
Proofing Spirits with a Homemade Electrobalance - luu
http://blog.qqrs.us/blog/2015/08/21/proofing-spirits-with-homemade-electrobalance/
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fuzzfactor
Very nice hobbyist project.

The measurement more so than the apparatus would be so humidity & temperature
dependent that it very well may be a more accurate relative humidity or dew
point measurement device than it would be for alcohol content of beverages.

The beverage data sure does look good though, varation perhaps due mostly to
slight changes in ambient conditions, as well as matrix effects like sugar
content of lower proof beverages.

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anfractuosity
Very cool! I'd never of thought of doing this, that way.

I've wondered before if you could measure alcohol ABV using a fuel cell
alcoholmeter.

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fuzzfactor
Professionally, directly measuring Alcohol By Volume (ABV) which is the
property that is regulated, could not be most accurately accomplished with any
technique that comes to mind.

In the lab, alcohol content is always best determined by weight, then
converted to volume percent using a number of traditional conversions.

You might have something there with a fuel cell approach, but if you are
detecting mass or relative mass the only way to arrive at volume is by
conversion.

Even when you calibrate using precisely prepared volumetric reference
materials, if you are still detecting mass then you would be better off using
precisely prepared gravimetric reference materials instead.

Gravimetrically I can be traceable to NIST using only traceable reference
weights without requiring NIST ampoules of reference alcohol.

