No they are not.
Degrees Brix (symbol °Bx) is the sugar content of an aqueous solution.
Specific gravity is the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density (mass of the same unit volume) of a reference substance.
well on my hydrometer an sg reading of 1.068= roughly 24 brix 1.082 =28 brix and so on it shows them as you go up the scale brix goes from 0 to 40 on my hydrometer so the 2 measurements are far from the same
When the brix reads 0 there is no sugar left and that is also 1.0 on the sg scale, right? But yet we know many wines don't finish fermenting till it reaches a .993 sg. Why is this?
Then how does the same measuring device measure them both?
Great ideas guys. I was thinking that perhaps the author was maybe using the terminology of brix loosely as it seems SG and Brix do relate to sugar in some way. Would this be a fair assumption? In all of your enological experiences have you ever seen a recipe that calls to only pay attention to brix with no attention or even mention of SG at any point? Being a noob, I have no idea whatsoever so am just looking to expand the dialogue and thoughts. Thanks in advance.
With all this erudite discourse, no one got around to your questions. Brix and SG relate to each other in wine making only in so far as the hydrometer measures both fairly accurately and simultaneously down to 0 degrees Brix and SG 1.000. After that, you have to stay with the SG scale, so why not use it all the time? I have seen some recipes and books that only reference Brix, but I go with SG as I try to ferment everything to dry (i.e. "no" sugar...there probably is a stray molecule or two), which varies from wine to wine at about SG 0.992. Most everyone I know talks in terms of SG when making wine and Brix when examining grapes (with a refractometer).
As a side not, when taking SG reading initially before primary should the reading be done after adding sugar or before.I would think after adding sugar. The more sugar added, the higher the SG would be?
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