Refractometer Question?

Buying, building and using brewing equipment and apparatus. Product reviews and questions.

Moderator: slothrob

Post Reply
Azorean Brewer
Strong Ale
Strong Ale
Posts: 326
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2001 1:31 pm
Location: Greenville SC
Contact:

Refractometer Question?

Post by Azorean Brewer »

How do you properly use a refractometer. Readings, calculations etc ... And is there only one type? or do you have to specify one for alcohol ... I have seen them in manufacturing for measuring water soluable coolant concentrations, is this the same type that you would use for beer?.

Thanks in advance

Paul.
jayhawk
Strong Ale
Strong Ale
Posts: 472
Joined: Tue Dec 25, 2001 12:05 am
Location: Vancouver, BC, CA

just used one in Bio class

Post by jayhawk »

I actually just used one in Biology class the other day to measure salinity in sea water. It had a scale for salinity, and water density, which is what we brewers care about. Think of a binocular, but forget about the "bi" part, because a refractometer only has one ocular(?)to look in to. You place a small sample of liquid one the one end, and then just peer through the other to get a reading. When you look inside, there is a scale that appears with gravity levels (think of the scale on a hydrometer), and there is a colour change in the background at the point where the density reading should be taken. Hope that explains it. Surely there must be a few different models, but this is the one I used.

Chris
Sisu
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2002 12:21 am
Location: Salt Lake City, UT, US

See "Brew Your Own"

Post by Sisu »

This month's (11/03) BYO magazine has a great article on refractometers. They discuss different types, costs/benefits, and why they recommend having one on hand. Next month, they may have that article available on-line for free @ www.byo.com.
Post Reply