Refractometer Ease

Well I figured I'd write a little something about using my refractometer for the first time. I got this Auto Temperature Compensation refractometer on ebay for around $20 total. So first don't let anyone scare you with how outrageous the prices are, these things have been going on the bay at a fair price.

This thing is awesome, it allows me to take gravity readings at any point during the boil.  If I need to measure the gravity to calculate my efficiency out of the mash tun, no problem.   If I need to measure the gravity late in the boil, you can with ease. This thing ONLY takes a few drops of wort on the lens and it will measure the degrees Brix of your sample. It sure beats using almost a pint of wort with your hydrometer to get a reading everytime you want to check your OG/FG.

When you look through your refractometer you get a number. Mine this week from the nut brown ale was 13.4 lets go with 13. Take the Brix reading, multiply by 4 and this  gives you specific gravity in “gravity points.” For example,13 Brix, multiply that by 4 yields 52, which corresponds to a specific gravity of 1.052. I'm going to take another reading this Saturday to see what my OG is. Then I will either leave it in the secondary or leave for a few more days.

While this thing is in the Primary, I'm putting together a few recipes. As always the hardest part for me is picking what I want to drink... I should have something together this week to brew for next weekend.