Aluminum, malleable, lightweight, recyclable, and safer than glass, is widely used for beverage cans. Its resistance to corrosion depends in part on the quality of the protective internal coating. When this coating presents defects in application or uniformity, corrosion can develop, particularly in the presence of sugar.
This article explains the mechanisms involved and proposes a protocol to evaluate the quality of can coatings.
In quality control, production, or research, comparing analytical results is part of everyday practice.
But what happens when two professionals — each confident in the reliability of their work — observe a discrepancy between their measurements?
It’s a common situation, often leading to tension, misunderstanding… or rushed decisions.
Example: Two laboratories measure the alcohol content of the same spirit sample. One reports 40.1% vol, the other 39.8% vol.
Who’s right? Are the results truly incompatible — or simply different within the range of measurement uncertainty?
This article provides a practical framework to interpret such differences rigorously, understand the role of measurement uncertainty, and assess whether two results can be considered technically consistent.
When making a sweet alcoholic drink (liqueur, cocktail, cream, etc.), calculating the final alcohol content might seem as simple as adding up the volumes of alcohol, water, and sugar. But once sugar dissolves, it takes up space — and that extra volume can throw the math off.
👉 Can we really predict the final ABV from the starting ingredients alone?
👉 And why does sugar make the calculation so tricky?
It all comes down to how sucrose behaves in a water–ethanol mix — a process still not fully understood.
To shed light on this, we teamed up with Labox Applications to:
Measure the actual volume that dissolved sugar occupies in different mixtures,
Explore the dissolution process in water and ethanol,
Test whether the final ABV can be calculated accurately.
Full results in the article.
Portable digital density meters calculate alcohol content at 20 °C from density and temperature.
Compact and robust, they are ideal for quick measurements in the field — in cellars, tank rooms, or at the base of transport containers.
This guide will help you achieve reliable results, avoid common errors, and get the most out of your equipment.
Wood maturation is a highly complex process, and many of its mechanisms remain only partially understood. Today, spirits professionals are increasingly concerned about how climate change may impact evaporation rates and the overall quality of barrel-aged eaux-de-vie. Can we anticipate and mitigate these effects?
This article outlines key insights into the ageing process, the challenges posed by global warming, and possible strategies to adapt—reducing evaporation while preserving the quality of the spirit.