Refractometer

[Lafin]

I want to buy a refractometer that a professional brewery would use. When searching for this online I see big price fluctuations for what seems to be the same refractometer. Any suggestions?

 

[BeerGrylls]

all of the devices I've seen have the same delineation accuracy, however some have a gravity scale as well as the traditional brix. They are precise instruments that have calibration screws so that you can zero them with distilled water. I don't see how a 'standard' one would be any different from a 'professional' one, but maybe someone can enlighten me. If it were me, I would just buy the best priced standard unit, and would probably opt for the one that has the gravity scale since mine only has brix and I need my conversion scale every time I use it.

 

[acidrain]

There were some refractometers out there that had the dual scale off. Look for one that has an actual picture of the dual scale and check to see that the Brix scale is acuarate with the SG scale (at two places... high and low) using this calculator: http://www.brewersfriend.com/brix-converter/
I use cheap one (~$35) and it seems to work great.

 

[RoadKing]

I bought THIS one years ago.
I even dropped it and had to super glue it back together and it's allways dead on! (I check it against a hydrometer).
Just use a brix converter like acidrain mentioned. I use the one from Morebeer and even during fermentation, it's accurate.

 

[BeerGrylls]

Same one I have. Works fantastic, although the lines and the 'blue line' never seem to be in focus at the same time. Close enough.

 

[Lafin]

Thanks for the input. I will pick one up today!