Measuring & Testing Equipment

The Homebrewing Tools That Are Actually Worth Measuring With

Homebrewing can get technical in a hurry.

Hydrometers. Refractometers. pH meters. Scales. Test jars. Thermometers. Water chemistry.

Before long, a beginner starts wondering if they signed up to make beer or work in a laboratory.

You don’t need all of this stuff.

For most beginner homebrewers, I’d start with three basic tools:

That’s enough to tell you a hell of a lot about what’s happening with your beer.

As you move into partial mash, all-grain brewing, recipe design and water adjustments, some of the other equipment on this page becomes useful.

Buy it when it solves a problem.

Not because somebody told you that “serious brewers” need a laboratory.

— Big Robb

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

Big Robb’s Quick Picks

Brand new? Start with the hydrometer, test jar and thermometer. You do not need everything else yet.

All Recommended Measuring & Testing Gear

1. Hydrometer

If you’re going to buy one measuring tool for homebrewing, buy a hydrometer.

Seriously.

A hydrometer lets you measure the specific gravity of your wort or beer.

That helps you:

  • check your original gravity
  • follow fermentation
  • confirm final gravity
  • calculate approximate ABV
  • confirm fermentation is actually finished

That last one matters.

An airlock isn’t a fermentation meter.

Just because it stopped bubbling doesn’t mean your beer is necessarily finished.

My Pick: Brewing America Pro Series Triple-Scale Hydrometer

This is a traditional glass brewing hydrometer with specific gravity, Brix/Balling and potential alcohol scales.

For a beginner, the important one is specific gravity.

You don’t have to become an expert on all three scales on day one.

👉 Check the Brewing America Pro Series Hydrometer on Amazon

Want to learn how to actually use it?

👉 Read: How to Read and Use a Hydrometer

2. Hydrometer Test Jar

The hydrometer needs somewhere to float.

You can sometimes put a sanitized hydrometer directly into a fermenter, but I generally prefer taking a sample and using a proper test jar.

It’s easier to read and keeps you from messing around inside the fermenter.

My Pick: Brewing America Glass Hydrometer Test Jar

This narrow glass test jar is designed specifically for hydrometer readings and uses a relatively small sample.

It also comes with a cleaning brush.

Important:

The hydrometer itself is not included with this product.

👉 Check the Brewing America Glass Test Jar on Amazon

And once you pull a beer sample?

Don’t pour it back into the fermenter.

Taste it.

That’s one of the benefits of being the brewer.

3. Refractometer

A refractometer is useful.

It is not a replacement for a hydrometer for most beginner brewers.

The biggest advantage is sample size.

Instead of filling a test jar, you only need a few drops of wort.

That makes refractometers especially useful during an all-grain brew day when you’re checking gravity during the mash, sparge or boil.

My Pick: Dual-Scale Brix & Specific Gravity Refractometer with ATC

The version I recommend displays both Brix and specific gravity and has automatic temperature compensation.

👉 Check the Dual-Scale Brewing Refractometer on Amazon

One Important Catch

Once alcohol is present, refractometer readings become more complicated.

Alcohol changes the way light refracts through the sample.

You can use correction calculations, but for a beginner?

I would simply use a hydrometer for final gravity.

👉 Read My Refractometer vs Hydrometer Guide

Hydrometer vs Refractometer

Here’s the simple version.

Buy a hydrometer first if:

  • you’re a beginner
  • you want original and final gravity
  • you want to confirm fermentation is finished
  • you want the simplest option
  • you only want to buy one tool

👉 Check the Brewing America Pro Series Hydrometer on Amazon

Add a refractometer if:

  • you’re brewing all-grain
  • you take multiple readings during brew day
  • you want to use tiny samples
  • you’re developing recipes
  • you’re tracking mash or boil gravity

👉 Check the Dual-Scale Brewing Refractometer on Amazon

If I could only own one?

Hydrometer.

4. Digital Thermometer

Temperature affects a hell of a lot in brewing.

You’ll use a thermometer for things like:

  • steeping grain
  • mash temperature
  • wort cooling
  • yeast pitching temperature
  • some fining and brewing processes

You don’t need an expensive brewing-specific thermometer.

You need one that’s fast, easy to read and reasonably accurate.

My Pick: TempPro TP19H

I’ve recommended this thermometer elsewhere on Make Beer Easy because it’s a simple instant-read digital thermometer that does the job without costing a fortune.

