Old Billingham and Stanley refractometer questions

[Stevesteve]

Hi,

I am hoping that someone here will be able to assist me. I have bought a second hand Billingham and Stanley stainless steel refractometer (40-85% sugar) which was described as "needing cleaning".

I have carefully cleaned the two glass plates and the end window. I put some tap water on the sample plate and shut the top section. If I shine my phone LED (bright) into the end window I can just about see a dull brown/orange glow which will almost allow me to see the graticule.

Have I been sold a dud or am I missing something here?

I'd be very grateful for any assistance.
Cheers,
Steve

 

[Anduril]

Follow this YouTube video and use honey. https://youtu.be/SI-tAnwGEus
Do you have 3 readings? You won't get a reading using water. Are you quoting brix? Try and use honey and see if it resembles the video. The prism may be heavily stained or it was designed to be brown.

 

[Stevesteve]

Thanks, I have tried again with honey and this is all I see (image attached).

There is something loose inside the refractometer... I suspect it is the rattle of a loose lens or something :-(

Cheers
Steve

 

[Anduril]

I'd say you have bought a dud, you need to be able to read the water percentage, one that ranges from 12 to 27% and your honey should have a reading below 20%

 

[Stevesteve]

Thanks Anduril, I think so too... that one's going back. I was hoping that an old Billingham & Stanleywould give me very accurate readings but I suspect that a well calibrated chinese device will probably be as accurate these days. Your thoughts?

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Anduril]

This is one thread of many https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=43154&highlight=Refractometer

I got mine from index instruments as my Chinese one was inaccurate, but others have had success with theirs.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I think the cheap ones are fine as long as they can be recalibrated. I check mine every extraction and I have only had to alter it once in 3 yrs.

 

[For want of a better word]

Just for the sake of experiment ... make up a 70% sugar solution ( 70g white granulated made up to 100ml water) and try that in your sugar refractometer....

No problems with the refractometers from China... get one for honey and some callibration fluid..

( Virgin olive oil is 27% water... someone will link a thread or correction)

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/refractometercalibration.html

 

[Beefriendly]

( Virgin olive oil is 70% water... someone will link a thread or correction)

Of course they will when you give inaccurate information.
Virgin Olive oil should read the equivalent of 26-5-27% water on the sugar calibration scale.i.e 76.5-77% sugar. (not water).

 

[Fritillary]

J
No problems with the refractometers from China... get one for honey and some callibration fluid..

Be warned... Not so straightforward though when i ordered one through eBay from a vendor saying they were in the UK, who firstly sent another model, then refused to replace it with the correct one - as they were shipping from China no doubt.

 

[For want of a better word]

Of course they will when you give inaccurate information.
Virgin Olive oil should read the equivalent of 26-5-27% water on the sugar calibration scale.i.e 76.5-77% sugar. (not water).

I trust that Roger will not mind if I quote from Dave Cushman's site that he now edits.....

David A. Cushman logo
Honey Regulations - U.K.
Honey Refractometer Calibration

A simple way with reasonable accuracy

The water content of honey is now considered to be more important than it once was. In my early years of beekeeping it was common practice to turn a comb of unsealed honey on its side and give it a hefty shake. If the nectar flew out it wasn't ripe, so it was usually extracted before the rest was uncapped. If no liquid came out of the comb it was low enough water content to be extracted.

Now the allowed water content is stated in regulations, beekeepers are encouraged to measure it if they sell their honey. This is usually done using a relatively cheap instrument called a refractometer, which many beekeepers now own.

The refractometers that are usually bought by beekeepers (who often go for the cheapest!) aren't particularly accurate, but are within about 1% or so. The scales are often a bit "fuzzy", but in my experience this is because far too much honey is often put on the slide. It only needs a small amount and the line will be clearer.

The calibration of refractometers needs to be done regularly, as on most types there is an adjustment screw that can be easily turned in use, so changing the reading without being noticed. Calibration oil is available, but beekeepers have found that some oils that are available in the kitchen are remarkably stable.

