Refractometer

[schematix]

Ok, that's where I've always gotten stuck on the purchase price of these. Like I said, they'd be cool to have, but at the end of the day they won't make a difference in how I brew (wasn't sure if I was missing some great opportunity there). Much like my Ph meter, I get the data to see how close I got to my goal but it's really nothing more than entertainment for me since I know I'm going to be within a couple points on by OG and FG and regardless of the result I'm going to forge ahead. If you routinely brew the same recipe you can use them to fine tune to achieve the perfect numbers but at some point that's just entertainment as well since I doubt you can tell the difference between a beer with an OG of 1.055 and an OG of 1.056. The precision FG one could be good if you bottle and are prone to using finicky yeasts I guess.

I spund every beer so it’s important to know exactly where I am at. That’s why I don’t rely on a refract.

At one point I owned 3 $7 hydrometers that would measure a difference of *6* points high to low. How the heck can you tell what’s going on with that much error? With these I know they are spot on, every time.

So yah not strictly required, but if you want to maximize value of brewery tools I’d say get the precision hydro set and an simple optical Brix refract. Digital refract wasn’t worth the money in my opinion. Put that money towards a pH meter.

 

[MX1]

Thinking I will get the set I linked

 

[schematix]

Want me to talk you out of it or are you set???

 

[MX1]

Is there someone wrong with that set, other than it is from NB

 

[doug293cz]

Is there someone wrong with that set, other than it is from NB

The set you linked is more precise than a wide range hydro, but less precise than the three that @schematix listed. I have a 1.000 to 1.070 hydrometer, and it can be read to 0.0005. That's good enough for me. It's all about how accurate you think you need to be to be happy with your process. Don't let anyone tell you you have to pick one particular option if there are several valid ones to achieve what you are after (not everyone values the different metrics equally.)

Brew on

 

[doug293cz]

I spund every beer so it’s important to know exactly where I am at. That’s why I don’t rely on a refract.

...

Why is extra accuracy important when spunding? Can't you just put the beer in the spunding vessel with an extra cushion of remaining fermentables, and let the spunding valve take care of preventing over-pressure? Am I missing something?

Now if you were trying to "spund" in glass bottles, that would be a different thing, but you would still have a large uncertainty about just what FG would actually be achieved.

Brew on

 

[schematix]

That $50 set of 3 has a decent FG hydrometer but the others are pretty coarse and really not a whole lot better than the $7 LHBS one.

If you ever intend to use the hydrometer reading to correlate a fermentation refract reading you'll find that even 1 or 2 gravity points in OG error makes a fairly large difference in the estimated gravity.

The reason i'd go with the more expensive set of 3 (or at least low and mid range depending upon what you brew) is they have the integrated thermometer with the correction offset built in. I had no idea about how awesome this was when i bought it.

 

[MX1]

Nay.

Well second round of googling was successful. You want these 3:

http://www.novatech-usa.com/Products/Balling-Plato-Hydrometers/6614TS-5.html
http://www.novatech-usa.com/Products/Balling-Plato-Hydrometers/6614TS-6.html
http://www.novatech-usa.com/Products/Balling-Plato-Hydrometers/6614TS-7.html

Thanks for the links.
I first want to say that I am in no way disregarding your input, but I feel like the ones you linked to may be a bit more than I really need, and I also want SG for ease of use. I am looking on the site you linked to for the right SG hydrometers.

 

[schematix]

Thanks for the links.
I first want to say that I am in no way disregarding your input, but I feel like the ones you linked to may be a bit more than I really need, and I also want SG for ease of use. I am looking on the site you linked to for the right SG hydrometers.

You may try to look elsewhere as well for similar products. I paid about $30 a piece for mine at the LHBS, so I know they can be found cheaper....

My advice is worthless (as in free). Take it for what it is. Doesn't bother me if you go another direction. IMO/IME the slightly more expensive tools are worth the price because they do more, do it better and you only end up buying them once. I understand money is a bigger concern for some people. This is one tool i KNOW i won't be buying again.

 

[MX1]

Free and worthless are 2 different things