Curious what do most of you use out there? A ATC refractometer only requires one drop and you get an instant SG or Brix reading, with a hydrometer if doing a grain in mash you have to strain the grain to get a good reading. in the beer world most used refractometers, quick and easy. But even with hydrometers breweries have false bottoms on mash tuns so wort is strained to liquid unlike grain in fermentation. I have refractometer and hydrometer and take readings with both to compare. but i also have an anton par snap 51 which will give me density in g/cm3 which is the same as SG, heck it will give me SG if i set it up to do so. So again just curious what you other guys do
Cheers.
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I use them both. Hydrometer and refractometer are both the right tool to use based which ever situation it is needed to measure
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Same we use both
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so Kris and Hudson do you strain the grain out of hydrometer tube before reading or fill as is? the reason i ask i visited a distillery that takes readings grain in and says it makes no difference. With refractometer it makes no difference as you only need a drop. For my snap51 i strain as well.
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Grain in we use refractometer , tried hydrometer on strained wort wasn't happy with it . We do test strained samples during fermentation but I don't put alot of weight in the results.
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Keep in mind that you can really only use a refractometer for your starting gravity, and ideally you would have calibrated it against a known hydrometer for your type of wash (grain, fruit, sugar, etc).
