Refractometer - I want one

[SteveD]

I wondered wether these were worth it. 'Wondered' is the operative word as I now know for sure........absolutely yes they are! I had the opportunity to use one around at Seveneer's when I joined him for a brew up on his new setup. For sheer convenience, simplicity of use, and speed - it's a must. Wanna take the gravity of boiling wort in 20 seconds flat without maiming yourself? Well, you can now. Monitoring spargings - a doddle.

If you don't give a sh1t about OG, FG, or any of the G's inbetween, then don't bother, but if you want decent control over the process without the pain of hyrometers, trial jars, temp conversion tables or heating/cooling samples, or getting the samples in the first place, then get one.

Must get...must get...must get.

Phil's system is brewing luxury, pure and simple. It's a Rolls Royce. Sure, it's still a car, it goes from a to b like a mini does...but, it does it with no effort, sweat, and hassle, and you feel refreshed and relaxed at the end of the trip. What it does is allow you to fully enjoy the brewing process, and concentrate on the important creative stuff by removing the drudgery job - filling, humping heavy vessels, connecting, disconnecting, moving stuff around 15 times, struggling to hit target temperatures, taking readings of volume, temp, and ph etc. All easy with Phils's set up

I could feel the money being sucked from my wallet just standing there. And, I got served a wicked lager to boot.


Cheers, mate.

Steve

[Andy]

Sounds like a successful visit to Phil's temple of shinyness

What did you brew ?

[SteveD]

Sounds like a successful visit to Phil's temple of shinyness

What did you brew ?

London Pride. 10 gals.

[mysterio]

I got mine for around 11 pounds from ebay including delivery. It was from Hong Kong but it arrived a couple of days after I won it. The ATC (automatic temperature correction) is a bit of a gimmick, I find you still have to let the wort cool before taking a reading. Also remember to stir the wort well before taking a reading so that the sugars are distributed evenly before taking a reading.

[Andy]

They are very handy compared with all the faff of a hydrometer

[inthedark]

I find you still have to let the wort cool before taking a reading.

Mind you, it is quicker to cool a pipette full of wort than a sample jar full. Do you find you get vastly different readings for different temperatures?

[Scooby]

Many aspire to a Rolls SD but your porter brew day (mini cooper "S") sounds more fun

I've just used a refractometer for the first time and can't agree more

[Seveneer]

Cheers, mate.

Steve

You make me blush

Glad you enjoyed it, Steve. It's good to share the shininess

The London Pride is bubbling away nicely. Lag time of about 2 hours so things are looking good

BTW, if anyone else is interested in having a look PM me. I brew quite often so Im sure we could come up with a mutually convenient time.

/Phil.

[Andy]

Still OK for popping round tomorrow Phil ?

[Seveneer]

Yes Andy, the stand is in the back of the car already

/Phil.

[Andy]

[SteveD]

Many aspire to a Rolls SD but your porter brew day (mini cooper "S") sounds more fun

I've just used a refractometer for the first time and can't agree more

My back would disagree about the fun All in all, I'd prefer to be using a system that didn't have me dragging dining chairs around the kitchen.

The thing about refractometer sample cooling is this - you don't have to cool it as such. Once you put a couple of drops onto the device's plate and clap the glass down, it's cooled! Two drops don't have much thermal capacity, after all. You know when it's ok because the reading stops moving - it's a matter of a few seconds. Agree, the key is to make sure the sample is uniform so give a bulk ammount, say a boiler full, a good stir before taking the reading.

[Garth]

My back would disagree about the fun All in all, I'd prefer to be using a system that didn't have me dragging dining chairs around the kitchen.

yep, that sounds like my brewdays, although I use the computer chair (cause you can mess with the height) for aligning the cfc with the boiler and fermenter,

oh, for a garage and sturdy brewstand, soon I hope........

[Garth]

nice Daab ..............

[SteveD]

Also known as a pub gig amp stand Truly a multi-role device!