Refractometer issues

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mrduna01

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So I have a cheap 30 dollar refractometer got off Amazon.com. I have it calibrated using distilled water. It has ACT. I have tried numerous times and this thing is useless. I want though to make sure that I'm not missing something or using it improperly. Issue is that it reads VERY high. I made a starter for example. The starter was made with 100 g dme per 1 litre water. This should result around 1.040 gravity yet my refractemeter reads just over 1.070. Another example... I brewed yesterday... OG per my hydrometer was 1.052... the refractometer read higher than the scales max in the viewing window. Anyone have any ideas?

Sent from my KFSOWI using Home Brew mobile app
 
I should also point out that the samples were bubble free and all samples were within the same temp range to start and I gave it a minute for temp to stabilize on the device before taking a reading.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Home Brew mobile app
 
Quite possible but hopefully someone can throw up some ideas on how to confirm that.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Home Brew mobile app
 
Sure reads like you've already proven the refractometer isn't working properly. What most people would advise you've already done: make up a known solution and test it....

Cheers!
 
Alrighty I guess there is no secret fix for this.... guess ill have to fork over a bit more money for one from a reputable homebrew shop. Wish I hadn't blown my holiday NB cards already.

So many beers... so little time.
 
Are you sure it's a sugar refract?

There are saltwater aquarium refracts and distilling refracts. If it is one of those, it will never read right.
 
Are you sure it's a sugar (brix) refract?

There are saltwater aquarium refracts and distilling refracts. If it is one of those, it will never read right.
 
I suppose that could be the issue but I'm not sure... it was given to me as a gift.

So many beers... so little time.
 
Well I think what he's asking is what does it actually read when you look through the sight glass? Like what values and does it say anything when you look through it. We are asking because even tho you say "read 1.070" we don't know if that means the measurement was literally 1.070 or if it was a brix reading and you converted it yourself.
 
Ismedeiros88, thank you for clarifying... it has SG on the left and Brix on the right.. doesn't say much else.

Sent from my KFSOWI using Home Brew mobile app
 
Are you just going by the sg side or did you compare the brix side to a conversion chart? A lot of the cheap ones that have the dual scale are miss printed on the sg side but the brix side is good. If you have beersmith it has a conversion calculator for brix to sg. I would check and see if the brix side is accurate if you haven't yet.
 
Something is not adding up. 80°B is roughly 1.400 SG. Yes, one point four.

I picked mine up for $15 few months ago. It reads in Brix only. Every time I've check it against my hydrometer, it has been spot on.

Inexpensive does NOT mean cheap crap...
 
ianw58 said:
Something is not adding up. 80°B is roughly 1.400 SG. Yes, one point four.

I picked mine up for $15 few months ago. It reads in Brix only. Every time I've check it against my hydrometer, it has been spot on.

Inexpensive does NOT mean cheap crap...
Click to expand...

And yet he says it goes off the chart.
Still need to hear from the OP about the scale... Is it like the amazon example he linked? If so, that is the wrong one (alcohol).
If it's the Brix/SG dual scale, is the SG side accurate to the brix at the higher range?
 
Ok so I am a total dumb A $$. In hopes of answering your questions I pulled it out again and put it in strong light. In very fine print in the view window it says SALINITY! Lord help me! Lol

So many beers... so little time.
 
NOT a *******!

Unless you've used them before, how would you know?

Glad the mystery us solved. I'll be able to sleep tonight!:D
 
Reading through the reviews on Amazon, it seems like the same seller sells all of those different cheap refractometers. Judging from them all, my impression is:

1. As someone already pointed out, if they have a dual scale don't trust the SG.

2. There are several different models (sugar vs saltwater, dual vs single scale, case or no case) and I think that the seller frequently ships the wrong unit. You may have just gotten the wrong one. For whatever it's worth, the one at my LHB is the same as one of the Amazon units but costs twice as much.
 
aggiejason said:
Reading through the reviews on Amazon, it seems like the same seller sells all of those different cheap refractometers. Judging from them all, my impression is:

1. As someone already pointed out, if they have a dual scale don't trust the SG.

2. There are several different models (sugar vs saltwater, dual vs single scale, case or no case) and I think that the seller frequently ships the wrong unit. You may have just gotten the wrong one. For whatever it's worth, the one at my LHB is the same as one of the Amazon units but costs twice as much.
Click to expand...

