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JapanBrew

JapanBrew

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Where to start. All this time, I just measured my wort, racked, measured again. Monitored the outcome on fermentation. Never thought twice. Got great readings.
Never once thinking brix and Plato were 2 different things!
I used to use SG. but when my new refractometer came, they sent me the one with just brix. So, I use BeerSmith on my iPad and in settings you can switch to Plato. So I did thinking it was the same number.
So now I know but does anyone have some quick, about right number you can use in your head to see brix in Plato?
I'll probably just re order a refractometer with SG.
 
Last edited:
I know now... but seriously I thought they were the same thing. I was calculating everything thinking brix is same as Plato.
 
JapanBrew said:
Where to start. All this time, I just measured my wort, racked, measured again. Monitored the outcome on fermentation. Never thought twice. Got great readings.
Never once thinking brix and Plato were 2 different things!
I used to use SG. but when my new refractometer came, they sent me the one with just brix. So, I use BeerSmith on my iPad and in settings you can switch to Plato. So I did thinking it was the same number.
So now I know but does anyone have some quick, about right number you can use in your head to see brix in Plato?
I'll probably just re order a refractometer with SG.
Click to expand...


Ive been looking at these. I like the idea of taking a drop out to test rather than a tube full.
Where did you get yours. Ive been looking on amazon. £20 ish?
 
I have to order all my stuff from China since there are no homebrew shops in Japan.
I think I'll order another with SG reading. The ones I've seen recently have both inside.
 
yeastinfection said:
Ive been looking at these. I like the idea of taking a drop out to test rather than a tube full.
Where did you get yours. Ive been looking on amazon. ��£20 ish?
Click to expand...

Maybe these are worth a punt? I don't know anything about refractometers, but I use Aliexpress quite frequently, for those that haven't it's a bit like ebay for Chinese vendors.

Edit: I notice that the first ones are all Brix, but if you go down a bit you get dual Brix/SG ones which I'd assume are better.
 
JapanBrew said:
I know now... but seriously I thought they were the same thing. I was calculating everything thinking brix is same as Plato.
Click to expand...

As I said in my previous post I don't know anything about these, but I'm watching a video on how to use them and the guy says "some models read in the scale called Plato with units in Brix" which would suggest it is the same thing.
 
I thought Brix and Plato were close enough that it didn't make any real difference?
 
I use one from Amazon - about £20 as above. It has SG and Brix, but I only pay attention to the SG. It's great for reading OG and for taking readings to see if fermentation has stopped - however those post-fermentation readings will be out by some margin as you can't take an accurate FG reading with a refractometer if the liquid contains alcohol. Light refracts differently throught alcohol. So once the gravity stops falling, you still need to take your actual FG with a hydrometer.

For example, I got 1.024 for 4 days straight using my refractometer, so I knew fermentation had stopped. But when I did a final check with a hydrometer, the actual FG was 1.008
 
DavidF said:
I use one from Amazon - about �£20 as above. It has SG and Brix, but I only pay attention to the SG. It's great for reading OG and for taking readings to see if fermentation has stopped - however those post-fermentation readings will be out by some margin as you can't take an accurate FG reading with a refractometer if the liquid contains alcohol. Light refracts differently throught alcohol. So once the gravity stops falling, you still need to take your actual FG with a hydrometer.

For example, I got 1.024 for 4 days straight using my refractometer, so I knew fermentation had stopped. But when I did a final check with a hydrometer, the actual FG was 1.008
Click to expand...

Kind of defeats the object really,
 
DavidF said:
For example, I got 1.024 for 4 days straight using my refractometer, so I knew fermentation had stopped. But when I did a final check with a hydrometer, the actual FG was 1.008
Click to expand...

Yep. That's an issue and I, embarrassed to say, was clueless of this. No matter how dry my beers were made to be, the refractometer would stay at 5 brix.
But not an issue. My issue is, and a few above said they are the same, and middle gravity brews, yes. But go above 1.050 and Plato breaks from the group.
Brix is sugars in the wort. Plato is all things in the wort. Did I reverse that!?
 
As far as I'm aware brix and plato are close enough that they are exchangeable.

First of all refractometers are designed to be used with sugar water not wort which has a different refractive index to sugar water
So a brix/wort correction factor needs to be applied to get the correct readings
Also
Refractometers CANNOT be used to measure the brix of a fermenting wort without calculations to get the correct reading

All of this is explained in much more detail here
http://beersmith.com/blog/2010/11/02/how-to-use-a-refractometer-brix-and-beer-brewing/

And I would highly recommend using the application from that page.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beersmith.beersmith2full

Only cost £5 and has all of the calculations youll need to correctly use your refractometer and it saves the adjusted setting so you don't have to type it in every time
Also lots of other cool stuff on the app as well. Best of luck

Ps don't order a Refractometer with sg scale they are incorrect. You only need brix
 
Ale said:
You should start one
Click to expand...

That's what I'm working on but it takes more than just opening. Home brew above 1% is illegal in Japan.
So there is a lot of work from homebrewers here in Japan. On Facebook I started a JapanBrew site trying to pull everyone together. As of today, there are 186 members. I keep trying to post up items and tricks for home brewing but I'm only 1 man and I have 2 companies to run. But beer is now what I'm passionate about. My current companies I can't run as my age gets older. Database programming takes a lot of study and implication that I fear I will lose my edge.
My other company is a language school, which we have 5 branches. That too gets hard with age since Japanese only like young boy type teachers. Who cares about their experience. Is sad since I'm starting to really understand that after 20 years of teaching kids. Oh well, time goes on.
 
Wow 1% is a bit harsh. Could you cheat and market a normal kit that does 23 litres as a 100 litre kit or something? And if the people that buy them "forget" to add enough water...
 
I just don't mark it down. I put 1% on the bottle. Haha
Better not to know.
 
JapanBrew said:
I just don't mark it down. I put 1% on the bottle. Haha
Better not to know.
Click to expand...
1% is indeed harsh..! So, does that mean that every home brewer in Japan is risking arrest, or 'just' that it's illegal to open a home brew shop?:-(
 

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