I started home brewing about 2 years ago with extract kits and now getting a little more involve with acquiring additional tools of the trade. I know how important checking the gravity is, but I have a some what silly question regarding refractometers. I am also a saltwater aquarium hobbyist so I use a refactometer to check the salinity in the water, which is testing the gravity. The question, is the refractometer used in home brewing the same as one used for saltwater or is the measuring scale different?
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What is the scale used in yours?– PhilippeJul 6, 2017 at 12:36
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3 Answers
They are different but only in the scale the refraction is interpreted. You can get refractometers with various scales. Specific Gravity, brix, plato, ppm/ppt (saline).
This is a very good question because refractometers don't just read sugar. Anything that affects light refraction will affect the reading. This includes water chemistry adjucts!
This is important because if your brew water has say 1000ppm of ions. It will skew the reading by about .0029
For example sea water with about 10,000ppm salt, reads 1.029 specific gravity.
It's best practice to take a baseline reading of your brew water, and subtract it from your wort gravity. Don't forget to account for boil off concentration. IE if you boil off 10% wort volume add 10% to the baseline reading before subtracting from your wort gravity.
Right about now everyone is realizing that their ABV and attenuation calcs on that Gose was wrong.
Side note: hydrometers are also affected by salt.
answered Jul 6, 2017 at 12:10
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No. The scales are different. The refractometer works on the principle that when a ray of light crosses a boundary (in this case into a fluid), the material refracts the ray under a certain angle. This is expressed as a number called the refractive index. This index changes depending upon the material. The refractive index of salt water is different from that of wort (water + sugars), and also that of beer (water with less sugar and more alcohol).
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You touched on alcohol. It should be noted that refractometer readings with alcohol solutions (finished beer) require some complex math for correct gravity readings. Jul 6, 2017 at 16:14
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@evilZymurgist: yes, I know that, I did not want to go too much in detail, just trying making clear what the possible differences are with refractometers.– chthonJul 7, 2017 at 6:56
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@EvilZymurgist: and most (all) brewing software does have support for this, doesn't it?– chthonJul 7, 2017 at 6:57
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they all rely on a calibration variable derived from a hydrometer and refractometer reading of the OG, for each use/different beer. But this can save test beer loss of you take several readings during fermentation: few drops for refractometer instead of 100ml a test. Jul 7, 2017 at 15:26
Refractometer are commonly used to measure sugar in grapes before picking them up to make wine, you need less liquid to get a measurement.
Less common in homebrewing, but also used, just make sure it has the right scale, but you can convert the value from Plato or Brix scale to SG as well. Other scales? Maybe not...
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Really? This is pretty common among the group of homebrewers I know, specially for those who brew small batches. I started using hydrometer, but the waste of beer was bothering me, now I just use it on finished beer. Jul 6, 2017 at 18:11
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2Since pretty much everybody start with an hydrometer, it is more common than a refractometer. But I guess, it depends where you are and the price of one...– PhilippeJul 6, 2017 at 18:19
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@Philippe also a hydrometer reading is needed along with refractometer readings, for some of the funner uses of the refractometer. Like calculating unknown OG. ;-) Jul 8, 2017 at 14:25