{"id":24,"date":"2026-06-05T13:10:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epasa.org.za\/wp\/?page_id=24"},"modified":"2026-07-07T15:26:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:26:37","slug":"unites-of-measurement","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/epasa.org.za\/wp\/unites-of-measurement\/","title":{"rendered":"Unites of Measurement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n<h2>Units of Measure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\nBecause of the 96 % azeotropic property, a special unit of measurement is needed. Thus 100 litres of 96% alcohol would contain only 96 litres of \u201cactive ingredient\u201d or 96 litres of absolute alcohol. Hence the unit \u201clitres absolute alcohol\u201d or \u201claa\u201d is in universal use in the industry. The larger volume unit, \u201ckilolitres absolute alcohol\u201d or \u201cklaa\u201d is self explanatory. Often the \u201caa\u201d is omitted, but is understood. Care has to be exercised, as the logistics industry refer to litres meaning \u201cbulk litres\u201d, i.e., an actual volume measurement.\n\n\n\n\nUndenatured or pure alcohol is subject to excise duty, but this duty is applicable only to the alcohol content. Determination of the alcohol strength is thus critical. This is done by measuring the density or specific gravity by means of a densitometer (e.g., Paarman) or a hydrometer and reading off the alcohol percentage strength by volume (abv) from the instrument or from tables, respectively. The percentage strength multiplied by the volume (bulk litres) will provide the laa.\n\n\n\n\nThe percentage strength measurement has superseded (since 1980) the \u201cdegrees proof\u201d or &#8220;proof&#8221; measurement of strength.  In earlier years the liquor industry was vulnerable to fraudulent watering  down of spirit, particularly if destined for outlying areas. High strength alcohol is flammable. A test whether alcohol was watered down was to set fire to a small quantity of gunpowder that had been damped with the spirit. If it burned then that was \u201cproof\u201d that this was good (strength) alcohol. The strength at which the damped gunpowder will just burn is 57.15 % and in the UK this was taken as 100 degrees proof. It follows that 100 % ethanol would be referred to as  175 degrees proof or 75 degrees overproof. In the US the &#8220;proof&#8221; scale was set at double the abv.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-24","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epasa.org.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epasa.org.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epasa.org.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epasa.org.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epasa.org.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/epasa.org.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":713,"href":"https:\/\/epasa.org.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions\/713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epasa.org.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}