Digital Refractometer for % Invert Sugar By Weight Analysis

This Hanna Instruments digital refractometer measures invert sugar concentration by weight.

Why it is measured

Invert sugar is sucrose that has been split into glucose and fructose, and it behaves differently: sweeter, less prone to crystallise, more hygroscopic. Confectionery and baking depend on how far the inversion has gone, and that is what this scale reports.

Where it is used

• confectionery and baking
• invert syrup production
• honey and preserve work
• food formulation

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

Inversion continues while the syrup is warm and acid; take the reading at the point in the process the specification refers to.

Supplied as one model.