$16 down from $90!
http://www.amazon.com/Beer-Wort-Wine-Refractometer-Scale/dp/B006GG0TDK
Purchased!
Really good deal! I love my refractometer. When brewing small batches it’s a huge deal to be able to take gravity readings without having to fill the cylinder to take a hydrometer reading.
I’ve got one but I may get another at that price. The exact same one I have, and I love mine.
I would urge you all to check the refractometer against a hydrometer.
I use refraction up to the point that the boil is done and chilled then I use hydrometer
I use mine pre-fermentation only too. I calibrate mine each time, and check it against my hydrometer pretty regularly. I know there are conversions for FG readings, but I prefer the old hydrometer there.
There’s also a great article about refractometers in this month’s Zymurgy… Coincidence?
Read it. The author seemed pretty knowledgeable 
Na. I’m just going to walk away and assume it all goes to plan. Sharks with frickin laser beams.
I don’t have iodine, so for me it’s an ok way to check conversion in the mash. I ball park what it ought to be and aim for that. When I’m close with no change in 15 minutes I figure its done. With beers around 1.060 that’s usually 60-90 minutes. Strange huh?
At a minimum, that is a unique logic flow.
For example (I think)
10# of 2 row should be about 370 points
Divided by 5 gallons mash water should be 1.074 max.
80% would be about 1.060 or 15°
So if I hit 15° and stay there 15 min I figure it’s converted.
Am I wrong or crazy? Not experienced enough to really know, it’s just how I’ve been doing it.
I’ve been wanting to add a refractometer to my toolkit for a while now. Thanks for the tip!
I’ve only used a few refractometers, but they have all been accurate to a calibrated Hydrometer. Most hydrometers that I have owned were inaccurate before calibration.
Be aware that there has long been a problem with many, if not all, dual-scale refractometers that have both an SG and Brix scale. There has been an ongoing problem where they all seemed to have an incorrect SG scale. Hopefully that has been fixed, but it may be why they are on sale.
The math is wrong, since you don’t account for the volume added by the dissolved sugar from the converted grain, but the answer is close enough.
Max gravity for 10# of base malt in 5 gallons of mash water is probably just under 1.065. You can figure out your target gravity with a pretty simple formula (I’d change the 37 to a 36 if there is much specialty malt in there):
Max points per gallon from mash = (# of grain37)/(mash volume in gallons+(0.075 gallons# of grain))
I have a dual scale, but only use the Brix side. I get an exact conversion from Brewer’s Friend though it’s obviously easy to ballpark the SG from Brix.
The math is wrong, since you don’t account for the volume added by the dissolved sugar from the converted grain, but the answer is close enough.
Max gravity for 10# of base malt in 5 gallons of mash water is probably just under 1.065. You can figure out your target gravity with a pretty simple formula (I’d change the 37 to a 36 if there is much specialty malt in there):
Max points per gallon from mash = (# of grain37)/(mash volume in gallons+(0.075 gallons# of grain))
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Thanks Denny. That will go in my notebook. And using your formula I was off by half a brix
People don’t usually call me Denny
Your formula actually works darn well as a quick estimate. It could work really well if you wanted a number you could calculate on the fly. Basically your 80% factor makes a pretty decent estimate of the dilution effect for that grain bill, though I’m just not sure where it comes from. It will probably become less predictive if you diverge from 2 qt/# mash thickness, but it will often get you within a brix or so. The other formula is pretty quick to calculate, too, but it’s tougher to do in your head.
I just gave you the other formula so you could see the logic used to make the calculation and get a more accurate estimate, if you want one.
malzig
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People don’t usually call me Denny
Oooops
Thanks, mtnrockhopper. I got one! Great deal.