FWIW:
[h1]Brix[/h1]
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For other uses, see
Brix (disambiguation).
Degrees Brix (symbol °Bx) is a unit representative of the
sugar content of an aqueous solution. One degree Brix corresponds to 1 gram of
sucrose in 100 grams of solution and thus represents the strength of the solution as a percentage by weight (% w/w) (strictly speaking, by mass). If the solution contains dissolved solids other than pure sucrose, such as other sugars, minerals etc., then the °Bx only approximate the dissolved solid content. The °Bx has traditionally been used in the wine, sugar, fruit juice, honey and other industries. It is intended to represent exactly the same thing as the
degree Plato (°P), widely used by the brewing industry, and the degree Balling which, while it is the oldest of the three, is still in use in some parts of the world and found in textbooks which are considered current today.[sup]
[1][/sup]. While all three are intended to represent the same thing (the number of grams of sucrose in 100 grams of solution) in fact they do not though the differences are small. For example a particular sucrose solution known to have an apparent
specific gravity (20°/20°C) of 1.040 would have its Brix value reported as 9.99325 °Bx and its Plato value as 9.99359 °P while the sugar industry, whose representative body, the
International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis (ICUMSA), has obsoleted °Bx [sup]
[2][/sup] in favor of "mass fraction", would report the strength of this solution as 9.99249 %. The differences between these three systems are clearly of little practical significance as their magnitudes are less than the precision of even relatively sophisticated instruments. Because of this and because of the wide historical use of the Brix unit modern instruments may calculate mass fraction using ICUMSA official formulas but report the result as °Bx.
