Refractometers.

[Toper]

I know there are those on this forum who use refractometers and I was wondering, in my ignorance, whether these two items are in fact different products or, the same product with different descriptions.

The appearance is very similar. The price differs by a couple of pounds.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01B611W9O?psc=1
Homebunnyy 0-32% Handheld Sugar Refractometer Brix Content Tester

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01HTE9L7M?psc=1
Handheld Alcohol Refractometer, 0 ~ 80% Alcohol Content Measurement Tool Tester for Spirit, and Widely Used in Scientific Research, Food Industry

[Icefever]

Mash uses his more than I use mine....the difference as I see it, is the top one just shows how much sugar is in say a wash.

Quote Amazon.."The refractometer itself is not included the specific gravity scale, only contains the brix scale for sugar test."

The bottom one shows the alcohol % in spirits.....

Quote.... "used to measure the density of alcohol in the solution, the measuring range is 0 to 80%"

I await Mash to steer me correct.

[Toper]

Thanks Ice'.

So I take it that the two functions are not (cannot) be performed by a single refractometer? I had hoped that one refractometer would suffice for both sorts of readings.

Ideally then, one should buy one of each kind?

[Phantom]

Plenty of info out there about how refractometers work........

I know that with the wine world, refractometers tend to be used to work out the level of brix in a juice so when the fruit is ready for harvesting i.e. at the maximum natural sugar content.

This is because they're more practical for field testing. With a hydrometer you'd need to crush/extract the juice before testing and with no certain way of making sure that you've removed everything that might skew the reading.......

Of course, they can be used to test and check the progress of the ferment but as soon as there is alcohol present in the mixture being tested, you have to use a table to adjust the reading as the alcohol does skew the reading etc.

The pro's seem to use hydrometers (expensive but accurate shorter scale ones) for on site testing, as most of the production facilities don't have the money or justification to spend the kind of money needed to buy the complex laboratory kit.......

If you dig around the net and look at all the info about refractometers, the differences are pretty much the same as hydrometers i.e. that they work in the same way, but will have different measuring scales - some brix, some Oeschle, etc. I never bothered to get one but considered one that was graduated in degrees Oeschle as that's the closest to specific gravity, which is what I'm most familiar with.

Whether using light like this is accurate enough for a refractometer to give a decent measurement of alcohol content, I don't know.........

Oh and don't forget, making stuff on a hobby basis is very different from making it commercially. We don't have to worry about a tiny difference that makes the tax man a lot more wealthy etc (think on the differences between the excise duty paid by producers who make to the industry standard of 40% ABV and why producers like Diageo now sell their brands at 37.5% ABV - it's big money, very very quickly).......

[Mash]

For me it about making life easier. It's all about the calibration and what scale they have etched on them.

It process order then..

For setting up a ferment grapes/sugar wash/beer I like brix and %Alc (if all goes well).

The BRIX scale is the easier than SG because it is % of sugar ...so 15 brix is 15% sugar. Easy maths for recipe building.

To check the ferment is ended I USE A HYDROMETER (or my tongue - whichever is easiest)

For spirits you need just %Alc

Hope that helps.

[Easydrinker]

Yup, for spirits & % alcohol, just about anything is good enough.
Practice will show that any of these fade when doing a repepition brew.
These days I measure when the mood takes me and find that it is usually as expected.
But I do tend to do only two different washes these days.
A neutral and a single malt.

Robert.