Refractometers From E-bay (hong Kong) Any Good?

[Gormand]

Well my one has been tested and its spot on with my hydro (Well as spot on as my eyes can be)
Will test again with a fermented beer later to check how that works.

 

[kjparker]

Woot! It arrived!

I thought it was going to be brix only, but it's brix and sg!

The scale is actually quite easy to read as well.

Havent tested it with anything yet though. Cant wait!

 

[SJW]

*******, I am still waiting for mine to finish its world tour. It his Singapore over a week ago now. Hope its having fun!

 

[argon]

Woot! It arrived!

I thought it was going to be brix only, but it's brix and sg!

The scale is actually quite easy to read as well.

Havent tested it with anything yet though. Cant wait!

After the first time of using it, you'll never know how you did without it... top bit of kit
:icon_cheers:

 

[cdbrown]

Mine arrived in the office today. I like how it comes in a nice little pouch with 10 little plastic pippets and a small screw driver.

 

[Housecat]

I got mine too. I got an 18 brix one as I don't have a need for any higher. If I do I'll have to breakout the trusty hydro!
I'm quite impressed with mine so far and it works well with water

HC

 

[Rodolphe01]

I got an ebay honkers special, rings true with hydro and post ferment values work out using the conversion tables. Works a treat for making sure boil off/gravity etc is progressing as planned.

However, the real test for anything is how long it lasts. As my grandmother used to say, even a cheap broom cleans the floor when it's new, or something to that effect.

 

[SJW]

This has been my refractometers world tour: and I am still waiting

2011-03-31 02:05:00 Thu SINGAPORE SIN Shipment arrived at airport
2011-03-30 19:57:00 Wed HONG KONG Shipment departed from airport
2011-03-30 16:00:00 Wed HONG KONG Shipment departed from facility
2011-03-30 14:00:00 Wed HONG KONG Shipment arrived at facility
2011-03-29 23:53:34 Tus SHENZHEN SHENZHEN Shipment operation completed
2011-03-26 13:50:49 Sat XIAMEN XIAMEN Shipment arrived at facility
2011-03-16 10:53:29 Wed ZHANGZHOU Shipment information received

 

[SJW]

HEY HEY, Got it. How cool is this thing. Tested with water first up and it was 0. Then with some wort I had in the fridge for a starter and it was perfect compared with the hydrometer. Very easy to read the SG or Brix.
I cant wait to brew with it, I should of bought one years ago.

Steve

 

[cdbrown]

They are cool little tools, glad you got it. I too can't wait to brew with it, although I'm worried that it'll show me I'm not hitting my targets

 

[stux]

Just ordered one with a LED (and 10 extra pippettes)

I do most of my brewing at night so figured the built in lightsource was a good idea

 

[bignath]

Just ordered one with a LED (and 10 extra pippettes)

I do most of my brewing at night so figured the built in lightsource was a good idea

that sounds like brewing porn to me....Got a linky??

 

[[email protected]]

Wow! I got mine about a week ago, I must have taken 20 readings now, just because I can.
With a hydrometer I would have only taken 1 for the starting gravety and been to lazy to cool down wort to take multiple readings during mashing. I took maybe a dozen during mashing and sparging to look at when most of the sugar is being removed. Learnt a lot about the process.

No looking back to the bad old hydrometer days now.

Quick question, is the SG of tapwater close enough to zero to calibrate from? It says use distilled water, but if tap waters less then .001 out then this seems good enough for me.

 

[bignath]

I love my refractometer so much, that i gave my one and only hyrdometer to a friend who has just started brewing.

 

[Gormand]

Wow! I got mine about a week ago, I must have taken 20 readings now, just because I can.
With a hydrometer I would have only taken 1 for the starting gravety and been to lazy to cool down wort to take multiple readings during mashing. I took maybe a dozen during mashing and sparging to look at when most of the sugar is being removed. Learnt a lot about the process.

No looking back to the bad old hydrometer days now.

Quick question, is the SG of tapwater close enough to zero to calibrate from? It says use distilled water, but if tap waters less then .001 out then this seems good enough for me.

I doubt tap water can be far enough away from distilled that it would make any difference in calibration considering your still calibrating using good ol sight. We use it (Well at least I do) to check the calibrations on hydrometers, so no difference really.

 

[SJW]

Just brewed my first brew with the refractometer. I did a stout and maybe you can guess my question................
Is it normal for black beers to make the line in the refrac to be fuzzy/not clear? Its nice and sharp with water and beer I got in the fridge but I am assuming that the black beer/stout must have some effect on the .....refraction?

Steve

 

[Hogan]

Just brewed my first brew with the refractometer. I did a stout and maybe you can guess my question................
Is it normal for black beers to make the line in the refrac to be fuzzy/not clear? Its nice and sharp with water and beer I got in the fridge but I am assuming that the black beer/stout must have some effect on the .....refraction?

Steve

Don't know about the fuzzy line Steve but I just brewed a RIS and whilst the readings pre-ferment were spot on there was a big discrepancy in the 'during and post' ferment readings. I have an Iphone app that does the alcohol adjustment but actually found my gravity reading was going up instead of down. Two things could have caused this. 1. The blackness of the beer was interfering with the refrac of light through the prism - or 2. the readings were taken from the tap and the heavy particles dropping were increasing the viscosity of the wort. When I used the hyro I found a correct reading and this concurred with refrac readings taken from the top of the wort.

Cheers, Hoges.

 

[Superoo]

I also think that if you take a reading from the very top surface, that may make a difference if the wort has been sitting still for a while, ie: cooling etc.

I did this once and got a very different reading when I put the pippette in a few inches.

Also looking out from my shed into sunlight gives a crystal clear / sharp line reading, artificial light just doesnt seem to do it.

But aint these things great value for the price, Its one of the best brew toys I've purchased

 

[Phoney]

I dont trust my refractometer - at all.

Generally it's 95% accurate with OG's. And yes, it's calibrated to zero with water.

The other day I tested it with some beer - ready to be kegged - at 1.016 - and the refractometer showed it as 1.028!

 

[Wolfy]

The other day I tested it with some beer - ready to be kegged - at 1.016 - and the refractometer showed it as 1.028!

It showed that, or that the result when you had applied the appropriate calculations and adjustments?