Thanks for posting the question myk, I was just wondering that too.

Michael

They work great. They give some good parameters to work with especially if you're making wine.
cheers

KM

Michael357,

I found this list.
But it leaves me thinking you need to get to know your fruit, how it does in certain years and pick a number, and all the refractometer does is act as a go or no go harvest tool. Above X° it's good to go, below Y° you'll take your chances on it rotting on the vine.
All my apples tend to produce cider in the 1.050-1.055 range. I know different varieties max out at different specific gravities. I have never heard of unsweetened cider hitting 1.070/18°, not even GD cider. I think 1.060 is high for apples and that would be 15°. So I know the numbers on that list aren't carved in stone.

I also came across a degree for sweetcorn. Using it for sweetcorn I could not only give it a work out but I would be able to see what it does when going from ripe to overripe because I tend to like my corn overripe.
I'm hoping it works something like that where you watch it climb and as soon as it starts dropping you know you're at the peak, or you watch it stagnate and then it starts climbing and you know so many days later it will have peaked.

Here is a link that might be useful: list of brix

Here is another Brix chart. It has vegetables as well as fruit. It's pdf from this URL just in case it doesn't load.

http://www.highbrixgardens.com/home.html

Terran

Here is a link that might be useful: Brix-chart. pdf

It's looking to me like you just go by the brix charts. It's not a tool to tell you peak ripeness for a specific variety in a specific year but a tool to tell you when it's as ripe as experience has taught you when you like that fruit.

grapeguy, I got it mainly for beer. I Broke my hydrometer as it was going into the fermenter Saturday.
But I figure it will work to predict the gravity of my cider, I already know where my apples generally come out.
I was hoping it would tell me when my table grapes, plums and raspberries were ripe.

Although I did come up with a page with some industry standards on table grapes so that will help. Plums and raspberries I guess I'll have to let my taste decide and then use the refractometer in future years.

Once I get the numbers for my trees in my yard it should keep me from harvesting early.

Where did you get your refractometer? I will need one eventually for my little home vineyard, so I'm wondering who has the best bang for my buck.

By the way, the brix chart left out one important fruit. Figs!!

I'm not the one you asked, but I have the "Valley Vintner" refractometer and I like it a lot. I bought it after reading good things about it over at the Winepress forum.

If you are using the refractometer to track fermentation make sure you account for the alcohol as it builds, as it will throw off your readings.

Here is a link that might be useful: VV Refractometer

I got mine from Midwest Supplies. It's the homebrew shop I use.
About any homebrew/winemaking shop should have them or be able to get you one.

I use BeerSmith and it does the alcohol correction. That was my final selling point. Although I did need to replace my hydrometer to calibrate the refractometer.

myk: I was thinking it could be used as a tool to quantify ripeness during the season and changes from year to year. No doubt each variety will be unique from both a brix and ripeness standpoint. Obviously, organoleptic evaluations will be important also. I'm really looking for a better place to start assessing ripeness than my eyes and tongue.

Michael

I'm looking for more justification for the $50 price tag than being able to test the mash without having to cool the sample :)

I was hoping for it to show a definite scientific sign. Like popping a kernel of corn and watching it go from watery to milky or thumping a watermelon and hearing the change. But rather than hearing, seeing or tasting having the meter say it's time.
It may show something like that with corn. I guess high starch gives an odd reading. So you could get your highest brix and then start getting starch readings.

I think the value is because of other flavor compounds being high or low senses can be wrong when used to determine sweetness. Does the fruit lack sweetness or is it high in acid this year?
With the refractometer you will know for certain whether the sugar content is high relative to the variety and your conditions.

The first year I get plums I can leave a few hang. Take readings and taste tests. In subsequent years I'll be able to use the readings from the ones I thought tasted best to judge the ripeness I want.
As I get more data using the readings will get more accurate.

I was wondering if a syringe inserted to draw the sample would work on plums and apples instead of having to sacrifice whole fruits. Bugs and birds poke holes in them so I don't see why not.

Myk: You bring up points I agree with. As far as sampling with a hypo or something like that where juice from a very select part of the fruit is sampled, I don't know. Proper sampling is definitely a concern, maybe the whole fruit is needed, maybe not. It is possible that sugars concentrate in different parts of the fruit, even at different times of development. Guess that is a question for the pomologists.

For those that may be interested and are frugal like me.
I found some great prices on Ebay for refractometers. They
have them in different scale ranges for different purposes also. ie. candy,wine/beer, maple syrup. I've only used mine once so far for a fairly benign pale ale at 1.060 but it seemed to work well. Definitely worth the 20.00 I paid.

LOL, 1.060 is benign?
What would you have to say about my 1.042 Southern English Brown?

I just can't trust Ebay any more. It has to be something I really want and can't get otherwise.