Brand and model?
McSorley's Black and Tan
- Thread starter RoadRoach
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Hate to break it to you @Craigerrr, but here's the BF article on using refractometer's...notable quote from thr article:
- IGNORE the SG scale if your model has it – only pay attention to the Brix scale. The relationship between Brix and SG is not linear!
Obviously it will still be useful as a way of measuring Point A and Point B and if the beer is at Point B for a few days, then it's done. And it's probably only a few points difference between converting from Brix and taking the SG reading, but if you are interested in using your refractometer as accurately as possible, follow the tips in that article
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I will have a look at the article, thanks @Sunfire96 ! I have always trusted my refractometer on brew day, is there a correction factor required before fermentation? Or is the SG reading I see in the window accurate before adding yeast?
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I don't know, it was a gift from my daughter Christmas 2019
I don't think it's 100% accurate, but is probably "close enough" for homebrewing
the article will explain better than I can why it's different and why the conversion factor is needed. I downloaded the refractometer form mentioned in the article, filled it out over a few brew sessions using my hydrometer, and it spit out my conversion rate of 1.05. Now to calculate SG I measure the Brix using my refrac., open the refrac. calculator and enter my Brix reading and my conversion factor and it spits out the proper SG. I also have it saved in My Equipment profile so when I enter the Brix in a Brew Log entry, it will automatically convert to SG with the proper conversion rate. Super convenient.Is it more steps than using a hydro? Totally. But I don't have to collect 100 ml and wait for it to chill to 60F before getting a reading, which is worth it for me and my process.
Sorry for derailing your thread @RoadRoach
No worries. All about the learning. Hard to keep something on target, and I don't consider it derailed. Valuable info. I probably derailed it as much as anyone when I cried about my broken hydrometer.
Yeastie beasties are happy. Bubbling like crazy this morning. Now let's see if the krausen comes through the air-lock again. If it does, well, guess I better rig up a blow-off for the next batch. I fully intend to keep targeting .75 - 1.00 pitch rate from now on. I'll make something fairly permanent use and easy to clean so I can get all the goozies out of it and prevent infection. If there's anything I have noticed, more yeast = more krausen = better fermentation = (hopefully) better beer. The Rapier Wit that I put on 11 days ago is still going pretty strong too. Getting pretty good burps about 5 seconds apart. The McSorley's is a steady stream of bubbles this morning. I use StarSan solution in the air-lock, so getting a few soapy looking bubbles out the top because of that, but nothing to worry about. It's sanitizer, right? So far, no blow-out.
Why haven't I tried Starters and Slurry before? Not like it's hard. Too easy to fall into a groove with lazy habits I guess. I've done a clean WLP-002 starter, a rinsed English Ale Yeast starter (this brew) and have some slurry for the next Belgian I do that came out of my Leffe Abbey Ale. It's starting to look like I know what I'm doing.
Why haven't I tried Starters and Slurry before? Not like it's hard. Too easy to fall into a groove with lazy habits I guess. I've done a clean WLP-002 starter, a rinsed English Ale Yeast starter (this brew) and have some slurry for the next Belgian I do that came out of my Leffe Abbey Ale. It's starting to look like I know what I'm doing.
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I put the output hose of my immersion chiller in a plastic yard waste bucket. By the time it fills up the water is no longer hot, just warm. So I just tip it over onto the lawn near the lilac bushes.
The yeast attenuation was entered as a custom 20%. Should be around 70. That should fix your alcohol prediction
Perfect repair. Thanks for the expertise. Guess I better start studying up on attenuation.
It should populate correctly when you select a yeast but if you transfer the recipe in from somewhere else sometimes little things like that can get messed up.
