Milwaukee MA871-BOX Digital Brix Refractometer - Accurate Sugar Content Measurement Tool for Fruits, Juices & Beverages - Ideal for Home Brewing, Winemaking & Food Processing - Protective Padded Case Included

Muy bueno, funciona muy bien el equipo.I bought this digital refractometer to use for this syrup season. Works great for checking the sugar content in brix for both sap and syrup. The only issue I ran into is the device needs to be above 50 degrees in order to perform a test, which sometimes causes issues checking the sap.I've used this to test wort gravity while brewing my last 5 batches of beer. I was getting inconsistent results -- for instance I would press the read button, wait a few seconds and press it again, and the two reading would often be 0.5 degrees different.I emailed the company and got a quick response. The email indicated that the problem was likely due to residue sticking to the lens. The email was ungrammatical and seemed hastily written, so I won't post it here. Below I've listed the procedure I now follow based on the company's email. Since following this procedure I've been getting consistent and accurate results -- rarely do the readings for a particular sample vary more than 0.1 degrees. - Periodically clean the lens with Windex and a q-tip, then rinse with distilled water and dry with a soft cloth. - Calibrate often with steam distilled water (NOT RO water). - After each use, rinse with distilled water, and dry with soft cloth. - For best results, filter the sample before testing. I've been using qualitative filter paper (available on amazon), but I think a coffee filter would work just as well. This is a pain, but that is what the company recommends, and I've gotten much more consistent results by doing this. - Turn on the power before filling the well. - When gathering the sample, squeeze the bulb of the pipette in and out a couple times to mix the sample. Otherwise, your results might be skewed by, for example, a drop of rinse water in the pipette, or non-uniform distribution of gravity in the sample. - Fill the well about 1/2 full. - Take the reading quickly -- don't let the sample sit in the well for a long time. If the sample temperature is very much different than that of the device, wait for the sample to reach room temp before testing, rather than waiting a long time with the sample on the lens for the temperature to stabilize. - Immediately after taking the reading, dump out the sample, rinse with distilled, and dry the lens. - Don't take multiple readings in succession by pressing the "read" button repeatedly. Better to dump out the sample, rinse, dry, and test again.This is a decent instrument for measuring the Brix of sugar solutions (beverages, syrups, etc.). This device is designed and calibrated for sugar (sucrose, presumably). That does not mean it will work for beer and other liquids you might want to measure Brix on. So all these folks complaining that it's not as accurate as their hygrometers for brewing are right--it's not designed for brewing. It is designed to measure sugar dissolved into solution.EXCI have used this a few times now for beer, wine and cider. It is so much easier to read than the refractometer that you hold up to the light and read the blue background.My only issue is the the battery contact is a little flimsy and sometimes I need to reattach the battery to it. Milwaukee Instruments should have spend the money and used a better quality battery connector. I may replace that at a later time. This is not bad enough to remove any stars but I will update this if it does become and issue.NOTE for Milwaukee if you improve the battery connector I would love to test the new design out.Makes getting my readings so much easier than having to look through the little hole in my old refractometer. Couple drops, push the button and boom, I get my reading and I can move on. With the wide range reading, the wife can use it when she's making syrup from the maple trees. Just a great little device.Our team of scientists have really struggled to get results in the field with this device that we feel confident in. We often compare with high end hydrometers and the digital refractometer is way off. At room temperate with a sample at the exact same temperate with the device calibrated at the same temperature with distilled water at the same temperature the results are more accurate.Works well as long is you keep the solution covered away from the light . Reads more consistent that way other wise its all over the place. other units have a lid that flips over to keep light from having an effect on the measurement.Love this item, I use it when making maple syrup. Very handyOKNever get same reading