Best refractometer?

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Duncan Dobbin

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Looking for a refractometer on Amazon, and whilst they all look very similar there seems to be a huge variation in reviews and price. Can someone please guide me in the right direction here, as buying on from Amazon would seem to be a bit of a lottery!

Thanks.
 
Looking on Amazon, there are lots of offers, but most appear to be the same manufacturer, ATC. More important is the range that it displays, most beers that I make start with a wort S.G. between 1.040 and 1.070, but if you plan to make a very strong beer or wine, its useful if it goes up to 1.100 or slightly higher. Several are listed as 0 - 32 Brix, which is equivalent to 1.000 - 1.120, which is probably ideal. There is a simple calculation to convert between Brix and S.G., but if you can find one that has a dual scale, that saves some hastle.

You may also consider looking on ebay, I bought one from there last year for less than a fiver and it works fine, far more convenient than using a hydrometer. Just remember that it should only be used to measure original gravity, as the presence of alcohol in the liquid will cause an inaccurate measurement.
 
I think ATC stands for automatic temperature correction rather than a brand but I may be wrong. :-)

I had that same problem with reviews and they all look like the same model to me too, what finally put me off were the reviews saying that testing the same sample multiple times had about a 5% variance which is useless if you're using it to confirm fermentation is done.

I went for a digital one as I found it half price online through cash converters of all places, seems to be brand new and has been serving me well for over a year now, not cheap though. And unfortunately it doesn't seem accurate measuring the progress of a mead fermentation, as soon as fermentation starts it indicates 30 - 50% attenuation and the conversion formula is miles off the hydrometer. With beer my formula matches FG within 2 points which is the margin of error I find in reading a hydrometer anyway.
 
I had variances with mine the first time using it then I had a think and didn't have them any more with the same sample by doing this:

1. Swill fully off any water you might have used to clean the lens and cover after you've used it. Either run the test wort over the lens AND the flap so there won't be any dilution left by the cleaning water or use a soft cloth to fully dry it - on brewday a quick swish under the tap and using a good few dribbles of the testing wort or even dunking the end in the pot work.

2. Put the wort on the glass and shut the damned window fairly fast. Why? Because water can evaporate leaving the wort more concentrated. It's the same with people cooling samples - the evaporation changes the density with small volumes.

Basically don't let dilution or concentration happen. And I'd say don't pay extra for a dual scale. SG and brix don't tie together perfectly and the simple multiply brix by 4 will get you just as good an idea as an SG scale that could niggle you a bit because it's not actually really right.
 
I loved my optical refractometer to start with, but gradually got bored "guessing" where the blue line was. I know you can get obsessed about pin point accuracy, but the scale was pretty tight. Due to the good feeling of winning some premium bond prizes I lashed out on one of these:
milwaukee_ma871_digital_brix_refractometer_brix_of_sugar_aqueous_solutions-250x250.jpg

(Best deal I found was here: https://www.burntec.com/MA871_Digital_Brix_Refractometer_Milwaukee?search=MA871 ). So I now have readings I can read, even if they are spuriously accurate! And so quick.
 

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