Calibrating my refractometer I wanted to see how much sugar to mix in distilled water to get the theoretical 9.99 P gravity of sucrose (1.040). Oddly, My copy of Beersmith shows table sugar as 1.046. Whats up with that? I am sure there is something interesting to learn there. Thanks.
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Potential yield of sucrose
- Thread starter brewbirds
- Start date
brewfun
Grandmaster Brewer
You're mixing two standards.
1.046 is representative of 1 lb of sucrose dissolved into 1 gallon of water. This is the standard measure of 100% solubility for grain and other fermentable sources. Since grain is not 100% dissolvable, its potential is based on what can be dissolved.
The calibration standard you cite is for determining brix. That's 1 gm sucrose in 100 gm water. This is a weight to weight ratio.
It's fine to check against a known sugar content, but unnecessary for calibration. Distilled water to read 0 is the standard for that. This creates a sharper line than sugar solutions.
1.046 is representative of 1 lb of sucrose dissolved into 1 gallon of water. This is the standard measure of 100% solubility for grain and other fermentable sources. Since grain is not 100% dissolvable, its potential is based on what can be dissolved.
The calibration standard you cite is for determining brix. That's 1 gm sucrose in 100 gm water. This is a weight to weight ratio.
It's fine to check against a known sugar content, but unnecessary for calibration. Distilled water to read 0 is the standard for that. This creates a sharper line than sugar solutions.