Digital Refractometer for % Fructose By Weight Analysis

This Hanna Instruments digital refractometer measures fructose concentration by weight.

Why it is measured

A generic Brix scale assumes sucrose and reads every other sugar slightly wrong. Where the syrup is fructose — and much of the beverage industry's is — a scale written for fructose is the difference between a formulation that holds and one that drifts batch to batch.

Where it is used

• beverage syrup blending
• confectionery
• fruit processing
• food formulation control

How a refractometer works

Light bends by a different amount depending on how much is dissolved in a liquid. A refractometer measures that bend and converts it to a concentration scale. It needs one or two drops, gives an answer in seconds, and has no reagents and nothing to consume.

A digital instrument compensates for temperature automatically, which is the difference that matters: refractive index shifts with temperature enough that an uncompensated reading in a warm room is simply wrong.

Practical note

Mixed-sugar syrups do not read correctly on any single-sugar scale; for a blend, use Brix and control it as a process parameter.

Supplied as one model.