Balling Invents the Saccharimeter

In 1843, Karl Josef Napoleon Balling, professor of chemistry at the Prague Polytechnic, introduced the Balling saccharimeter and corresponding tables for determining the concentration of sugar solutions from their density. Applied to brewing, the instrument gave brewers a practical and reproducible way to measure wort strength and beer extract. Balling also developed the saccharometric beer test, a mathematical framework connecting original extract, apparent extract, real extract, and alcohol content. His work helped transform brewing analysis from experience-based estimation into quantitative science. The Balling scale became widely used across Central Europe and provided the basis for the later Plato scale, which retained Balling’s underlying system with revised calibration.