Sugar Content (°Brix)

Degrees Brix tells you what fraction of a mixture’s mass is sugar, then scales that fraction to a 100 g basis. If a solution is 18°Brix, that means 18 g of sugar are present in every 100 g of the total mixture, not 18 g in every 100 g of water. The formula works because it is a mass percentage: sugar mass divided by total solution mass, multiplied by 100 to convert the ratio into percent.

Use this when checking sweetness or concentration in foods and drinks such as fruit juice, syrup, jam, wine, or fermentation mixtures. It is also useful in quality control, recipe scaling, and comparing batches that may have different total masses.

• Using the mass of water or liquid alone instead of the total solution mass
• Forgetting to multiply by 100, which leaves a decimal ratio instead of degrees Brix
• Confusing °Brix with a volume measurement or assuming it means sugar per 100 mL