BmillaTheBrewzilla
Well-Known Member
Just got my specific gravity refractometer courtesy of the UPS man. I ordered it from Austin Homebrew. I'm so pumped to brew and try this out!
UPS... Refractometer!!!
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Captain_Bigelow
Well-Known Member
I got mine last week. I thought it was funny that it says PORTABLE refractometer on the case.
Brewing Clamper
Well-Known Member
Which One?
OP
OP
BmillaTheBrewzilla
Well-Known Member
The model is RSG-100/ATC. Austin Homebrew was advertising a one-day-only sale on these things a few weeks back. I noticed too late, but was happy to pay full price because I've been wanting one pretty badly.
robtotten
Well-Known Member
Sweet! After breaking 2 hydrometers in my last 4 brew sessions, I think I'm going to order one of these next month as well.
Did you get this model?
Did you get this model?
The_Dtrain
Well-Known Member
I got this same one for father's day. I'm brewing right now and it is great for checking the gravity during the boil at various times. You'll love it! :rockin:
OP
OP
BmillaTheBrewzilla
Well-Known Member
robtotten- that's the one!
I can see the point in taking the gravity pre-boil.
I can see the point in taking the gravity after the boil.
But taking the gravity at various times during the boil seems to be a little superfluous, but isn't it great how quickly you can get a gravity reading?:rockin:
-a.
daveotero
Well-Known Member
Readings during the boil are useful for making sure you're boil off rate is where it should be. I brew indoors and still notice a difference between winter brewing and summer brewing. Check gravity with your refrac at 30 min and audjust your boil if needed.
It's also useful if you undershoot your preboil gravity or overshoot your preboil volume and still plan to hit your target OG by boiling off the excess.
NoNothing
Well-Known Member
AHS is great, I have NOTHING against them, I have ordered from them many times and I've always been pleased with their prices and speed of shipping. Not to mention they DO offer the lowest price on a refractometer from a reputable source.
That being said, Im all for saving money. And as much as I tell friends to order from LHBS or AHS... Yall are paying too much money.
You're paying too much IF you are comfortable ordering from some dude in china on ebay. I have no issue ordering something off ebay, waiting a few more days for it to come in, and save 40% on the cost of something.
I wont even count shipping on AHS orders as I'll assume you're buying more with it. I am counting shipping on ebay items, as, well, you pay shipping on those.
Now the good stuff:
$49.99 AHS Brix Only Refractometer: [Direct]
<$29.99 Ebay Brix Only Refractometer: [Direct] [Search]
$54.99 AHS SpecGrav Refractometer: [Direct]
<$34.99 Ebay SpecGrav Refractometer: [Direct] [Search]
You can save over $20 (35-40% off) on each type of refractometer. Mine took 4 days to get to my door, pretty reasonable if you ask me.
The only negative, if I get it, and it breaks in a month or so, Im boned, where Im sure AHS will stand behind what they sell. Mr Ebay Man only cares about getting good feedback, if you dotn find an issue, you're boned.
Now me personally, I went with the brix only model, I have to do calcs anyway once alcohol is involved, I might aswell jsut put brix into BS instead of SG.
BTW, my refractometer looks EXACTLY like the one linked above and shown on AHS, I dont know that there is any difference to speak of. It comes in a blue box with foam padding, says its portable, and they threw in 10 extra droppers. As far as I can tell (comparing in person to an AHS refracto) my model is the exact same thing as the AHS model.
That being said, Im all for saving money. And as much as I tell friends to order from LHBS or AHS... Yall are paying too much money.
You're paying too much IF you are comfortable ordering from some dude in china on ebay. I have no issue ordering something off ebay, waiting a few more days for it to come in, and save 40% on the cost of something.
I wont even count shipping on AHS orders as I'll assume you're buying more with it. I am counting shipping on ebay items, as, well, you pay shipping on those.
Now the good stuff:
$49.99 AHS Brix Only Refractometer: [Direct]
<$29.99 Ebay Brix Only Refractometer: [Direct] [Search]
$54.99 AHS SpecGrav Refractometer: [Direct]
<$34.99 Ebay SpecGrav Refractometer: [Direct] [Search]
You can save over $20 (35-40% off) on each type of refractometer. Mine took 4 days to get to my door, pretty reasonable if you ask me.
The only negative, if I get it, and it breaks in a month or so, Im boned, where Im sure AHS will stand behind what they sell. Mr Ebay Man only cares about getting good feedback, if you dotn find an issue, you're boned.
Now me personally, I went with the brix only model, I have to do calcs anyway once alcohol is involved, I might aswell jsut put brix into BS instead of SG.
BTW, my refractometer looks EXACTLY like the one linked above and shown on AHS, I dont know that there is any difference to speak of. It comes in a blue box with foam padding, says its portable, and they threw in 10 extra droppers. As far as I can tell (comparing in person to an AHS refracto) my model is the exact same thing as the AHS model.
Captain_Bigelow
Well-Known Member
I used to think they were great. But 3 out of my last 5 orders have had errors. They have always reacted really quick and corrected the errors, but nevertheless it is annoying when you open up the package and have a White Labs 007 instead of a Wyeast 007 for example.
