What is the difference between a "wine gallon" and a "proof gallon"?
A "wine gallon" is a measurement of any liquid's total volume. 1 "wine gallon" is equal to 128 fluid ounces or 3.78 liters.
A "proof gallon" is a measurement of only the ethyl alcohol contained in a given volume of liquid. 1 proof gallon is equal to 1 wine gallon of liquid but containing only 50% ethanol. The other 50% is typically water, but can technically be any liquid so long as it is not ethanol.
See below for examples to demonstrate the point.
A "proof gallon" is a measurement of only the ethyl alcohol contained in a given volume of liquid. 1 proof gallon is equal to 1 wine gallon of liquid but containing only 50% ethanol. The other 50% is typically water, but can technically be any liquid so long as it is not ethanol.
See below for examples to demonstrate the point.
- To Recap:
- 1 Wine Gallon = 1 Volumetric Gallon = 128 fluid ounces of liquid.
- 1 Proof Gallon = 1 Volumetric Gallon containing 50% ethyl alcohol.
- If your mother asked you to bring home a gallon of milk from the store, you would go to the grocery store and pick up 1 "wine gallon" of milk to bring home.
Because a proof gallon is dependent on the amount of ethyl alcohol present, 1 proof gallon can be represented by many different final volumes of liquid. For example:
- 1 wine gallon at 50% Alcohol By Volume (ABV)
- 2 wine gallons at 25% ABV
- 1/2 of a wine gallon at 100% ABV
Some more proof gallon examples:
- A 750ML bottle of 80 proof vodka contains 0.158 Proof Gallons of ethyl alcohol.
- A 12oz can of lite beer at 5% ABV contains 0.0009375 Proof Gallons of ethyl alcohol.
- A 55 gallon drum of 190 proof Culinary Solvent contains 104.5 Proof Gallons of ethyl alcohol.
- A 5 gallon jug of 200 proof Culinary Solvent contains 10 proof gallons of ethyl alcohol.
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