Be part of our community & join our international next generation forum now!
Hey,
Just a quick question:
I use my refractometer but I was wondering if there is a cheap alternative for digital tester for ABV. I have found some of the lab level hand held testers but they are over $2k and that's a lot of coin.
Any suggestions?
Comments
Try find someone whom has an EDROMETER for sale...maybe Ebay.
The company I understand to have closed down, but the Edrometer is the poor man's solution to what you are looking for.
EasyDens is as cheap as it gets.
Thanks @richard. I found an electronic optical refractometer for a couple of hundred bucks. The beer guy swear by them but I don't know if that's a good option. I want the industrial one but they are soo expensive.
Floaty thing ftw.
Hey @Grim or Moonshine. I just got this message when trying to access your shop.
It looks like you might have a trojan. I picked up one a couple of weeks ago and didn't know where. You might want to check.
I just pass the time here while drinking, don’t blame this on me.
+1 if you add thermometer to do temp compensation
Computer, ping @Smaug!
FYI @DonMateo, that's not related to our forum, but the StillDragon North America website. Neither @grim nor @Moonshine are involved there. :-B
Your Place to be >>> www.StillDragon.org <<< Home of the StillDragon® Community Forum
Kk thanks for the heads up.
StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America
For mash - refractometers are challenging with final gravities - you need to use compensation tables and have very accurate starting gravities to have even a remote chance at getting an accurate alcohol potential %.
For ABV of spirit, they are very inaccurate compared to even cheap hydrometers.
Other than only needing a small sample, they are pretty shitty tools.
I was going to add my experiences here and decided to wait to see other comments. I agree @Grim. I have tried using them with say mash and got absolute bullshit. With spirit I don’t know why you would bother compared to a good hydrometer.
I use a refractometer to get O.G. of hot mash tun output, and I think that's a good application. For just about everything else, they're not only shitty, but just the wrong tools. As always, YMMV.
Zymurgy Bob, a simple potstiller
my book, Making Fine Spirits
Refractometer for wash liquid, Tilt Hydrometer to monitor fermentation, glass homebrew hydrometer for FG verification, Dragonfire hydrometer for parrot, DMA35 for 99% of spirit readings, $150 11-proof range (79-90, 89-100, or 99-110) glass hydrometer for proofing before bottling, $150 glass hydrometer with $300 NIST calibration to have on hand if I doubt or break the other glass hydrometer).
EasyDens for wash liquid, EasyDens to periodically monitor fermentation, EasyDens for FG verification, homebrew hydrometer for parrot, Snap40 for 99% of spirit readings, $150 11-proof range (79-90, 89-100, or 99-110) glass hydrometer for proofing before bottling, method of choice for calibrating the previous.
Edit: DonMateo was looking for digital. The above won't break the bank.
You still can not beat the Edrometer ….. best value for money and accurate too.
Buy a good digital thermometer and a glass floaty thing - that gets you half way to digital ;)
Anton Paar is the name in densiometry, so if low cost is the requirement, probably Easydens.
@grim. Thanks mate