👉 Check the TempPro TP19H on Amazon

For fermentation temperature control itself, that’s a different job.

👉 See My Fermentation & Temperature Control Equipment

5. General Brewing Scale

Once you start building recipes or brewing from grain, you need a way to weigh ingredients.

For most brewing ingredients, a basic digital kitchen scale works perfectly well.

My Pick: Etekcity 11 lb Digital Kitchen Scale

This scale handles up to 11 pounds and reads in 1-gram increments.

That’s plenty for extract, specialty grain and many brewing ingredients.

For larger all-grain grain bills, you may need to weigh the grain in more than one container or batch.

👉 Check the Etekcity Digital Kitchen Scale on Amazon

6. Precision Scale for Hops and Brewing Salts

The scale you use for pounds of grain isn’t necessarily the scale you want for tiny hop additions or brewing salts.

This is where a small precision scale becomes useful.

My Pick: American Weigh Scales AWS-100

The AWS-100 has a 100-gram capacity and reads to 0.01 gram.

That’s much more useful when you’re weighing things such as:

  • small hop additions
  • brewing salts
  • yeast nutrients
  • finings
  • small-batch ingredients

👉 Check the American Weigh Scales AWS-100 on Amazon

For my one-gallon experimental batches, having a smaller scale becomes especially useful because the ingredient amounts can be tiny.

General Scale vs Precision Scale

This one is simple.

Use the larger kitchen scale for:

  • grain
  • malt extract
  • larger hop amounts
  • sugar
  • other bulk ingredients

👉 Check the Etekcity Digital Kitchen Scale on Amazon

Use the precision scale for:

  • small hop additions
  • brewing salts
  • nutrients
  • small-batch ingredients
  • anything measured in fractions of a gram

👉 Check the American Weigh Scales AWS-100 on Amazon

Do you need two scales for your first beer kit?

Hell no.

Buy them when your brewing method starts requiring them.

7. pH Meter

And now we enter the part of homebrewing where beginners are often convinced everything suddenly needs to become chemistry class.

It doesn’t.

Do Beginners Need a pH Meter?

Usually?

No.

If you’re brewing your first Coopers, Mr. Beer or extract batches, I would not tell you to run out and buy a pH meter.

Learn:

  • sanitation
  • fermentation
  • temperature
  • gravity readings
  • packaging

Make good beer first.

When Does a pH Meter Become Useful?

Once you’re brewing all-grain and want more control over your mash and brewing water, measuring pH can become useful.

Mash pH influences enzyme activity during the mash, and many brewers generally target roughly the low-to-mid 5s when measuring a cooled mash sample.

That’s useful information.

It still doesn’t mean every beginner needs to start adjusting water chemistry.

My Pick: Apera Instruments PH20

If you’re at the point where you actually want a digital pH meter, I’d rather recommend a decent one than a cheap mystery pen that gives you numbers you can’t trust.

The Apera PH20 is a straightforward digital pH tester with automatic calibration and temperature compensation.

The kit also includes pH 4.00 and 7.00 calibration buffers, so you do not need to immediately buy separate calibration solution.

👉 Check the Apera Instruments PH20 on Amazon

Want to understand pH before buying anything?

👉 Read: pH of Beer Explained

 

What About pH Test Strips?

They’re cheap.

They’re simple.

And they can give you a rough indication of pH.

But I am not recommending a specific Amazon pH-strip product on this page right now.

Why?

Because if you’re only curious about approximate pH, strips can work.

But if you’ve reached the point where you’re making brewing decisions based on pH, I’d rather you use a properly calibrated meter.

I’m not adding an affiliate link just because I can.

8. pH Calibration Solution

A pH meter is only useful if it’s giving you trustworthy readings.

That means calibration matters.

The Apera PH20 already comes with pH 4.00 and 7.00 buffers.

Use those first.

When you eventually need replacement calibration solution, Apera sells larger bottles of the same 4.00 and 7.00 buffers.

Replacement Pick: Apera AI1113 pH Calibration Buffer Kit

This is not something you need to buy with the PH20 on day one.

It’s a replacement supply for later.

