What is Brix?

What is Brix anyway?
Brix is a unit of measurement that indicates how much sugar, specifically sucrose, is in a liquid solution. The Brix scale ranges from 0 to 100, representing the percentage of sugar by weight in a solution. For example, if a solution measures 50 Brix, it contains 50 grams of sugar in every 100 grams of the solution, which equates to a 1:1 ratio of sugar to solution.

The most common application of Brix measurement is in brewing. Brewers use refractometers to check the sugar content of wine, beer, or mead before fermentation, allowing them to estimate the final alcohol content. A more bartending-related use of this tool is verifying the accuracy of prepared syrups. For instance, traditional 1:1 simple syrup has a Brix of 50, while a rich 2:1 syrup has a Brix of 66.67.

This tool is especially helpful for accurately preparing syrups made from honey, maple, or agave, which contain water naturally and therefore have lower sugar concentrations than pure sugar. When making a 1:1 syrup with these ingredients, the resulting syrup might not be sweet enough for cocktails. To solve this, you can measure the Brix of your liquid sugars to determine how much water to add to achieve the desired sweetness.

Another effective use of a refractometer in a craft cocktail setting is when making fruit juice-based syrups. Since fruit juices naturally contain sugar, adding equal parts sugar can result in an overly sweet syrup. By using a refractometer to measure the Brix of the fruit juice, you can determine the appropriate amount of sugar needed to create a perfectly balanced syrup, ensuring consistency in your cocktails.

In the spirit of consistency, mistakes can happen, or different bartenders may prepare syrups differently. If a syrup seems too thin or too thick, you can measure its Brix. If the Brix isn't at the desired level, you can adjust it accordingly to achieve the perfect consistency.

Since calculating these involves a few ratios, use my Brix Calculator to easily adjust the Brix of sugar, fruit juice, or pre-made syrup.