On August 31st August 2010, I emailed our Wisborough Green Chairman, Tom Moore, who I knew had just purchased a new refractometer that he had calibrated with oil that was supplied with the instrument. I said I was told that olive oil is reckoned to be 26.5% water and sunflower oil is 25.2%. I asked Tom to do a check.

Tom's response was:-

"We just checked as follows, using what we have in the kitchen on our refractometer, which we re-calibrated with its own oil a few days ago.

Sunflower oil (Sainsbury's) 25.0%

Olive oil regular (Sainsbury's) 27.2%

Olive oil regular (Bertolli) 27.2%

Olive oil, Spanish extra virgin (Sainsbury's) 27.0%

Olive oil, Italian extra virgin (Filippo Berio) 27.0%

I would have thought there could be considerable variation in batches of oil, but these look consistent, if not exactly on the figures you give. It also has to assume our refractometer is accurate. They are all read on the honey scale, which only goes as far as 27 so we guess the points above."

On 31st January 2012 Tom sent me another email, saying he had just re-calibrated his refractometer and his current bottle of Sainsbury's sunflower oil read 25.2%

It seems from the above that by using oils that are in most kitchens the refractometers that are available to most beekeepers can be "calibrated" to within around 0.5%.

On Thorne's website in 2016 it states "An aid to calibration. Using medicinal liquid paraffin smear a small amount on the prism. This should calibrate to 24.5% on the water scale. Once the refractometer is set/adjusted to this figure all honey samples will also show the correct water content."

On 1st September 2015 I received the following email from Brian P. Dennis of Northamptonshire.

Roger, Following is my note on calibrating a refractometer.

"Calibrating a refractometer. Owing to the remarkably consistent properties of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, one drop of it on the slide will always read between 71 and 72 on the Brix scale. If you set the lock-nut to show any such oil at 71.5, you will have correctly calibrated the water content scale at the same time. Regards, Brian."

So, there is another way of doing it.

Refractometers used by beekeepers are for guidance only. The figures mentioned above are for reference and are not intended to replace the conventional methods of calibration.

Roger Patterson.

 

[For want of a better word]

Of course they will when you give inaccurate information.
Virgin Olive oil should read the equivalent of 26-5-27% water on the sugar calibration scale.i.e 76.5-77% sugar. (not water).

Get some reading glasses or pay attention...

Originally Posted by Cheers View Post


( Virgin olive oil is 70% water... someone will link a thread or correction)

what I ORIGINALLY posted was correct....( Virgin olive oil is 27% water... someone will link a thread or correction)

Altering my post to suit your trolling ways is not exactly helpful is it ?

 

[Beefriendly]

Originally Posted by Cheers View Post


( Virgin olive oil is 70% water... someone will link a thread or correction)

what I ORIGINALLY posted was correct....( Virgin olive oil is 27% water... someone will link a thread or correction)

Hoppy, no way in the world does Virgin olive oil contain 27% or 70% water as you claim.....
That would be adulteration of pure olive oil, which together with Honey and Saffron are some of the worlds most adulterated food stuffs.

 

[For want of a better word]

Hoppy, no way in the world does Virgin olive oil contain 27% or 70% water as you claim.....
That would be adulteration of pure olive oil, which together with Honey and Saffron are some of the worlds most adulterated food stuffs.

I am not claiming anything.... merely quoting that virgin olive oil can be used as a calibration fluid for honey refractometers..... possibly virgin olive oil has a refractive index that relates to 27% water content in honey.

Your perfidious comments are just to show all of us mere beekeepers your own superior knowledge on every thing.... now go away and work our the square root of minus one!

 

[Beefriendly]

I am not claiming anything.... merely quoting that virgin olive oil can be used as a calibration fluid for honey refractometers..... possibly virgin olive oil has a refractive index that relates to 27% water content in honey.

By God sir, you got there in the end; despite several false starts.
No need for the insults though.

 

[For want of a better word]

By God sir, you got there in the end; despite several false starts.
No need for the insults though.

Quite!