Just Another Brix in the Wall

Anyone who has been around wine for very long has heard the term “Brix.” You may see it mentioned on technical sheets or hear it discussed in the context of a vineyard harvest. But what exactly is this mysterious critter?

The term “Brix” – also called Balling – is named after Adolf Ferdinand Wenceslaus Brix (1798 – 1870), a German mathematician, engineer, and director of the Royal Prussian Commission for Measurements. Continuing the work of Karl Balling, Herr Brix developed a table for measuring specific gravity of a solution down to five decimal places (Balling had only gone to three). Specific gravity (or density) can be used to determine the amount of sucrose (sugar) in a liquid solution by measuring the refraction index of the liquid by means of a refractometer, hydrometer, or other device.

<img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32126" data-attachment-id="32126" data-permalink="https://txwinelover.com/2024/02/just-another-brix-in-the-wall/refractometer-side/" data-orig-file="https://es2xixr62qf.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Refractometer-side.jpg?lossy=1&ssl=1" data-orig-size="600,373" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Refractometer side" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="

Refractometer

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Refractometer

Think about how a stick appears to bend when you submerge half of its length underwater. This is an example of refraction and is the same principle as measuring Brix through a refractometer. Light is bent when it enters a sugary solution such as grape juice. When viewing a liquid through a refractometer, the degree to which it is bent can be used to determine the Brix value.

<img decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32125" data-attachment-id="32125" data-permalink="https://txwinelover.com/2024/02/just-another-brix-in-the-wall/refractomer-view/" data-orig-file="https://es2xixr62qf.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/refractomer-view.jpg?lossy=1&ssl=1" data-orig-size="450,437" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="View in a Refractometer"