NoNothing
Well-Known Member
Simple mistake, it does suck that you've had 3/5 orders with problems.
But it's great they reacted quickly.
Ebay FTW IMO.
Captain_Bigelow
Well-Known Member
The other errors were that I ordered the Pumpkin Ale kit and they forgot to add the spice mix. So I had to wait for them to send it separately. Then the last one was that I ordered the refractometer when it was on special and instead received a box full of airlocks and rubber stoppers.
Brewing Clamper
Well-Known Member
Everyone makes mistakes, it's how they handle those mistakes that's most important to me. The one error they made on my order was addressed immediately. I love AHS. Now if they only opened a shop in the Bay Area...
As for the Refractometer, would the S.G measurement on it be the same as if you used a hydrometer? What I mean is that once there is alcohol in the solution, do you need to do a calc or can you just get an FG from it directly?
As for the Refractometer, would the S.G measurement on it be the same as if you used a hydrometer? What I mean is that once there is alcohol in the solution, do you need to do a calc or can you just get an FG from it directly?
Since we are on the subject of refractometers, how are you converting once fermentation is complete? I have a brix only that is about 2-3 years old.
NoNothing
Well-Known Member
Once alcohol comes into play it thins the liquid out, so you cant get an accurate SG reading (even with a hydrometer), so you must run some calculations to get the proper FG.
There are plenty of online calculators and spreadsheets out there, just a google search for 'beer final gravity reading conversion' or something similar will land you where you need to be.
And the SG is the same as if you read with a hydrometer, you only need 3 drops instead of a couple fl-oz to get a reading though. That's the big thing for me, less chance of an infection (dead simple to dip the dropper in some vodka) and less beer to take readings, so you can take them more often (if you are OK with opening your fermenter, Im not) and get a better idea of how time affects your fermentation and anything else you can get with time and SG in the calculation.
NoNothing
Well-Known Member
BeerSmith does it for me, but like I said above, google is your best friend.
I was cheap when I bought it so saving the $5 to do a little math each time I take a reading was no sweat off my balls.
Brewing Clamper
Well-Known Member
AHS is great, I have NOTHING against them, I have ordered from them many times and I've always been pleased with their prices and speed of shipping. Not to mention they DO offer the lowest price on a refractometer from a reputable source.
That being said, Im all for saving money. And as much as I tell friends to order from LHBS or AHS... Yall are paying too much money.
You're paying too much IF you are comfortable ordering from some dude in china on ebay. I have no issue ordering something off ebay, waiting a few more days for it to come in, and save 40% on the cost of something.
I wont even count shipping on AHS orders as I'll assume you're buying more with it. I am counting shipping on ebay items, as, well, you pay shipping on those.
Now the good stuff:
$49.99 AHS Brix Only Refractometer: [Direct]
<$29.99 Ebay Brix Only Refractometer:[Direct]
[Search]
$54.99 AHS SpecGrav Refractometer: [Direct]
<$34.99 Ebay SpecGrav Refractometer:[Direct][Search]
You can save over $20 (35-40% off) on each type of refractometer. Mine took 4 days to get to my door, pretty reasonable if you ask me.
The only negative, if I get it, and it breaks in a month or so, Im boned, where Im sure AHS will stand behind what they sell. Mr Ebay Man only cares about getting good feedback, if you dotn find an issue, you're boned.
Now me personally, I went with the brix only model, I have to do calcs anyway once alcohol is involved, I might aswell jsut put brix into BS instead of SG.
BTW, my refractometer looks EXACTLY like the one linked above and shown on AHS, I dont know that there is any difference to speak of. It comes in a blue box with foam padding, says its portable, and they threw in 10 extra droppers. As far as I can tell (comparing in person to an AHS refracto) my model is the exact same thing as the AHS model.
Oh just to be fair, AHS had a pretty good sale on the SG refractometer a few weeks back. I think it was about the same price as the eBay one. That's why some folks on here jumped on it. I would have but didn't see the sale until it was over.
BTW, thanks for the links. Makes life easy when someone else does the leg work..
a10t2
Well-Known Member
Has anyone checked one of the SG refractometers against a hydrometer for a high-gravity wort? I ask because if the picture is what the reticle actually looks like then it seems to assume a linear relationship between the Brix reading and the SG, and that won't be accurate above about 1.060.
Like NoNothing said, you can apply a correlation to approximate the FG. I did some analysis recently (Refractometer Estimates of Final Gravity) and found that while the default correlation isn't very good, I can add an offset to improve its accuracy. YMMV.
Like NoNothing said, you can apply a correlation to approximate the FG. I did some analysis recently (Refractometer Estimates of Final Gravity) and found that while the default correlation isn't very good, I can add an offset to improve its accuracy. YMMV.
rico567
Well-Known Member
I regard the refractometer as pretty indispensable for AG brewing. However, I got mine from "Happy Fun Luck Trading Co. of Hong Kong" or something like that on eBay. Comes in a little zipper case, also says "portable refractometer," and is calibrated in 0-32 Brix only. For around $25 shipped, I can multiply Brix X 4.
