Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

I decided I need to get a refractometer, since I'm throwing away a lot of volume for each sample using a hydrometer. In my small batches it's kind of a big hit. In my shopping I came across a couple of things I thought everyone might find interesting:

1. You can now buy dual-scale refractometers that show both brix and gravity. Morebeer.com and Northernbrewer.com both have these and I'm sure others will follow.

2. You can easily convert gravity of fermenting wort if you took an OG reading. Beersmith has a tool built-in for this, or you can use the attached spreadsheet from Morebeer. The spreadsheet is nice because you can record readings over time for each batch. It can also correct for temperature if your refractometer doesn't have temp correction.

If you don't mind doing the Brix conversion which the More Beer spreadsheet does for you, you can save yourself a lot of money and get a refractometer on eBay. My wife got me a brand new one off ebay for $25 a few years ago that is the same as the Brix only ones a lot of homebrew retailers were selling for about $60 with ATC.

It looks like you can get the new ones on eBay too, but they're currently more expensive than NB and Morebeer.

There are basically 2 conversions going on. For unfermented wort, for moderate strength brews, the conversion from Brix to gravity is multiply by 4. I.e., 5 Brix = 1.020, 10 Brix = 1.040, etc. Here's a table of the conversion:
http://www.fermsoft.com/gravbrix.php

After fermentation starts, no matter what scale refractometer you use, you need some fancy formula (like the morebeer spreadsheet) that accounts for the alcohol in the beer.

Thanks for posting the Specific Gravity to Brix chart link. I was going to look for one or make one for the next time I brew. I have a few numbers written down in the brewery so I know when to stop sparging and a few common gravity levels.

Beersmith does all the conversions. It really is a great piece of software. Now they just need an iphone extension.

brownbeard wrote:Beersmith does all the conversions. It really is a great piece of software. Now they just need an iphone extension.

Tim, while its a little pricey for an iPhone app. Beer alchemy can import and export with Beersmith. It is not a sync, but it can read and write the Beersmith formate. So if you have wireless it really is quite painless.