Well too bad I've had this darn thing over a year now I may have been able to return. Lol.. the things we go through for beer

So many beers... so little time.
 
mrduna01 said:
Ok so I am a total dumb A $$. In hopes of answering your questions I pulled it out again and put it in strong light. In very fine print in the view window it says SALINITY! Lord help me! Lol

So many beers... so little time.
Click to expand...

I've seen at least 3 other people on here make the same mistake in the last year.
 
Well the positive of this is that I'm an avid aquarium enthusiast as well. I just only deal in freshwater. Ill keep this thing in case I ever get in to salt water aquariums.

So many beers... so little time.
 
Funny thing. I think I bought the exact same refractometer as you did. I was expecting it to read high though.

I'm pretty sure the reason is: The color of the beer reflects light differently than a clear solution, and there is some crazy mathmatical solution to figuring out the corrections. So technically the device is totally working, just not the way you anticipated it would. Nor I for that matter.

It is still useful though. You can easily compare its reading to a hydrometers over one or two brews and see, but I'm pretty sure the way it worked for me is it read about 30 points of gravity higher than what the actual gravity was. EG if I had a 1.070 og beer it would read 1.1, and 1.015 fg would read 1.045. The only reason I bring this up is I actually do use it to check if my fermenting beer has hit terminal gravity. The refractometer will still show you a declining gravity over time if comparing its own results to itself.

Hope that helps you feel like you didn't waist your money.

Here is a little link that would give a bit of a better explanation than I can.
how to use a refractometer brix and beer brewing/
 
Facinerous said:
Funny thing. I think I bought the exact same refractometer as you did. I was expecting it to read high though.

I'm pretty sure the reason is: The color of the beer reflects light differently than a clear solution, and there is some crazy mathmatical solution to figuring out the corrections. So technically the device is totally working, just not the way you anticipated it would. Nor I for that matter.

It is still useful though. You can easily compare its reading to a hydrometers over one or two brews and see, but I'm pretty sure the way it worked for me is it read about 30 points of gravity higher than what the actual gravity was. EG if I had a 1.070 og beer it would read 1.1, and 1.015 fg would read 1.045. The only reason I bring this up is I actually do use it to check if my fermenting beer has hit terminal gravity. The refractometer will still show you a declining gravity over time if comparing its own results to itself.

Hope that helps you feel like you didn't waist your money.

Here is a little link that would give a bit of a better explanation than I can.
how to use a refractometer brix and beer brewing/
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the input. However I don't know if I can use this one that way due to an average gravity like 1.040 reading way above the max of the scale. So I really don't know what the reading is to make any accurate correction :/

So many beers... so little time.
 
Heck yea man. I was thinking since the FG of most beers is 1.020 or lower maybe it would work when the beer is getting close to done. If it has a calibration screw you could mess with that also. Even if it doesn't read accurately you could still see a change in gravity to see when the fermentation is done.

Good luck.
 
Yea i hear ya but I dont think i want to mess with a bunch of guessing and calibrations. I as well get another 20 dollar unit that measures brix. Anyone have any recommendations?

So many beers... so little time.
 
Facinerous said:
Funny thing. I think I bought the exact same refractometer as you did. I was expecting it to read high though.

I'm pretty sure the reason is: The color of the beer reflects light differently than a clear solution, and there is some crazy mathmatical solution to figuring out the corrections. So technically the device is totally working, just not the way you anticipated it would. Nor I for that matter.

It is still useful though. You can easily compare its reading to a hydrometers over one or two brews and see, but I'm pretty sure the way it worked for me is it read about 30 points of gravity higher than what the actual gravity was. EG if I had a 1.070 og beer it would read 1.1, and 1.015 fg would read 1.045. The only reason I bring this up is I actually do use it to check if my fermenting beer has hit terminal gravity. The refractometer will still show you a declining gravity over time if comparing its own results to itself.

Hope that helps you feel like you didn't waist your money.

Here is a little link that would give a bit of a better explanation than I can.
how to use a refractometer brix and beer brewing/
Click to expand...

Actually, reflection has nothing to do with how a refractometer works. Color of the solution doesn't affect up either.

Refraction is the ability of a solution to bend light. Think of a stick in water. It looks like it bends at the water's surface.

The amount of the bend is related to what is dissolved in the water.

A sugar refractometer is calibrated to read refraction based on sugar dissolved in water. A salinity refractometer is calibrated to salts dissolved in water.

Please don't pass on incorrect information. The principles behind Refractometers are difficult enough for many to understand without having incorrect information thrown in, too!
 

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