"Ken Anderson" > wrote:

> Mine's ATC. Stood in the garage and calibrated at probably 60 ambient. In
> any event, I doubt you'd get a difference of 1.5 to 2.0 due to poor
> calibration. Could my chintzy refractometer be that inaccurate? Do folks
> ever take their refractometers with them to the juicehouse, so as to check
> the Brix for themselves?

'Twas just a suggestion. In a recent thread, someone complained about an
even larger discrepancy between the refractometer and hydrometer readings,
and (lack of proper) calibration was one of the possibilities cited.

I have no experience with "juicehouses", but I know that by the time I get
my grapes home from the vineyard (about a two hour drive in hot weather),
they are always consistently lower by 2-3º Brix from that claimed by the
grower --- and I know him to be an honest person. I have no explanation for
this, except that I use a cheap hydrometer and he uses a (very expensive)
refractometer.

But why are you buying juice with such a low brix (15-17) in the first
place?