Editing Brix (section)

==Usage==
{{See also|Ripeness in viticulture}}
The four scales are often used interchangeably since the differences are minor.
*Brix is primarily used in fruit juice, [[wine making]], [[carbonated beverage]] industry, [[starch]] and the [[sugar]] industry.
*Plato is primarily used in [[brewing]].
*Balling appears on older saccharimeters and is still used in the [[South Africa]]n wine industry and in some breweries.
*[[Oechsle scale|Oechsle]] as direct reading for the sugar content is primary used in wine making in [[Germany]], [[Switzerland]] and [[Luxembourg]].

Brix is used in the food industry for measuring the approximate amount of sugars in [[fruits]], [[vegetables]], juices, [[wine]], soft drinks and in the starch and sugar manufacturing industry. Different countries use the scales in different industries: In brewing, the UK uses [[Gravity (beer)|specific gravity]] X 1000; Europe uses [[Plato scale|Plato degrees]]; and the US use a mix of specific gravity, degrees Brix, [[Baumé scale|degrees Baumé]], and degrees Plato. For fruit juices, 1.0 degree Brix is denoted as 1.0% sugar by mass. This usually correlates well with perceived sweetness.

Brix measurements are also used in the dairy industry to measure the quality of [[colostrum]] given to newborn calves, goats, and sheep.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kessler |first1=E.C. |last2=Bruckmaier |first2=R.M. |last3=Gross |first3=J.J. |date=February 2021 |title=Short communication: Comparative estimation of colostrum quality by Brix refractometry in bovine, caprine, and ovine colostrum |journal=Journal of Dairy Science |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=2438–2444 |doi=10.3168/jds.2020-19020 |issn=0022-0302|doi-access=free |pmid=33246611 }}</ref>

Modern optical Brix meters are divided into two categories. In the first are the Abbe-based instruments in which a drop of the sample solution is placed on a prism; the result is observed through an eyepiece. The critical angle (the angle beyond which light is totally reflected back into the sample) is a function of the refractive index and the operator detects this critical angle by noting where a dark-bright boundary falls on an engraved scale. The scale can be calibrated in Brix or refractive index. Often the prism mount contains a thermometer that can be used to correct to 20&nbsp;°C in situations where measurement cannot be made at exactly that temperature. These instruments are available in bench and handheld versions.

Digital refractometers also find the critical angle, but the light path is entirely internal to the prism. A drop of sample is placed on its surface, so the critical light beam never penetrates the sample. This makes it easier to read turbid samples. The light/dark boundary, whose position is proportional to the critical angle, is sensed by a [[Charge-coupled device|CCD]] array. These meters are also available in bench top (laboratory) and portable (pocket) versions. This ability to easily measure Brix in the field makes it possible to determine ideal harvesting times of fruit and vegetables so that products arrive at the consumers in a perfect state or are ideal for subsequent processing steps such as vinification.

Due to higher accuracy and the ability to couple it with other measuring techniques (%{{CO2}} and %alcohol), most soft drink companies and breweries use an oscillating U-tube density meter. Refractometers are still commonly used for fruit juice.