Are refractometers best?

So, I broke my hydrometer today. I suppose that was inevitable. In all honesty, it is kind of a pain in the balls to use anyway. Should I just get a refractometer?

I am less concerned with the price as I am with the value. If a refractometer is really that much better, then I will buy it.

alpo said:

So, I broke my hydrometer today. I suppose that was inevitable. In all honesty, it is kind of a pain in the balls to use anyway. Should I just get a refractometer?

I am less concerned with the price as I am with the value. If a refractometer is really that much better, then I will buy it.

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You'll still need a hydrometer to take your final gravity. There are conversion formulas to use refractometers on fermented beer, but I do not know how reliable and accurate those are.

I, too, have broken a hydrometer before. Since then, it pretty much stays in my wine thief all the time, during cleaning, sanitizing, sampling and storage. That way, there is very little chance to break it.

I just got a refractometer cheap (thrift shop find). Research indicates that having BOTH is best - refractometer for OG readings, hydrometer for FG readings (It's possible to use refractometer for FG readings, but from what I've read it's not always super accurate and requires some PITA math)

As ArcaneXor mentioned, you'll likely still need a hydrometer to measure FG (unless you use some software that can do the corrections for you) since ethanol has different refraction properties than water.

Personally I find that the refractometer is easier to deal with for pre-boil gravity and OG is nice because I don't have to draw such a large sample and I can get away with only taking a spoonful of wort. I also note that I don't have to worry about whether or not the hydrometer is perfectly upright and trying to find the bottom of the meniscus. But that's just me.

Brian