Refractometer

So I took the plunge and ordered a refractometer. It has both BRIX and Specific Gravity with ATC. I’ve never used one, but I’m pretty excited about it. One thing I’ve never done (because it didn’t really matter to me) was measure the gravity from the runoff an sparge. I’ll have to try it now. I ordered it from NB, which means it will probably take them a week or two to decide if they even want to ship it to me.

Dang. Use the free service offered by the company to complain about the service.

Please don’t bother answering, but why order from them if you feel this way? NB has always done me solid in the past.

I ordered one off of ebay for 20 bucks shipping included. Its pretty much the same thing NB sells except mine is brix only. In some models, not sure about NBs, the SG reading get farther off as the SG gets higher. Linear scale- non linear conversion, so watch out for that. I’ve been using Sean Terrill’s calculator to take FG reading with my refractometer and it has proven to be as accurate as my hydrometer.

http://seanterrill.com/2012/01/06/refra ... alculator/

Well, I will reply anyway.

The only reason I ever order anything from NB anymore is if everyone else is out of stock for that particular item. Such was the case with this refractometer. I ordered from them as a last resort.

But, I am happy to say, they’ve shipped it, and according to the UPS tracking #, I should be receiving it this week.

So, maybe I’ll try ordering supplies from them again, give them another chance. maybe they’ve just had a bad year.

They are in the process of moving to a new warehouse this may delay some orders.

Damn, admittedly I don’t buy from NB much anymore, but not because they are slow. In fact I always found them to be extremely fast and the customer service was always awesome. I merely switched because i found a supplier much closer to me which doesn’t charge shipping.

I got the refractometer fairly quickly. I am happy with NB once again. So happy, that I placed another order for a Bavarian Hefe AG kit and some supplies.

Refractometers are great for tracking gravity throughout the brew process. If you bought an Automatic Temperature Correcting (ATC) model beware! They’re just kinda’, sorta’ temperature correcting. I’ve learned (the hard way, as usual) that the sample needs to be cooled to near ambient (maybe 80 or 90 F) to get accurate readings.

I recommend running a series of tests of the refractometer against a calibrated hydrometer to see how your refractometer compares a various sample temperatures.

I’ve seen some youtube videos of people using it, and it looks like they just splash it on the lens, and blow on it to cool it. is it really that simple?

You may get elevated readings that way, due to evaporation. I pull a sample into a dropper and give it a minute or two to cool a little, then drop it on the lens. That has been giving me accurate readings.

just remember to do the calculations after you ferment, with refractometers once alcohol is introduced you cant just take a reading and go with it

just remember to do the calculations after you ferment, with refractometers once alcohol is introduced you cant just take a reading and go with it[/quote]

Yeah, I’m looking at NB’s refractometer calculator. I’ll try it with that first.

just remember to do the calculations after you ferment, with refractometers once alcohol is introduced you cant just take a reading and go with it[/quote]

Yeah, I’m looking at NB’s refractometer calculator. I’ll try it with that first.[/quote]

I use this one

http://seanterrill.com/2012/01/06/refra ... alculator/