I am new to home brewing and have two batches under my belt and have yet to use the hydrometer that came with my starter kit. I really want to use it however it almost seems like a waste when you don't return it to the wert. I probably wouldn't mind taking a reading prior to pitching the yeast, but taking multiple samples to tell is fermentation has completed bothers me for some reason. Wouldn't exposing my beer many times by removing the lid to my ale pail put my beer at risk for contamination?
I looked into a refractometer that accomplishes the same task, but uses a smaller sample size. Does anyone use a refractometer to take readings of their beer during fermentation? If so is it worth the extra cost? Or should I just accept the fact I'll lose a few beers using the cheaper hydrometer and brew more?
I looked into a refractometer that accomplishes the same task, but uses a smaller sample size. Does anyone use a refractometer to take readings of their beer during fermentation? If so is it worth the extra cost? Or should I just accept the fact I'll lose a few beers using the cheaper hydrometer and brew more?