👉 Check Apera pH 4.00 & 7.00 Calibration Buffer on Amazon

Big Robb’s Beginner Measuring Setup

If you are brand new, here’s what I’d actually buy:

Buy Now

Hydrometer

Hydrometer test jar

Digital thermometer

That’s the measuring setup I’d want virtually every beginner to have.

Add Later If You Need It

Kitchen scale — once you’re weighing your own ingredients.

Precision scale — once you’re weighing small hop additions or brewing salts.

Refractometer — when you’re brewing all-grain and want quick gravity readings with tiny samples.

pH meter — when mash pH and water adjustment actually become part of your brewing process.

That’s a much better progression than spending $200 on testing equipment before you’ve brewed batch number one.

What I Would NOT Buy Yet

If you’re a beginner, I wouldn’t rush out and buy:

  • expensive laboratory pH equipment
  • digital refractometers
  • wireless gravity-monitoring gadgets
  • multiple hydrometers for different ranges
  • expensive scientific scales
  • a pile of water-testing equipment
  • every meter somebody on a brewing forum says is mandatory

Some of that stuff can be useful.

Eventually.

Learn what information you actually need first.

Then buy the tool that gives you that information.

Where These Tools Actually Fit Into Brewing

Beer Kits

Hydrometer + test jar + thermometer.

Done.

Partial Mash

Add a scale if you’re weighing grain and hops.

👉 Learn Partial Mash Brewing

One-Gallon & Small-Batch Brewing

A precision scale becomes particularly useful because your ingredient amounts are much smaller.

👉 See My One-Gallon & Small-Batch Brewing Equipment

All-Grain Brewing

This is where a refractometer, scales and eventually a pH meter start becoming much more useful.

👉 See My All-Grain Brewing Equipment

Frequently Asked Questions

What measuring equipment does a beginner homebrewer need?

I’d start with a hydrometer, suitable test jar and digital thermometer.

That’s enough for most beginners.

Is a refractometer better than a hydrometer?

Not really.

They’re different tools.

A refractometer is excellent for taking quick gravity readings from a few drops of wort.

A hydrometer is simpler for final gravity and fermentation readings.

If you’re buying only one, start with a hydrometer.

Can I calculate ABV with a hydrometer?

Yes.

Take an original gravity reading before fermentation and a final gravity reading after fermentation.

Those readings can be used to estimate alcohol by volume.

👉 Learn More: What Is ABV in Beer?

Do I need a pH meter for homebrewing?

Most beginners do not.

A pH meter becomes more useful when you’re brewing all-grain and want greater control over mash pH and brewing water.

Are pH strips good enough for brewing?

They can give you a rough indication.

If you need dependable readings because you’re making mash or water adjustments, I’d use a calibrated digital meter.

Do I need two brewing scales?

Not when you’re starting.

A standard kitchen scale handles most larger ingredients.

A precision scale becomes useful when you’re measuring very small amounts.

Do I need a refractometer if I already own a hydrometer?

No.

It’s a convenience tool.

If you’re happy using your hydrometer, keep using it.

What’s the most important tool on this page?

For a beginner?

The hydrometer.

Don’t guess whether fermentation is finished.

Measure it.

Want to Learn More About Gravity and Brewing Measurements?

👉 How to Read and Use a Hydrometer

👉 Refractometer vs Hydrometer

👉 What Is ABV in Beer?

👉 pH of Beer Explained

Need the Rest of Your Brewing Equipment?

👉 Visit the Make Beer Easy Beer Brewing Equipment Hub

Brand New to Homebrewing?

👉 See My Beginner Homebrewing Equipment Guide

FREE Beginner Brewing Bootcamp

If you’re just getting started, my FREE Beginner Brewing Bootcamp walks you through the fundamentals without turning homebrewing into a chemistry degree.

👉 Join the FREE Beginner Brewing Bootcamp

Get My Top Five Brew Pub Recipes

Want proven recipes once you’re ready to brew?

I’ll send you five of the best-selling recipes from my own brewpub.

👉 Get Big Robb’s Top Five Brew Pub Recipes Free

Measure What Matters

Brewing measurements are supposed to help you make better beer.

Not make the hobby miserable.

Start with a hydrometer and thermometer.

Learn what the numbers actually mean.

Then add tools as your brewing becomes more advanced.

You don’t need a laboratory.

You need enough information to understand what’s happening with your beer.

Simple Brewing. Better Beer. Made Easy.

Cheers,

Big Robb