Brew Tapper Dual Scale Refractometer with ATC | Brix & Specific Gravity | Best for Beer & Wine

Refractometer came in a sturdy plastic case with pipette, a mini screw driver for calibration, and soft fabric to wipe the lenses (eye and prism) clean.Had to perfome a slight calibration before use but was quick and easy to do. The kit includes instructions on how to calibrate as well as cleaning and maintenance.Scale used for this is Brix and corresponding gravity points.Used this during my brew day last week and was thrilled in how quick and easy it was to determine my original gravity points/brix %. Only a few drops of wort is all you need.One thing to remember, the refractometer is only accurate for measuring the wort before fermentation. Once the ethyl alcohol is present, it will distort the reading on the refractometer and show incorrect gravity points/brix %. To use this during the fermentation phase of the beer, you can google online refractometer tools to compensate for the alcohol and provide an approximate gravity reading. Also, northern brewer has a free refractometer tool solely for this purpose on their website and for anyone using beersmith, it is included under the tools tab on the left side of the user interface.Overall I'm thrilled with this product and am so glad I picked one of these up. Anyone on the fence about purchasing one these, I highly recommend as it will make brew day a little simpler saving time, and most importantly, beer!Cheers

I'm new to brewing and this is my first attempts at making mead. I initially purchased a hydrometer, which requires the use of a tall glass cylinder and wastes a considerable amount of must in the process. Because of this, I picked up this refractometer and was delighted at how easy it is to read the numbers and also about how little must gets wasted. The only issue I had with it was that it was out of focus initially, and while the focus can easily be adjusted by twisting the eyepiece, there doesn't seem to be an adjustment screw to lock in focus at a certain point. Aside from this, I found that calibrating the refractometer with the included screw driver and water was very easy to do. I like the quality of the case as well and feel that it sufficiently protects the device.

I just received this yesterday and have only used it once. To test it I first calibrated with distilled water. It read a few points high so I used the calibration screw to zero it out. I compared to my hydrometer which was actually reading just a tad under 1.000, which was interesting (I had never tested my hydrometer before). Then I created a medium gravity test wort, which theoretically should have been 1.037, but given the volume was controlled tightly I'd expect some error. I used the hydrometer and got 1.026 with a temperature correction of +0.005, or 1.031 (the wort was at about 85F). I then tried the refractometer and got 1.033. So the values were very close. And considering my hydrometer read a tad low with distilled water the two reading might be almost exactly the same, hopefully with near zero error!

I don't often give 5 stars but this product deserves it. The refractometer is well made and easy to use. I used it yesterday on a dark beer, Irish Stout, and even with a dark beer it was very easy to read the scale. This is so much easier to use as compared to a hydrometer.As others have mentioned, you do have to compensate the reading once your batch has fermented but that is easily accomplished online.If I ever need to replace this item it will be with this brand. It is built much better than I expected and at a good price

I've only used it for one brew day so far, but it appears to have been calibrated correctly out of the box (I didn't have distilled water to check the calibration myself). As a precaution, I used it along with my hydrometer on my pre and post boil OG checks, and the readings were pretty much spot on with the hydrometer. Now whether these can easily move out of calibration remains to be seen.A refractometer is more convenient since you only need a couple drops of wort, and don't need to chill it down first. I'm sure most people already know that the presence of alcohol will throw off a refractometer reading. There are online calculators that assist with this (for example, Sean Terrill's refractometer calculator. Do a google search for it, as amazon blocked me from including the URL.)

Beautiful device! Well built and accurate. As a homebrewer and winemaker I should have bought one of these years ago. No more collecting a test jar of liquid to determine your Brix or SG ... just a few drops on the plate and it's off to the races. Very pleased with this purchase; a well-spent $30.

I checked the calibration with distilled water - was set perfect. Verified it against my hydrometer - right on target! If you are using for homebrew, you have to use an online calculator to calculate the final gravity, but this is really easy! It only takes a few drops to get S.G. compared to a couple of cups for the hydrometer. The only down side is I don't get to drink the brew from the hydrometer tube ;>)

Easy to use and came with a nice kit. I have to adjust mine a lot, which I’m not sure if that’s normal for more expensive ones. I just use it for rough checks. I find that you also have to look into a super bright light to be able to see the line clearly