Do you have to use refractometer if you use same quantities each time

robert_sinclair

Hello
Sorry if this is a newbie question. I just made my first initial batch and added the yeast. Hydrometer is showing the correct reading.
If I use the exact same quantites of every ingredient do I still have to use the hydrometer or it's not necessary?
Thank you

grampamark

Are you planning to brew the exact same recipe over and over again? If you brew a different recipe with a different grain bill, your going to have to measure gravities every time anyway. Since you have a hydrometer (or possibly a refractometer, the title and the text refer to both) why not use it?
It’s not necessary to measure specific gravity at all and still end up with beer. But, since the devices which measure gravity are relatively inexpensive and easy to use, most homebrewers use one or the other, or both, as a matter of course. If you’re brewing with extract kits, with pre measured ingredients, in theory you don’t have to measure at all. With all grain brewing one is pretty much flying blind without measuring gravities at each appropriate point in the process.

Drewch

Well, you don't have to use a hydrometer at all. People brewed without them for millennia.
But even with the same ingredients, there will be by batch-to-batch variations due to differences in crops, malting, milling, yeast vitality and all the myriad other variables in brewing.
So it depends on just how tightly you want to control your process. If you follow the same recipe, like the results, and are ok with not knowing exactly what gravity and ABV you hit,

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go for it.
Just be really cautious not to make any bottle bombs.

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bracconiere

when i'm brewing my effec can varie about 10% points per batch, and i shoot for a 1.060 OG every time for calorie counting reasons? so i use one every new batch, so i can dope accordingly....

hotbeer

For all grain you probably should use a hydrometer to check OG. If you are a patient person and can wait till the beer clears up in the FV, then you can probably do without any other SG readings.
But it seems most aren't that patient.
Knowing the OG along with how much water you had to use to get a certain volume into the FV will at least let you know if you got from your mash what the recipe expected you to get.