Degree Brix

Degree Brix (also ° Brix , ° Bx , Brix , % Brix ; after the Prussian engineer Adolf Ferdinand Wenceslaus Brix , who developed it in 1870) or Degree Brix-Fischer is a unit of measurement of the relative density of liquids .

It is mainly used in the fruit industry , in English-speaking countries also for determining the must weight for wine production - i.e. for fruit juices , beverages and general sugar . Since these mainly contain various sugars in addition to water (especially glucose , fructose , sucrose ), the density is also approximately the sugar content .

In the past, the Fischer oil balance was also used to measure the density of edible oils, named after the German mechanic Carl Fischer , which has the same graduation as the Brix hydrometer.

determination

Hydrometer , around 1920, Zucker-Museum Berlin.
In order to determine the beet sugar ( dry matter ) content of a sample solution, the solution is poured into the cylinder until the hydrometer just no longer touches the ground (ie “floats”). The immersion depth of the spindle then shows the dry matter content in degrees Brix on the scale : the lower the sugar content and thus the density of the solution, the further the spindle is immersed.

An indication in degrees Brix means: The density of the measured liquid corresponds to the density of a solution of sucrose in water that contains as many grams of sucrose per 100 g of solution as the degree states:

{\ displaystyle \ rho [{\ text {x ° Brix}}] = \ rho \ left [{\ frac {{\ text {x}} \, {\ text {g}} _ {\ text {Sacc}} } {100 \, {\ text {g}} _ {\ text {Lsg}}}} \ right]}

For example, has a liquid

one degree Brix if it has the same density as a solution of 1 g of sucrose in 100 g of sucrose / water solution (1 g of sucrose to 99 g of water)
ten degrees Brix if its density is that of a solution of 10 g of sucrose in 100 g of sucrose-water solution (10 g of sucrose to 90 g of water, corresponds to a ten percent solution).

In this case, sucrose solution is only the comparison substance; the liquid examined does not have to contain sucrose.

Examples

The following table shows the Brix values of some types of fruit and vegetables . High Brix values indicate a sweeter taste and better shelf life and thus provide information about the quality.

	low	normal	high	extremely high
fruit
strawberry	8th	12	16	18th
Aronia	10	12	16	18th
Apple	6th	10	14th	18th
Blueberry	4th	8th	16	22nd
blackberry	6th	8th	12	14th
Cantaloupe melon	8th	12	14th	18th
Honeydew melon	8th	10	14th	16
Watermelon	8th	12	16	18th
Grape	8th	12	18th	22nd
raspberry	6th	8th	12	14th
cherry	6th	8th	14th	16
pear	6th	10	14th	16
orange	6th	10	16	20th
vegetables
potato	3	5	7th	10
endive	4th	6th	10	12
asparagus	4th	6th	8th	10
Bean	4th	8th	10	12
Broccoli	6th	8th	10	12
Pea field pea	4th	6th	10	12
Pea	8th	10	12	14th
cauliflower	4th	6th	8th	10
Cabbage	6th	10	12	14th
Turnip	4th	6th	8th	10
Kohlrabi	6th	8th	10	12
Red beet	6th	8th	12	14th
Corn	6th	10	18th	24
Sweet corn	6th	10	18th	24
paprika	4th	6th	8th	12
Chilli pepper	4th	6th	8th	10
parsley	4th	6th	8th	10
celery	4th	6th	10	12
salad	4th	6th	8th	10
tomato	4th	6th	10	14th
onion	4th	6th	10	12
carrot	4th	8th	14th	18th

Web links

ICUMSA (International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis)

swell

PH List & L. Hörhammer: General part. Active ingredient groups I , Springer-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 1967, p. 41

Individual evidence

↑ G. Th. Gerlach: About the graduation of the common oil scales. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 196, 1870, pp. 251-257.

[1] G. Th. Gerlach: About the graduation of the common oil scales. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 196, 1870, pp. 251-257.