Portable Brix Refractometer

[Rod]

Looking at buying a Portable Brix Refractometer

ebay , about $40 postage included

any recommendations or traps to watch out for

 

[pk.sax]

Look for one with the full range of Brix you want to measure.

On the positive of this, Brix only refractometer a have a lovely widely spaced scale on them. Much better than Brix/SG dual unit refractometers. Mine is 0-20 Brix @ 25C ATC. Bought off aliexpress since I couldn't find one on evilbay.

 

[Rod]

I would use it for beer

and loan it to a friend

 

[manticle]

Sorry to edit part of your post Rod - just discussion of that activity is generally frowned upon here.

Main thing with a refrac to watch out for is that once alcohol is present (ie as soon as fermentation has begun) you will get skewed readings that are way higher than the actual gravity. Thus people using a refrac to measure FG often mistakenly think a brew is stalled when it has actually finished.

You can either use it only for pre-fermentation or you can use a correction chart.

Also keep it clean and calibrate it properly.

 

[Florian]

Agree with PF, I have one that goes up to 18 Brix which is enough for 95% of the beers I'm brewing. Advantage is that each Brix gets more visible space, so much easier to read.