KegLand Saber Refractometer | Auto Temperature Compensation | LED Light Sample Illumination | Triple Scale | SG Sugar, Brix, SG Wort | Magnetic Rechargeable Battery | Water Resistant | Carrying Case

I was excited to get this for my brew day. Now I don't need two beers worth of liquid to check my initial and final gravity.

I was disappointed it had no directions for calibration etc..

I calibrated it to distilled water.
Brewed some wort and took an initial reading.. 1.057
When the beer was done I took a final reading.
The beer came out at 1.030?
I gave it a taste and it wasn't sweet at all.
I took a reading with my hydrometer and they were almost 20 points off.

I thought, maybe it because I ferment under a little pressure >5psi. So I took a second sample and let it sit to completely decarb.. no real change.

This is a neat device. Some things that may assist you are:

1.) first test it with distilled water and adjust accordingly via the circular piece on the bottom. You can use a flat head or your finger. Note, the entire plastic movable flap must be covered in liquid to produce an accurate reading.

2.) refractometers should be used to measure the sugars in the mash and after the boil. Note, this device measures accurately at 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) so if you take a reading below or higher than 20 Celsius then search for a refractometer correction chart in Google to aid in adjusting for the temperature difference.

3.) this refractometer is not designed to read final gravity due to alcohol being more dense which makes the final gravity appear lower. I've heard of some that do read alcohol but some people say they are not accurate (off by 10% abv or so). The cheapest and sure way is to have a hydrometer and a hydrometer jar to measure the final gravity. Use the refractometer for everything else because it's faster and waste less wort.

4.) this refractometer is designed to be used with natural light so the better the light, the clearer the lines of your reading.