Why doesnt everyone use refractometers?

Funky Fish · Mar 13, 2006

geocorn said:
The biggest reason more wine makers do not use the refractometer is cost. I don't know what the price was on eBay, but most home wine making stores sell them for $50-100, depending on the quality of the refractometer. How about I put them on special next month for $49.99?

Not to give you any hints, George

, but most winemaking stores also sell mini-jet filters....

geocorn · Mar 13, 2006

I sell them as well and my price, $164.99,is extremely competitive with other home wine making stores.

http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=5270Edited by: geocorn

rpsroberts · Mar 28, 2006

Ok, I'm confused now about the refractometers. Everything I read about the refractometers tells me that they can only read to 0 Brix which is 1.000 SG. However, most kits have your do the secondary fermentation unitl SG is about .996 or .998. If refractometers only go to 0 Brix(1.000 SG) how do you know when you're there? The confusing part is the spreadsheet mentioned in the earlier post. It will actually give you a Brix reading that relates to .996 SG. And if I test a stored bought wine (which I assume has a SG blow 1.000, I do get a reading on the refractomer. Now I'm scared to use the refractometer. Any help in clearing up the conversion factors between refractometer Brix and SG would be greatly appreciated.

Ray

rshosted · Mar 28, 2006

This is true, sort of. The refractometer works like a prism that spreads light depending on how much sugar is in a mixture. when a juice has no alcohol it is completely accurate. When alcohol is introduced it changes the reading of the refractometer.

When a wine gets to .996 the refractometer will read something like 6.8 brix (not sure without going back to my resources). But it will show above "0"

Since you know that it has been growing, you know that when it hits '6.8' (or whatever it is) you should know that is equivilant to .996 on your hydrometer.

Worst case, don't be afraid. Just use both until it makes more sense. You'll be using the same amount of wine you would have if you used teh hydrometer anyway.

You will always be able to tell your wine is fermenting by watching the airlock, and/or watching the 'brix' fall from 25-26 to '6.8' (or whatever) (plus it only takes three drops)

Hopefully that helps make a little sense. Best of luck,
Ryan

smurfe · May 26, 2006

Thought I would re-generate this thread. I bought a Refractometer back in March when George had them on a special. I didn't really buy for any use in kit wine making and it has been in a drawer waiting for use when I can get some fresh fruits.

As I was making up 2 kits the other day (Remember, I mixed up my yeast packages?) I remembered this tool and actually had ran across the article Masta posted here and thought I would give it a try to check my SG. I checked it with the hydrometer as normal and then took a couple drops of juice after calibrating the tool and guess what? I got the same reading results as I did with the hydrometer.

I am now sure to use this tool quite a bit with kits as well. I will still use my hydrometer until I am comfortable with the tool but once that happens, the hydrometer will stay in the drawer as I actually hate using it. Not as mush the hydrometer but the Wine Thief. It is one of the hardest tools of me to clean along with the racking cane as I have nothing big enough to totally submerse these items to sanitize them and I actually get a little nag feeling every time I use these items wondering if they are truly clean enough.

I actually have been thinking of taking it with me to market to test the Brix of fruits before I buy them. Of course the WTF factor from other customers will be priceless!

I am not advocating you run out and buy one of these tools but I will say that I got identical results as the hydrometer with mine. I used 2 drops of juice. Clean up took seconds and I actually felt more confident with my test results than with the hydrometer. There are charts and even a nice spreadsheet that will convert the Brix to SG so those concerned with the math curve can rest easy. If you have one, give it a try, it really does work.

Smurfe