- For each purchased VST LAB Coffee/Espresso III refractometer you can get 1 VST-FILTER-KIT with 30% discount!
This excellent handheld digital refractometer is designed for professional baristas for preparation of tasty coffee and espresso. It is equipped with two scales for measurement of Total Dissolved Solids percentage (%TDS).
This handheld digital refractometer VST LAB Coffee/Espresso is equipped with the sample well made from stainless steel. The measuring sample can be covered by an evaporation cover which prevents sample evaporation or air moisture absorption.
Use always this cover you get more accurate results.
The measuring prism is made from sapphire glass. The sapphire glass is the next hardest substance to diamond and that is why the prism is a virtually unscratchable surface.
The user interface of this digital refractometer VST LAB Coffee/Espresso consists a large backlit 24-character display and two buttons - "GO" and "MENU". The measurement is therefore very intuitive and easy. The measured value is displayed including the unit. You need not remember meaning of any code because the display of this size allows to show full text messages, warnings or errors.
The calibration
The calibration is performed by distilled water (eventually by ordinary tap water) and it takes just a few seconds.
We recommend to clean and dry wipe the measuring prism prior to measurement!
The measurement
As a first step, we strongly recommend taking a sample from the brewed coffee and placing it into another clean cup. If you do it in this way, the sample of coffee will be cooled rapidly. This is very important if you want to get accurate readings quickly.
Place a few drops of chilled and filtered coffee onto the sapphire prism at the bottom of the sample well. Close the evaporation cover and allow some time for the temperature to equalize. Press the "GO" button and the result value of TDS percentage (Total dissolved solids) moisture will be displayed in a few seconds.
The measurement precision
The precision of the VST LAB Coffee/Espresso refractometer provides the Palm Abbe OPTICAL-ENGINE®. This Optical-Engine uses high-precision optics with a linear detector array containing 1024 elements (seven times more elements than refractometers from other producers).
This detector array allows to measure with the precision higher than ±0.01% TDS.
The measuring results measured by this excelent digital refractometer is comparable to mid-range benchtop refractometers costing thousands of euro more!
Digital refractometer VST LAB Coffee/Espresso is a laboratory precision instrument for a reasonable price.
Automatic temperature compensation
The digital refraktometr VST LAB Coffee/Espresso is equipped with non-linear temperature compensation, which ensures highly precise results in ambient temperature from 15 °C to do 40 °C.
The package of VST LAB Coffee/Espresso III refractometer contains:
- 1x VST LAB Coffee/Espresso III refraktometer,
- 1x grey protective silicone sleeve, prevents slipping the refractometer on the table or bar,
- 10x plastic pipettes,
- 4x cleaning cloth impregnated with isopropyl alcohol (2,7 x 6,6 cm),
- 1x NIST Traceable certificate - a quality certificate, comparison of the measured values with the values given by the reference calibrated refractometer or with reference materials,
- instructions of use.
General technical specifications
| Scale range and resolution |
TDS: 0 to 20% (0,01%) |
| Precision |
±0,01% |
| Accuracy |
0,00 - 4,99%: ± 0,03%
5,00 - 20,00%: ± 0,05%
|
| Calibration liquid |
Distilled water, eventually tap water |
| Prism window material |
Sapphire glass |
| Detector elements |
1024 |
| Well (sample area) material |
Stainless steel |
| Sample evaporation cover |
Yes |
| Min. sample volume |
0.3 ml |
| Measuring time |
< 2 sec (typical) |
| Light source |
Precision LED @ 589.3 nm |
| Display |
LCD |
| Display characters |
24 characters in 2 lines (12 x 2) |
| Display backlight |
Yes |
| Display language |
English, French, German, Russian, Spanish |
| Temperature compensation method |
Automatic, special coffee compensation |
| Temperature range |
15 to 40 °C (ambient temperature) |
| Power source |
2 AAA bateries |
| Battery life |
> 4000 readings (more with backlight off) |
| Dimensions |
145 x 75 x 37 mm |
| Weight |
250 g |
| Body material |
Plastic (Valox), blue colour |
| Water resistance |
IP65 - splashing water |
| Error codes |
Text-based |
| Approvals and certifications |
 |
| Country of origin |
 |
VST CoffeeTools™ - software for measurements evaluation
This special software VST CoffeeTools™ has been developed for a quick evaluation of your measurements. Thanks to that you can see your result directly in the VST's Universal Brewing Chart.
Software is not included, if you want it please use an application store according to your operating system: