ruffdeezy
Well-Known Member
I thought they were dumb until I watched the video above
Is it really necessary to own a refractometer?
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boo boo
Well-Known Member
Yes I know. I have promash and can do the calculations there, but I take hydro samples post fermentation to taste my brew as it progresses also.
Using Beersmith. I guess. I haven't tested the accuracy of this method, but I will start doing that as soon as my Refractometer shows up (today!).
dutch-brew
Well-Known Member
The refractometer is very usefull when one tries to do experimental 1 gal batches of stuff (mead, cider,wine, even beer).. You take 2 or 3 readings with the hydrometer you loose alot of liquid, and end up with only half a gallon.
Besides, i like that it makes me look cool to other people
Besides, i like that it makes me look cool to other people
COLObrewer
Well-Known Member
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-0-32-ATC-Brix-Refractometer-Wine-Beer-CNC-Sugar_W0QQitemZ370298160191QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_D efaultDomain_0?hash=item56377d843f
looks like a nice one......is this the one I am looking for?
That's the one I got, It works good. Some grapes will go over the scale however, amazing sugar in those little gems.
Synovia
Well-Known Member
You'd sell a lot more if they weren't $100+.
You need to find new wholesalers. You could buy them from BMW for $59.99 if you wanted.
This is just poor business.
mysterio
Well-Known Member
I broke the slide on mine somehow (and yet i've never broken a hydrometer).
They are nice to have but i'm getting on fine with my hydro. The biggest advantage to the hydro is not having to cool down the sample. You can get them cheap on ebay.
They are nice to have but i'm getting on fine with my hydro. The biggest advantage to the hydro is not having to cool down the sample. You can get them cheap on ebay.
camiller
Well-Known Member
No it's just understanding my customer base, which are mostly extract brewers (although I'm happy to admit that our bulk grain sales are growing quite nicely over the last few years). After my replies yesterday I started looking at science supply places and in order to get to a reasonable price I'd have to buy in lots of 100+ (would get me to $55 each cost). I just don't have enough customers that are that "in to" the geekery of brewing to justify spending the money on something that will be held in inventory for 10+ years. For the record I bought my personal hydrometer on ebay, but buying for the store is different, I can't just pick a random person on ebay to buy from. For the store I need a reliable vendor that I know will stand behind the product. That IS good business practice.
Synovia
Well-Known Member
Again, you're looking in the wrong places. BMW will do 59.99 each and they're not even wholesale. You can get em off Amazon for $49.99. and Ebay for 29.99
The Pol
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I can buy almost three refractomters on Ebay for each ONE I can buy at my LHBS. Since there are no moving parts, they are a damn simple design, I am not worried about "reliability". There are no rotating shafts or bearings or parts that can "wear" to my knowlege.
Richabt
Well-Known Member
No you dont need one.
I dont have one, but I am a gadget nut, and must get one for that reason alone!
I dont have one, but I am a gadget nut, and must get one for that reason alone!
Where do you guys shop? Most IHBS I use sell them for $50-$60 but $30 on Ebay is awesome
Do you need one? No.. But it makes life a lot easier
Do you need one? No.. But it makes life a lot easier
The one part that does seem fragile is the plastic hinged cover. I am very careful with that. Otherwise, I agree, their isn't much to go wrong!
BTW, I have one for my fish tank that is lighted. There is a white LED and a switch to turn it on. That is a very nice feature that wasn't included in the less expensive Brix refractometers.
MultumInParvo
Well-Known Member
I broke my hydrometer and I think that video on the first page may have converted me to refractometers... I like actually seeing how things work, very neat.
boo boo
Well-Known Member
Hey just noticed your name. Cool.
I used to be a bit of a chess nut myself in my younger days. Played postal chess for quite a number of years to suppliment the local chess club games and tourneys.
I love the game. I've read books, studied the masters, and I still stink. But I have fun stinking. I used to play online but everyone wanted to play blitz chess (fast timed games): not for me. I like losing more slowly than that.
Ok, back to the topic. What was the topic?
