The Pocket Refractometer

J

Jeff Grossman

Jeff Grossman
Not only our own Brzme but, apparently, all the hipster makers:

Two 50-gallon drums of fermenting sugar and molasses are already bubbling as he sets up a third, whipping a slurry with a paint-mixer bit mounted on a hand drill. Occasionally he checks the sugar content with a pocket refractometer; he's trying to create ideal conditions for yeast to thrive, which will convert the sugar to alcohol.

The "he" in this case is a Brooklyn-basement-based rum maker, just one of the many micro-distillers setting up shop here. Read more.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
The Pocket RefractometerNot only our own Brzme but, apparently, all the hipster makers:

Two 50-gallon drums of fermenting sugar and molasses are already bubbling as he sets up a third, whipping a slurry with a paint-mixer bit mounted on a hand drill. Occasionally he checks the sugar content with a pocket refractometer; he's trying to create ideal conditions for yeast to thrive, which will convert the sugar to alcohol.

The "he" in this case is a Brooklyn-basement-based rum maker, just one of the many micro-distillers setting up shop here. Read more.
Click to expand...

Jeff,
Pocket refractometers are far from new and in fact have been a staple of home winemakers (and maybe brewers?) for a generation or more. It's true that the pockets may have shrunk some in that time, but still... What sets M. Brzme apart in these matters is not the pocket refractometer, but rather the pocket gas chromatograph, a nifty invention indeed. (I'm not entirely joking, either, as one of my more illustrious colleagues has developed a hand-held mass spectrometer, coming to a local TSA employee very soon)

Mark Lipton
Harbinger of the Apocalypso
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Mark, Eric uses this thing, and it uses test strips. Is this the same as a gas chromatograph? Doesn't sound like it.
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely joking
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Mark Lipton

But her sense of taste is such that she'll distinguish with her tongue
The subtleties a spectrograph would miss,
And announce her decision,
While demanding her reward:
The jellyfish kiss.
 
originally posted by MLipton:

Jeff,
Pocket refractometers are far from new and in fact have been a staple of home winemakers (and maybe brewers?)
Mark Lipton
Harbinger of the Apocalypso
Click to expand...
Homebrewers too, but the old fashioned hydrometer is more fun (at least for me).
 
A thread I can comment on yea!!!!

I've done some distilling (although like all true revolutionaries we eschewed brooklyn for queens). Looking at that picture it seems like the are using column reflux stills - that's what I have. That jacketed bit up top is a heat exchanger filled with glass balls and stainless steel wool. Basically after about 8 years we came to the conclusion that our still was too efficient and we were never going to get much more than flavorless alcohol from it. We used a great variety of feedstocks for the thing, and other then teeny bits around the edges it all tasted that same. Smooth, but uninteresting. Made a lot of infused liquors those years. The article says these guys are getting Alembic/Pot stills, and surely thats the way to go but the learning curve is pretty steep so we sort of gave up our own experiments w/o making that big investment.

(Also isn't there a reason why distilling has generally been concentrated not in cities but in regions where fruit and grains are grown? It is a pretty easy way to turn a few bushels of apples into a liter of spirits and ship that to the big city- no? Ans unless someone is growing Cane in Sheepshead Bay I have a hard time seeing rum as a local product in the Northeast )
 
Beer would be an exception in that it is generally made where it's consumed. Cheaper to ship grain than the finished product.
 
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