High Gravity Refractometer Accuracy Testing for Homebrewers

High Gravity Refractometer Accuracy Testing for Homebrewers

Within this video I will be accuracy testing with 3 different refractometers , that come in at 3 different price points.
This video is very much a follow up to a recent test video , that tested one sample which was quite low in gravity.
Channel links:-

Introduction music:- Drink Beer (Till The Day That I Die) by Dazie Mae
Channel links:-

Introduction music:- Drink Beer (Till The Day That I Die) by Dazie Mae
Channel links:-

Introduction music:- Drink Beer (Till The Day That I Die) by Dazie Mae

[xdonnix]

Would also be interesting to see a test of other Brix digital refractometers on the market. Such as a cheap amazon / ebay one or / and the Milwaukee MA871.
Also would be interesting to see samples which are less clean and contain significant hop or grain particles.

[dalesizemore]

I purchased the Sabre and found it matched my hydrometer perfectly for the OG, but testing two different brews near completion showed a vast difference of 20 points. The Philly Sour hydrometer test showed 1.005 and the Sabre showed 1.025. My English Brown hydrometer was 1.012 but the Sabre was 1.030 and fermentation was definitely finished. I had rhe same problem with the Smartref and ended up returning it because i was still having to use my hydrometer to calculate and change the correction factor to get a correct reading near the end if fermentation.

[alexandersoderholm]

Now that's some telling data! Thank you for doing this follow up

[feronimus]

Nice content! Glad to see the new saber is fine at what it does.

One think i didnt like is the spoon like appearance it has in combination to it being waterproof.
It fooled my inexperienced self to think that i could just scoop some wort directly from the kettle.

It took me 2 weeks of trial and error to find out that ATC means that it can handle low range tampretures up to 30C and that if you just put 1-2 drops in they will cool down quicker :).

[willschmit]

I have always considered refractometers as toys used by inexperienced brewers. I accept their place as a "relative" tool to be used to get a ballpark reading of brewing as it progresses. FWIW, I take a sample at FWG (First Wort Gravity, or preboil) and one at OG (Original Gravity - post boil) and I refrigerate the sample to 60F and use a lab grade hydrometer. My major complaint with using refraction as a tool is simple -- everything has a different refractive index. No matter what you use, wort is a mixture of many different sugars (glucose, maltose, maltriose, dextrose, etc...). As an example, a sample that is 1.045 reference mashed at 145F and 155F will both read 1.045, but the different refractive index of the different sugars will be wildly different -- because the different sugars refract differently. My brewing software does a great job of predicting the sugar, and predicting the yeast utilization because it (more or less) knows the combination of sugars based on the mash temperatures. I have another test device which is very accurate. It is a bulb shaped glass ball. If you fill it to the top, then put on the stopper, it spurts out anything over 250ml. Weighing the sample(and the bottle)Will give you the SG of the sample. I can't recall what the name of the device is, but I have 3 of them ranging from 100 to 500ml. As always, thanks for your reviews and your insight...

[RevMarkSmith]

Thank for this - but of course a single sample of each type is not enough of a sampling range to really extend the conclusions to other than the actual items you bought.

A wider sample range of each type would reveal if for example they always read high? I would assume if that was the case the manufacturers would redefine the scale and that he reality is a range of each reading high and low.

[GodfreyTempleton]

I've been trying to understand the differences for gravity reading purposes between the Smart Ref and the EasyDens. Could somebody please help....

[johngriffin]

Thanks David. I assume the Sabre was being read on the “Wort” scale?

[JohnnyReverse]

Great video David, I have a few things to add from my experience using the Saber so far. Firstly, mine does not charge, or does not appear to, I've left the charger on it over 24 hours and my light remained blue throughout, put it back it in its case, and when tried to using again a few days later it did not work until it was back on the charge. Not sure if this is supposed to happen as their are no instructions. I pitted the Saber against 3 Hydrometers and one blue box atc : 2 calibrated hydrometers read 1.048, one read ~1.049-1.050, blue box read 1.047 and saber read 1.045. I guess in the end 5 points difference isnt all too much but i'm really struggling about which one is more accurate and which i should trust.

[paulrobertson]

Hi David. I was wondering if you had compared these results with a Tilt? Just a thought .... Cheers :)

What about a good quality floating hydrometer? Would be nice to see a smart ref vs hydrometer test.

[BeautilufMusic]

I believe Brewers Friend released a correction factor tool for this very reason. I haven't checked it out myself, but iirc you enter values from several gravity-varying brews into a spreadsheet to calculate the correction factor, which - when applied - would then give you the correct reading. Has anyone had any experience with this?

[renebeussen]

Would be nice just as a reference to have a high end hydrometer result next to it

[Aan]

Nice. Good to know, and it makes sense for me.
Brewed a strong beer with a gravity of 1.119, but wasn't a strong as suspected 🤔
Now I know why 🤦‍♂
Thanks again David for your helpful information, as always.👍

[SCROWMD]

I learned a long time ago that " you get what you pay for'. Mostly I rely on my "TILT", seems accurate enough for me.

[clivebrooker]

Refractometers are a guide at best, even the expensive electronic ones are calibrated for crystal clear sugar water and are extremely variable for anything else. If you don’t believe me prepare a 10% sugar solution in pure water, it’s Brix value should read 10. Now prepare a 10% salt solution this will read about 10-11% higher, but visually you will be unable to detect any difference between the 2 samples. So now imagine the impact of adding hop and grain matter to the sample as would be found in wort add to this the variability of colour between stout and lager; the refractometer has no chance on determining how much sugar is in the solution, similarly hazy NEIPA or clear lager samples of the same specific gravity will give completely different readings. And where is the proof of all this - the tax man will not accept refractometer readings from a brewery.

[johnpantling]

Hi David good follow up video. Re hydrometers you can easily standardise one using sugar solutions of known gravity. The hydrometer is faithful it is the scale the manufacturers put in that are the error . I must have been very lucky I bought a cheap hydrometer and then checked its accuracy with high precision sugar solutions of predicted sg it was near perfect. I then used this same hydrometer to check my refractometer, which also proved to be quite good. The problem with refractometers as I see it is the are not designed to measure beer wort gravity. Taking two worts of the same gravity but one more turbid than the other will skew the results.

[mikaelottosson]

Thanks, for a informtive investigation. You have s good point that you can not trust a cheap refractometer with doing a calibration. I have calbrated my cheap refractometer, and I was lucky that I was OK. A refractometer is very handy for checking the gravity during mashing, I use it during almost Evert brew. Thanks good content Mikael Brewmaster of Funboslätt Gårdsbryggeri

[marklpaulick]

Holy crap how could justify using a refractometer (albeit a nice one) as the standard in this test? The standard measurement should have been an easy dens or a NIST traceable hydrometer (is actually reliable) or actually creating known concentration solutions with water and sucrose measured in grams. We have no clue if the smart ref is actually reliable.

Thanks for the content, I like and subscribe everything you put out.

[jakebertrand]

If the sabre is consistent i would think it would be easy to make a little adjustment chart