Glenn Mitch
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- Nov 25, 2019
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Hi all, sorry if these questions seem stupid and a little basic, but I'm very confused. Hope you can find time to put me right.
I currently live in Malaysia, which is quite a backward country regards Home brew. In fact, I can't find one home brew store anywhere in country. There are online stores though, that sources most of their products from China (enough said).
I recently bought from one of these online outlets, a dual scale refractometer (Brix + S.G) and also a 3 piece alcohol hydrometer which has scales indicating Alcohol content only.
Ok, onto the questions:-
1. Can the correctly ranged hydrometer, read Alcohol content directly. I used distilled water at 20 deg C to check zero accuracy, and found it spot on. I then tried to check a sample of Guinness stout from a bottle, also at 20 deg C, whose ABV was shown on the label to be 6.8%. The result totally blew my mind. The Hydrometer instead of sinking, rose high above the zero ref. Pic attached. Anybody know what's going on?
2. Re Refractometer. I used same Guinness sample to test the refractometer. I set the zero using distilled water at 20 deg C and all seemed OK. I then used the Guinness sample, also at 20 deg C. The measured Brix was 7.8 and measured S.G was 1.028. Using online calculator for converting Brix to ABV, resulted in result of just under 4% ABV. Then tried another beer sample which has actual ABV of 5% and after calculation, result was 2%. Between the 2 samples, it seems there is a consistent error of 3 % ABV. My question is, am I mistaken in thinking that I can use the refractometer to measure actual S.G of a finished beer and then calculate equiv ABV. From what I've read on this website, I'm starting to think that the only way to use it it measure ABV, is to take 2 readings, one before fermentation starts and one when it's finished prior to bottling. Either that or the equipment I've bought is substandard and useless.
Any help greatly appreciated
I currently live in Malaysia, which is quite a backward country regards Home brew. In fact, I can't find one home brew store anywhere in country. There are online stores though, that sources most of their products from China (enough said).
I recently bought from one of these online outlets, a dual scale refractometer (Brix + S.G) and also a 3 piece alcohol hydrometer which has scales indicating Alcohol content only.
Ok, onto the questions:-
1. Can the correctly ranged hydrometer, read Alcohol content directly. I used distilled water at 20 deg C to check zero accuracy, and found it spot on. I then tried to check a sample of Guinness stout from a bottle, also at 20 deg C, whose ABV was shown on the label to be 6.8%. The result totally blew my mind. The Hydrometer instead of sinking, rose high above the zero ref. Pic attached. Anybody know what's going on?
2. Re Refractometer. I used same Guinness sample to test the refractometer. I set the zero using distilled water at 20 deg C and all seemed OK. I then used the Guinness sample, also at 20 deg C. The measured Brix was 7.8 and measured S.G was 1.028. Using online calculator for converting Brix to ABV, resulted in result of just under 4% ABV. Then tried another beer sample which has actual ABV of 5% and after calculation, result was 2%. Between the 2 samples, it seems there is a consistent error of 3 % ABV. My question is, am I mistaken in thinking that I can use the refractometer to measure actual S.G of a finished beer and then calculate equiv ABV. From what I've read on this website, I'm starting to think that the only way to use it it measure ABV, is to take 2 readings, one before fermentation starts and one when it's finished prior to bottling. Either that or the equipment I've bought is substandard and useless.
Any help greatly appreciated