Got my $39 refractometer and can't believe these things used to cost > hundreds.
>
> I was hoping someone would crunch my numbers and see if they make sense. >
> I took a 10 ml sample of raspberry wine and measured:
>
> Alcohol: 15% on alcolimiter or whatever that glass thing is called.
> Brix: 11% on refractometer
>
> I then boiled it for 5 minutes, reducing it about 50% then added distilled
> water to 10 ml.
>
> Refractometer then read 6% and the alcohol read 1%
>
> I was surprised to see the brix drop so much but I have no feel for this. >
> js
For your alcohol measurement, are you talking about a vinometer? If so, I think they do not give good numbers if there is sugar present. Now, the refractometer --- it is also affected by the alcohol present. Thus, the numbers will be off.