Specific Gravity to Brix

About this calculator

Specific gravity (SG) and degrees Brix both measure dissolved sugar content in a liquid, but on different scales — SG compares the liquid's density to water (1.000), while Brix expresses sugar concentration as a percentage by weight (1°Brix ≈ 1 gram of sucrose per 100 grams of solution). Winemakers and brewers convert between them using polynomial formulas derived from sucrose solution tables, since most refractometers and some hydrometers read in Brix while fermentation tracking traditionally uses SG.

Brewers read gravity before and after fermentation to calculate alcohol content and confirm fermentation is complete, and winemakers use Brix readings at harvest to judge grape ripeness and predict final alcohol level, since yeast converts roughly 55% of sugar into alcohol by weight. Because a refractometer's Brix reading gets skewed once alcohol is present (alcohol lowers density differently than sugar does), this SG-to-Brix conversion is really only accurate before fermentation starts or after correcting for alcohol.

This calculator takes a specific gravity reading and converts it to degrees Brix.