Plato Gravity Scale is a size of the awareness of dissolved solids in a brewery wort. The size of wort gravity is essential to brewers in that it is a hallmark of the knowledge alcoholic power of the beer. Brewers measure the levels Plato using either a calibrated refractometer or a hydrometer. See hydrometer.
The Plato scale is used by most brewers around the world, although brewers in the UK and people using British brewing traditions prefer to use the true gravity scale in its place. This is derived by measuring the actual gravity of the wort where water is 1. 000, multiplying by 1,000, and then subtracting 1,000 from that figure to give the degrees of gravity. Thus, a wort with a particular gravity of 1. 048 is declared to have 48 levels of gravity. See also balling scale and actual gravity.