If you use brewing software it will tell you what the preboil gravity of your wort should be. Check this with your refractometer and adjust your boil time, add water, or add dme if needed and you should hit your numbers exactly every time. Derek
hopvine
Well-Known Member
Do you need to recalculate the Brix correction factor for each brew?
rico567
Well-Known Member
Like a lot of other people on this forum, I bought the no-name "Portable Refractometer" brand from the Happy Fun Luck Trading Co. of Hong Kong -or something like that- an eBay seller. The refractometer itself is obviously made you-know-where. When I bought mine, I think it was $27-28 delivered. It works great. I have both it and a hydrometer, and now that I've gone AG, I wouldn't be without either.
rico567
Well-Known Member
I bought mine from eBay. That being said, if I ran a local LHBS, I probably wouldn't even carry refractometers. Too few one-time sales- as a previous poster implied, I'm just not going to try to keep that inventory and compete with mass sellers like "Happy Fun Luck Trading Co. of Hong Kong." That's just a recipe for red ink. I'd be happy to tell my customers just where they could go to buy a nice cheap one.
For those who don't understand my position above, I view it as a micro version of the Wal-Mart vs. Vlasic Pickles story: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html
Sure, I'd stock some hydrometers- they're $6.95, and they get broken all the time in the middle of a brew, just read HBT. Given that, sure, I'd keep some in stock as a convenience for my customers.
camiller
Well-Known Member
Absolutly, we keep one refractometer in stock just for that guy that refuses to buy online or "wants it now". I usually tell my customers I'd rather them save money on hardware (it's also cheaper to buy a boil kettle elsewhere rather than the polarware kettles we stock) and buy more ingredients to make more batches of beer.
lucasszy
Well-Known Member
PORSCHE is a two syllable word... Just being funny, but it was a quote from some movie years ago!
Cheers
Kaiser
Well-Known Member
At this point I have 2 hydrometers (one wide range and one narrow range), a pH meter and just recently an oxygen meter, but no refractometer. I have used one before and do think that they are cool and make brewing easier but buying one always got the boot because it measures something that I can already measure with my existing tools.
I plan to get one soon though as I want to take measurements throughout the mash to demonstrate how the mash gravity rises.
Kai
I plan to get one soon though as I want to take measurements throughout the mash to demonstrate how the mash gravity rises.
Kai
bakins
Well-Known Member
I bought one after I broke my second hydrometer. Once I got it, I wondered "how did I ever brew without it." Worth every penny, IMO.
remilard
Well-Known Member
OT, but where did you get the DO meter? The one Morebeer sells seems like overkill for my purposes at least.
Synovia
Well-Known Member
The problem is, I specifically avoid stores that do this.
I'd much rather you tell me "Buy this $40 refractometer, otherwise you'll be replacing hydrometers every third brew". You do that, I'll come back. You try to keep selling me disposable crap, I won't.
Any cash I save on the refractometer in your store is just going to go into buying grain or yeast or whatever from you.
I need some refractometer advice. I think SWMBO is going to get me one for Xmas. I see ones that vary in the Brix range (0-20, 0-32, 45-80) What range is most suitable for beer and wine
TIA
Zman
TIA
Zman
bakins
Well-Known Member
multiply Brix by 4 to get a good estimate of OG. Mine is 0-40, so in theory, it's good for a 1.160 batch... I do a couple of meads a year, so it's good for me.
It's a handy tool to have, especially if you forget to take your OG reading as I sometimes do... you can take a hydro FG and a brix reading, and using BeerSmith or other tool can compute your OG by inputting both numbers. In some cases where I don't know OG (like when making a cider with lots of blueberries in it) this is the only way to compute the %ABV.
khiddy
Well-Known Member
I have a refractometer and use it in concert with my hydrometer, but I really am amazed by how often people are breaking hydrometers!
The 0-40 are nice if you do a lot of super high gravity stuff, but both the 0-40 and 0-32 scale take up the same amount of space, making the 0-32 much easier to define the .2 brix marks and still give you up to 1.128. 0-20 is a little low as that tops out at 1.080.
Kaiser
Well-Known Member
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