Advantages/Disadvangtes of Refractometers?

[lindseywinstead]

Knowing some of the limitations of using a refractometer to calculate Starting Gravity through a bit of reading and research, I was hoping someone with experience in using both a hydrometer and a refractometer could speak from experience regarding the pros and cons of these devices.

[philm00x]

Brewbirds will chime in shortly on this one I'm sure

[monsteroyd]

I think the biggest disadvantage is that after the fermentation, you can't determine the final gravity without having an original gravity, but since the purpose of taking a final gravity reading is to compare it to the original gravity, it's not really a problem, since you'll always have the original. However if you don't have the original, you can still see if a fermentation is done, as the refractometer will give the same reading over a few days, indicating the fermentation is done. I think they are great, and I should use mine more.

Of course the obvious advantage is that they use very little wort.

MOnty

[Brewbirds]

I am a refractometer fan for sure. Depending on budget and the kind of brewing you do I highly recommend getting one. But you do have to research them because there are a lot of poor quality ones on the market. If you are strictly extract brewing you can get by without one.

We do mostly partial mash with late extract additions and we take lots of measurements and readings for our brew notes.

As Monty said it takes only a few drops of wort for a reading and if you take pre-boil gravity readings, as we do, you do not need to cool a sample tube's worth of wort to do so.

They are great to have around when you think you have a stuck fermentation as well. Imagine having to fill a hydro sample tube every three days; you either risk infection pouring it back or lose a lot of beer taking readings.

We have made a couple of Saisons since we got our refractometer and use it to track sugar feedings as well.

You may have seen in other posts that there are "compensation tools" available that will assist in determining FG in the presence of alcohol. We use the one in BeerSmith and except for occasional calibration verification hardly use our hydrometer any more, well my good one broke and I hate the back-up.

All that being said ( Oh, did I mention that I make refractometers for a living? ) if money is tight for brew gear I would probably recommend quality digital scales for hops and grains over the refractometer.

You need to calibrate it with RO water and I use that also for cleaning the prism and cover plate.

[lindseywinstead]

Thank you for all the wonderful information. I brew mainly small batches (2.5 gallons), and loathe the idea of using any more beer than I absolutely must for testing purposes. (What can I say? I am greedy that way.) I think the refractometer will be a great progressive step in my brewing. Thanks again all!

[Bluejaye]

But you do have to research them because there are a lot of poor quality ones on the market.

All that being said ( Oh, did I mention that I make refractometers for a living?

If it's true that you make them for a living, then I'd rather support you/your company than anyone at random. And I assume you/your company makes a quality one. So... What brand is yours, huh huh?

[haerbob3]

As with anything in the fermentation arts you need to at least keep track of the original gravity. I like to use a note taped to the fermentner with the type of beer, OG and the expected FG. If you have both Beersmith & Beersmith Mobile keeping track of thing is easy. Just make sure you keep good back-ups or store your recipes on the Beersmith Cloud. I learned the the hard way. Our network drive took a dump and I lost close to 200 recipes. Nope. when I quit doing MR B batches, I stopped writing them in a notebook.

[Beer-lord]

I've used mine twice. I'm not sure just how good of quality mine is but it does look and feel pretty good.
On the first batch, the refractometer was off 3 points lower than my hydrometer and the next time with someone else's brew and hydrometer it was 5 points lower. So, while I like to use mine for pre-boil to see if I' m close, I'm still going to continue to use my hydrometer for my recipes when I save them.
You really don't need this 'toy' but I feel like a mad scientist when using it.

[Brewbirds]

But you do have to research them because there are a lot of poor quality ones on the market.

All that being said ( Oh, did I mention that I make refractometers for a living?

If it's true that you make them for a living, then I'd rather support you/your company than anyone at random. And I assume you/your company makes a quality one. So... What brand is yours, huh huh?

Sorry big guy that was a joke because I was talking them up so much.