re: Homebrewing: In-Process Thread

I was always under the impression that refractometer's were fairly easy to read. Didn't realize there were factors to consider.

I need to get one of these, because i believe my hydrometer readings are skewed.

For instance, a couple homebrews ago, as i finished up my boil, i took my thief and grabbed a sample. Added my hydrometer, got a reading and wrote it down. I then took my hydrometer and put it directly in my brew kettle and took a reading. The 2 were off pretty significantly. I don't remember the exact OG's but i think the OG in the hydrometer was around 1.058 and the reading from the brew kettle was 1.052/050 (adjusted for temperature). So for some reason, my densities were different from the thief to the brew kettle. My only thought was that maybe, some of the trub got gathered up in the thief, making the wort in the thief more dense.

Which made me think, i need a refractometer.