RTFM

So all my complaining about my final gravities being low were due to my own cluelessness. I have been using my new refractometer to measure both my original and final gravities, but I never knew exactly how to use it. The device looked simple enough, how hard could it be? Turns out that using a refractometer for the final gravity measurement is affected by the alcohol in the brew, so one has to correct the measurement for the alcohol content. Of course, you don't know the alcohol content, that's why you are measuring it. But, you do know your original gravity. So, to correct your final gravity you can either use the formula found here, or use one of the many brix correction calculators out there.

Tags: refractometer