Brix
°Brix is a useful measurement used to approximate sugar concentration in grapes and fermenting wine. As a percentage by weight (% w/w), one degree brix represents 1 gram of sucrose in 100 grams of water. Because sugar only accounts for 90-95% of dissolved solids in grapes, it is best described as “apparent sugars” (Waterhouse et al., 2024).
In the vineyard, °Brix is valuable for estimating the amount of alcohol that will result after fermentation with a common conversion factor between 0.55 to 0.64. Interestingly, while heat events increase °Brix in berries through dehydration, they generally decrease the dry weight of sugar in each berry shifting clusters from being nutrient sinks to nutrient sources. This is one reason why measuring the grams per liter of glucose and fructose (aka berry sugar loading) is a valuable tool for evaluating vine metabolism, and why both parameters are included in our Grape/Juice panel.
Similarly, °Brix is used to track the progression of fermenting must in the winery. °Brix values less than 0 are indicative of near completion, and Glucose/Fructose measurement can be used to characterize dryness (below 2 g/L). Interestingly, °Brix can also be used to predict stuck fermentations using the Boulton Model that was created in the 1980s. The rate of Brix change is representative of the active fermenting yeast population. By juxtaposing the speed of fermenation with the fermentation temperature, the Boulton Model can reasonably predict whether or not a fermentation with finish. As you can see in the graph below, the model predicted a struck fermentation until the winery increased the fermentation temperature allowing the wine to achieve 0 °Brix.
Figure 1. The Boulton Model Prediction using pressure transducers for continuous °Brix in a commercial white wine fermentation. (The Future of Winemaking: Honoring the Vision of Professor Roger Boulton, 2022).
While °Brix measurement is ubiquitous across grape growing and winemaking in the United States, understanding its relationship to environmental factors like temperature and other parameters like Glucose and Fructose can help producers make the best decisions for their desired outcome.
To learn more about the scientific tools used in winemaking and see how they apply to wines from around the world, become a Bound advising client.
Choose options
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Supplies
- Centrifuge Tubes (SKU: G1005-50-2)
- Blank Label Sheets
- Label Template (Download)
- We supply 50 mL centrifuge tubes and labels for local Santa Barbara clients upon request.
Best Practices
- Collect a sample of your wine in a way that is most representative of the entire lot (i.e. practice flushing your sample valve, collecting after movements like pumpovers, stirring your barrel, etc.).
Label
- Label each sample appropriately with your Client ID, Sample Date, and Sample ID. Samples for Phenolics analysis also require a Crush Date, Varietal, and Appellation. The analysis cannot be performed without the applicable information for each sample.
- Mark the panel.
- Individual parameters can be added at the bottom of the label. A full list can be found on our ANALYSES page.
Clients are able to submit samples by contacting us directly and scheduling a pickup, delivering directly to our lab, or sending via the mail.
To arrange for pickup, clients must be located near Lompoc, Buellton, Santa Ynez, Goleta, or Santa Barbara and notify us by 11 am for same-day retrieval. Please contact us for more information.
- We provide same-day results by 7 pm with a guaranteed turnaround within 24 hours of sample receipt.
- Samples that are not analyzed same-daly are refrigerated overnight and analyzed first thing the next morning.
- Results are delivered via email in PDF format and uploaded to your account.
- Our invoices are sent via email and are due upon receipt.
- Your payment iOur invoices are sent via email and are due upon receipt.
- Your payment is securely processed through Bound’s website using one of the most trusted e-commerce platforms in the world.
- You can also opt-in to our invoice autopay feature.s securely processed through Bound’s website using one of the most trusted e-commerce platforms in the world.
- You can also opt-in to our invoice autopay feature by clicking “SIGN UP FOR AUTOPAY” on your account page.
To ensure their stability, we ask our clients freeze their juice samples before shipment. Please contact Bound with any additional questions about sample preparation before shipment. We recommend expedited same-day to one-day shipping with a tracking number included.
Frozen
Samples can be placed in a freezer 24-hours in advance and shipped with an ice pack. Do not over-fill the polypropylene tubes or use glass containers as the frozen liquid will expand and could pose a safety concern. Freezing samples is a better alternative to boiling when analyzing compounds like ethanol, volatile acidity, free sulfur, and phenolics. Label each sample as "FROZEN".