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Brix
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===Specific gravity=== As specific gravity was the basis for the Balling, Brix and Plato tables, dissolved sugar content was originally estimated by measurement of specific gravity using a [[hydrometer]] or [[pycnometer]]. In modern times, hydrometers are still widely used, but where greater accuracy is required, an electronic [[oscillating U-tube]] meter may be employed. Whichever means is used, the analyst enters the tables with specific gravity and takes out (using interpolation if necessary) the sugar content in [[percent by mass]]. If the analyst uses the Plato tables (maintained by the [[American Society of Brewing Chemists]]<ref>"ASBC Methods of Analysis", ASBC; St. Paul Table 1: Extract in Wort and Beer</ref>) they report in °P. If using the Brix table (the current version of which is maintained by NIST and can be found on their website),<ref name="fbates">{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/circularofbureau440bate/page/632 |page=632 |title=Polarimetry, Saccharimetry and the Sugars. Table 114: Brix, apparent density, apparent specific gravity, and grams of sucrose per 100 ml of sugar solutions |last1=Bates |first1=Frederick |date=1 May 1942 |publisher=National Bureau of Standards |access-date=12 October 2018}}</ref> they report in °Bx. If using the ICUMSA tables,<ref>"ICUMSA Methods Book" op. cit. Specification and Standard SPS-4 Densimitry and Tables: Sucrose – Official; Glucose, Fructose and Invert Sugars – Official</ref> they would report in mass fraction (m.f.). It is not, typically, actually necessary to consult tables as the tabulated °Bx or °P value can be printed directly on the hydrometer scale next to the tabulated value of specific gravity or stored in the memory of the electronic U-tube meter or calculated from polynomial fits to the tabulated data, in fact, the ICUMSA tables are calculated from a best-fit polynomial. Also note that the tables in use today are not those published by Brix or Plato. Those workers measured true specific gravity reference to water at 4 °C using, respectively, 17.5 °C and 20 °C, as the temperature at which the density of a sucrose solution was measured. Both NBS and ASBC converted to [[apparent specific gravity]] at 20 °C/20 °C. The ICUMSA tables are based on more recent measurements on sucrose, fructose, glucose and invert sugar, and they tabulate true density and weight in air at 20 °C against mass fraction.
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