[Clint Yeastwood]

I had some issues using my $18 refractometer, and after reading up a lot, I decided to throw in the towel and get a Smartref. I tried searching this forum to see if anyone had input, but the search function doesn't work for me. It gets stuck.

My reasoning is that the Smartref should give me good readings during brewing, with very little mess and no hassle. It has to use a correction factor after fermentation, but I'm comfortable using a hydrometer once the beer is kegged, free of sugar, and accessible using a faucet.

Brew day gravities are a royal pain. With the refractometer, sticky wort was always going where I had to wipe or mop it up later, and I cleaning a Smartref between samples is less bother than cleaning the refractometer. I pictured myself mopping and wiping for the rest of my brewing life, and suddenly, the Smartref looked less expensive.

[quantumguy]

Probably you've already gone and purchased your SmartRef by now, but for what it's worth I also was thinking of doing this for the exact same reasons. In the end I added a few more bucks and sprang for the EasyDens instead. Only takes about 4 ml, no calibration needed and works of course on fermented wort. It is very slick.