

[BeerCat]

Ii gives weird readings if alcohol is present so i only use mine before fermentation. Then its the hydrometer.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I do the same as @BeerCat; I plan to use the refractometer on the next mash to try to work out when the mash is complete - ie without the iodine test.

 

[stevic]

Are you just looking at the reading as is, or doing refractometer correction? Once there's alcohol present you can't just read the value through the eyepiece, you haff to do sum mafffsss... or use a refractometer correction calculator!

Ah! Thats were i am going wrong then. Thanks.

 

[BeerCat]

Hi!
I do the same as @BeerCat; I plan to use the refractometer on the next mash to try to work out when the mash is complete - ie without the iodine test.

I must try the iodine test sometime. Yesterday i took a reading before mashout and after and it went up 4 points. Quite a lot really. Very handy device i would not want to be without now.

 

[BeerCat]

Anyone have a link? I need another spare as my original suddenly turned blue. Took it apart to clean it and broke it.

 

[BeerCat]

Cheapest I can find is £9. Anyone else?

 

[Brewed_Force]

That sounds about right, I don't think you'll get one much cheaper, without several hours intense googling...

 

[Drunkula]

I picked one up for £4.43 the other day but it's a tenner from the same guy now. I've been experimenting and even though it says ATC don't run it under a cold tap to clean it, have a glass of water at room temperature. I found when it got cold the readings did change with the same solution. And went the other way if I warmed it up down my trouser leg.

 

[Bigcol49]

went the other way if I warmed it up down my trouser leg.

I'm sorely tempted to comment, but I shall refrain

 

[Drunkula]

I'm sorely tempted to comment, but I shall refrain

It's true, I did do it and I said it as the last line for a reason....