Disparity between refractometer and hydrometer readings

[johnc3]

Measured brix by refractometer and hydrometer immediately after destemming and crushing and about 30 hours after adding campden tablets. Second measurement I carefully filtered the juice. I corrected measurements for temperature and checked the calibration on both instruments.

In both cases the brix measurements by refractometer were more than 2 full degrees higher than the hydrometer (first day 26 vs 23.75, second day 27(!) vs 23.5).

I'm pretty hard pressed to understand these differences and, more important, how to proceed. Wine waits for no one so I introduced yeast anyway.

Any thoughts on this issue?

 

[ibglowin]

Trust the refractometer at those Brix levels. The juice is so thick that the hydrometer can't fully settle in for an accurate reading.

 

[salcoco]

the refractometer is probably temp corrected. the hydrometer needs manual correction due to temperature?