Are hydrometers accurate

[Euphylliaphyle]

Don't take it as an insult. Me and I would take it as a compliment. You're a smart person. I mean I wouldn't know lol that's why I'm asking

No offense taken. I will take it then as a compliment. We're good.

 

[THE REEF WHISPER]

Don't take it as an insult. Me and I would take it as a compliment. You're a smart person. I mean I wouldn't know lol that's why I'm asking

No offense taken. I will take it then as a compliment. We're good.

Lol personally I see a lot of people on this form that use AI and I just kind of want people's opinions. You understand. You know it's just kind of annoying that people take advantage of AI and say oh yeah I know what I'm talking about but you really don't. I'm not saying this towards you. I'm just saying that people do use AI and think that people won't notice I hope you understand what I'm saying. Not towards you. I'm just saying like people in general

 

[mcarroll]

I got a Refractometer on Amazon and it had really really good reviews and I got it and it was just like it worked for like a few weeks and after that like I calibrated it every single day and then it just started like getting all different levels.

... there's no good reason that a refractometer should change calibration in between uses. Physics tells us this – an object at rest tends to stay at rest, etc. some other force is required to act on the object to change that truth.

So if it was working fine and "nothing happened" then it should not have suddenly needed calibration.

It certainly should not require calibration daily or every use. All you're doing with that is increasing the odds of making an error in your calibration (if not this time then next time) and systematically throwing off your results. (just try reading up on all the issues people have with calibration solution… It's just wrong… Or it evaporated… or you should make your own…It's always something...)

Refractometers are reliable, but people are reliably unreliable.

FYI, I'm on the same refractometer that I got in the mid 2000s and it has never needed a calibration except the one time when the calibration screw was manually misadjusted. I recalibrated it at the time and there it has remained ever since. Physics!

Unless your refractometer is doing something wildly different than mine, like maybe playing Forward for the Boston Celtics, this should be the same thing you or anyone else experiences.

My experience is not special. I am not a magician.

(PS. I dug out my old swing arm hydrometer and it also works as good as it ever did. Still not as reliable/repeatable as the refractometer.)

(PPS. Jay's article is good if you didn't read it already. Doesn't answer every question and there are a few things I had questions about that are in there but overall it's great.)