Refractometer

[Swift Nick]

This is my first full year beekeeping, two of my hives are filling supers nicely. I was going to buy a refractometer 58-90%, the £25 Amazon type, are these OK and Is it helpful to have one? If the honey is capped can it be assumed it has condensed enough or should it be checked regardless.
Thanks Nick

 

[Beefriendly]

Yes it is very helpful. Make sure you know how to calibrate it though. Virgin Olive Oil is good....but can't remember off the top of my head the value it should read.
Usually capped honey can be assumed to be okay...but as I found out this week not always...... 8 supers of OSR honey about 75% capped, rest survived the shake test....extracted and tested...23% water......Checked last few frames of capped and it was reading 22% water underneath the cappings.....so refractometer is an essential bit of kit.

 

[enrico]

When you have one you will use it regularly. The cheaper ones from China don't always have good instructions. Might I suggest that when it arrives you take a reading with a known liquid. Olive Oil is best. Then always keep some of that oil. If you ever need to check the reading then check with the same batch of oil.
Do not be tempted to twist any knobs before you take that reading. Mine said use water, I did and then tried to alter the reading........big mistake!
It is one of the best bit of beekeeping kit I have.
Well worth it just to put your mind at rest.
E

 

[Swift Nick]

Thank you for the replies & info ref calibration, that is very helpful.
Cheers Nick

 

[Anduril]

Use medicinal liquid paraffin on the prism and calibrate to 24.5% on the water scale. I had a Chinese one but threw it away because it was inaccurate, I used the calibration fluid from China and medicinal liquid paraffin and found out how inaccurate it was. I bought this one Press on "one" highlighted in blue. It is very accurate after doing the same test as above.

 

[Swift Nick]

Use medicinal liquid paraffin on the prism and calibrate to 24.5% on the water scale. I had a Chinese one but threw it away because it was inaccurate, I used the calibration fluid from China and medicinal liquid paraffin and found out how inaccurate it was. I bought this one Press on "one" highlighted in blue. It is very accurate after doing the same test as above.

Thank you for the advice & link

 

[colinc]

Water won’t match up to the scale on a honey refractometer so is no use. Olive oils will drift slightly if not airtight and the same brand in a different bottle will likely be different harvest to harvest and bottling to bottling. Mine was cheap and came from China with a foul smelling mineral oil for calibration. Other than that medicinal paraffin as above is your best bet if you don’t have a baseline for a food oil.


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[psafloyd]

Surely this was manufactured in China, but by being sold through the U.K. Is now £20?

Use medicinal liquid paraffin on the prism and calibrate to 24.5% on the water scale. I had a Chinese one but threw it away because it was inaccurate, I used the calibration fluid from China and medicinal liquid paraffin and found out how inaccurate it was. I bought this one Press on "one" highlighted in blue. It is very accurate after doing the same test as above.

 

[Anduril]

Surely this was manufactured in China, but by being sold through the U.K. Is now £20?

True, but built to a more accurate UK specification

 

[drex]

Virgin olive oil = 27.
Check mine every time I use it, but never needed to adjust.
Make sure it is a refractometer for honey. The cheap ones can be for different uses and have different scales.
Mine has worked fine for several years now.

 

[Beefriendly]

True, but built to a more accurate UK specification

Non of them have moving parts (apart from scale adjustment), so apart from getting the calibration right there is little difference.
I saw an identical model to my cheap Chinese job on sale at a bee sellers for a silly amount of money a few years back.

Bit like hive tools...why pay £15 for one when you get an identical one for £3.76 including postage?

 

[Anduril]

Non of them have moving parts (apart from scale adjustment), so apart from getting the calibration right there is little difference.
I saw an identical model to my cheap Chinese job on sale at a bee sellers for a silly amount of money a few years back.

Bit like hive tools...why pay £15 for one when you get an identical one for £3.76 including postage?

As I said using different calibration fluids, I found the one I referenced was spot on, as for the cheap Chinese one using using same calibration fluids it was 2-3% out on the calibration, that would make the difference of honey fermenting or not, meaning you could lose most of your honey. Not a risk I want to take. As you said no moving parts, but buy cheap buy twice.

 

[Beefriendly]

As I said using different calibration fluids, I found the one I referenced was spot on, as for the cheap Chinese one using using same calibration fluids it was 2-3% out on the calibration, .

Why didn't you use the calibration knob to calibrate it so it read the correct %? Every one I've ever seen has a calibration screw/knob or whatever.

 

[Anduril]

Why didn't you use the calibration knob to calibrate it so it read the correct %? Every one I've ever seen has a calibration screw/knob or whatever.

Didn't have to use the calibration screw for the British one it read correctly 60% using the Brix calibration and 24.5% for water calibration The Chinese one using brix calibration and water calibration didn't offer an accurate reading, setting it to 60% using the calibration screw for brix meant it was out for water percentage and vice versa. What have I learnt? Buy to a British spec where I can feel confident I have a true reading.

 

[Beefriendly]

Only way it could "be out" is if the two scales were misaligned on the readout screen. A set Brix value will always give the same % water value. And 60% Brix is miles away from being the equivalent of 24.5% water as can bee seen in the image below......All seems very strange.

 

[colinc]

I use refractometer a at work and like a camera the money is in the quality of the prism. Cheap ones mean you would probably struggle to be accurate within 5% due to a blurred line between blue and white. Better quality gives you a sharper line and more accurate reading. As long as you don’t see a blurred line you should be good if you can calibrate with a known fluid within the range of your refractometer.
Brewers ones don’t work as nearly pure water compared to honey at less than 20% water.


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[Beefriendly]

I use refractometer a at work and like a camera the money is in the quality of the prism. Cheap ones mean you would probably struggle to be accurate within 5% due to a blurred line between blue and white. Better quality gives you a sharper line and more accurate reading. As long as you don’t see a blurred line you should be good if you can calibrate with a known fluid within the range of your refractometer.
Brewers ones don’t work as nearly pure water compared to honey at less than 20% water.

Lovely sharp line on my cheap import, very similar to that shown in picture two posts earlier, accurate as well.

 

[colinc]

Lovely sharp line on my cheap import, very similar to that shown in picture two posts earlier, accurate as well.

My cheap Chinese import has a sharp line too

I was just pointing out the difference in price. However I wouldn’t buy a cheap Chinese camera...


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[Swift Nick]

I have ordered a refractometer from index instruments as per the link, I couldn’t find a honey refractometer on Amazon with consistent reviews, so I have gone with this recommendation, thanks for that.
So I presume you test a small amount of honey prior to extraction, is that correct & what if capped honey does have too high a water content, what do you do with it. Basic questions I know, but I had wrongly assumed that all capped honey was good to bottle, which I now know isn’t the case, thanks.

 

[JWF]

So I presume you test a small amount of honey prior to extraction, is that correct & what if capped honey does have too high a water content, what do you do with it

If you have a dehumidifier you can reduce the water content that way, it's easier if the honey has not been extracted due to the higher surface area.