Brix / Specific Gravity - Temperature correction

Purpose

Did you know that a temperature change of 1 ⁰C can have an impact of approximately 0.1 ⁰Bx ? Any instrument used is calibrated for a certain temperature, e.g. 20 °C, so measurements are only valid at that temperature!
Use this calculator to adjust Brix or SG reading if sample is not equilibrated to the calibration temperature and the instrument used does not have a built -in temperature compensation.

Background

Brix is defined as the percentage of total solids in solution, in grams of solute per 100 grams of solution and is the most used unit for sugar content in Wine Industry.In a sucrose / water solution(which grape must or juice is not), 1 degree Brix(°Bx) = 1g of sucrose / 100g of solution.
Specific Gravity is the weight of 1mL of solution divided by the weight of 1mL of distilled water at 20C.
Brix and Specific Gravity values can be determined via different measuring techniques(hydrometer, pycnometer, brix meter / refractometer, digital density meter). For reading result accuracy, the sample must be equilibrated to the calibration temperature.

REFERENCES:

• Measuring Sugar content in grape juice (1997), Concepts in Wine Chemistry by Yair Margalit, Ph.D. - (The wine Appreciation Guild);
• Techniques for chemical analysis and quality monitoring during winemaking (2000) by Patrick Iland, Andrew Ewart, John Sitters, Andrew Markides and Nick Bruer - (Patrick Iland Wine Promotions);