Degree Plato (°P)
Degree Plato (°P) :
A unit measuring sugar content, especially of the wort, the unfermented liquour from which beer is made. Named for a German chemist, one degree Plato represents a sugar content equivalent to 1% sucrose by weight. Not all the sugar in a wort is sucrose; the unit standardizes the measurement to the sucrose equivalent. The reading is made with a device called a saccharometer. The degree Balling is a somewhat older unit equivalent (approximately) to the degree Plato. In Europe, beer is often taxed either by the degree Plato or by the actual alcohol content. There is no precise conversion between these quantities, but for tax purposes it is often assumed that 1% alcohol (1 degree [6], See above) is equivalent to 2.5 degrees Plato; that is, 1 degree Plato is legally equivalent to 0.4% alcohol
