montjoye

Some time ago, I aquired a refractometer in order to be able to measure brew densities more quickly and using less volume than the hydrometer needs. I was warned that refractometers only work for "density" (really a conversion of sugar concentration in water) when alcohol is not present. I was inspired to run a little test on the last three beers I made. The starting density measurements matched really well between the two methods, but further on in the process, not so much. My very limited test suggests that the two methods differ increasingly with increasing alcohol content results below. So I'll use the refractometer for OGs, but not use it at all after the ferment starts.