New Toy

[WildSeedGrrrl]

OHHH just got a refractometer so now I'm going to start taking a reading with that and with my hydrometer to compare.

Anyone else use a refractometer? I'm a little obsessive about wanting to keep it clean and not smudge or scratch the plate while cleaning it.

WSG

 

[Tom]

Great "toy" if you have a vineyard or making wine from grapes or a homebrewer. Yes I have one. But I would rely on the hydrometer more in winemaking. Its only good to get a starting gravity. Did you get a conversion chart to specific gravity?

Remember to calabrate it

 

[Wade E]

If you have fruit growing the refractometer will be a very useful tool, if not then test a fruit stand fruit and then test a grocery store fruit and you will be amazed at how crappy the grocery store fruit really is. Remember, they pick early and ship out immediately so as that the fruit wont go bad o the shelves leaving you usually with a weak bland fruit.

 

[WildSeedGrrrl]

Calibrated it and I have a conversion chart. I do homebrew with a friend pretty regularly but the beer so I'm looking forward to using it when we start brewing again this spring.

 

[Tom]

WildSeed,
The best part is if you got a ATC refractometer is that you can add drops of HOT wort and get a good reading ATC= Automatic Temp Control

 

[Luc]

I have one and I think it is great.

I almost never use my hydrometer anymore in pre-fermentation measurements.

Mine is ATC so it corrects itself for temperature variations.
That is another think why I like it so much. It does not matter at what temperature the must is, the refractometer will make the adjustments itself.

When you have a digital cam with a good macro feature you can even take pictures through the refractometer lens of the measurements you are doing. Great for adding to your winemaking log.

I used it frequently on my web-log for demonstrating certain aspects of winemaking. Most of the time when experimenting I use both the refractometer and the hydrometer. You can see some pictures of both meters in action here:

http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2009/02/basterdsuiker-brown-sugar.html

The pictures are taken with my old trusted Nikon Coolpix 2100 cam. Which has a great macro function.
I have tested my new Canon S110 cam and that is also capable of taking pics through the lens of the refactometer.

You can do alcohol calculations with a refractometer in a finished wine by using the formulas stated in this article:

http://makewine.com/winemaking/methods/alcohol/

And it is possible to keep record of fermentation with a refractometer if alcohol is already present but you will need a conversion chart or software which can be found here:

http://valleyvintner.com/Refrac_Hydro/Refract_Hydro.htm

Once when I find the time I have a major article on my web-log coming up on the refractometer. But I am still doing 'kitchen table' research on it.

Luc