More brewing protips.

1) Always have a backup hydrometer (they break!)
2) Spare DME - helps boost OG if if you miss your targets. Also good in a pinch when making yeast starters in advance.
3) Cleaning as you go cuts down the time spent cleaning up after brewing. For example I dump the mash and clean out the mashtun while the boil is going.
4) Use RED duct tape to mark your separate equipment if you also brew sour beers. (plastic/wood - glass is okay if cleaned well with PBW)
5) Make your own PBW - 3x the volume at 1/2 the price these homebrew stores rip you off with. I use 1 scoop of Oxyclean with 1/2 scoop of TSP.
6) I brew in my garage's alcove and had water lines and a sink installed - made a HUGE difference and having ready access to water was much easier.

 

Hydrometers suck, buy a refractometer.

Glass carboys suck too, buy a better bottle.

Stainless quick disconnects are money well spent.

Ebay is a great place to buy pumps and ranco controllers if you can wire a cord (trust me, you can) and would like to pay around half what a homebrew store would charge for the same piece of equipment.

 

1) I've had that happen before!
2) yep
3) yep
4) same color for my sour stuffs
5) I should look into that.
6) had that at my last place, had to install a new water heater in my new place and put in the T fittings on hot and cold to set up my sink in the new brewhouse. Brewing a few weeks ago was a pain w/o it.

 

I use a refractometer when measuring the wort's gravity, but hydrometers work better for post-fermentation.

Great tip on ranco and pumps!

BG

 

I use my refractometer for both pre and post fermentation gravity readings. I use the conversion spreadsheet from Morebeer and every time I have checked it against a hydrometer it is well within the margin of error of a homebrew hydrometer. I have noticed, over the years, that the hydrometers they sell at homebrew stores are not particularly well made and are often off by two or three gravity points.

In my experience a refractometer and conversion spreadsheet ends up being reliable and very accurate and at this point I trust it more than one of those dinky little hydrometers with a sheet of paper tucked in the stem.

One of those big, lab grade hydrometers you see in some commercial breweries is, of course, another story entirely in terms of accuracy. Though breaking a $20-40 hydrometer sucks a lot more.

 

If you like the MoreBeer calculator, you'll love the Sean Terrill calculator. It's MoreBetter.