Tomato Paste & Brix Concentration
Concentrates juice
Enter tomato juice weight and Brix with a target paste Brix to get the paste yield, the water you must evaporate and the concentration ratio.
Plan your paste batch
Next: boil off about 821 kg of water to land 179 kg of 28° Brix paste — a 5.6× concentration; size your evaporator and energy for that water load.
Mass-balance estimate on soluble solids; real yield is a touch lower from evaporator hold-up and losses. Higher target Brix means more water removed and more energy per kg of paste.
Tomato paste — key facts
- Juice Brix
- ≈ 5 °Brix
- Paste Brix
- ≈ 28–32 °Brix
- Paste
- juice × juice Brix ÷ target Brix
- Water removed
- juice − paste
- Ratio
- target Brix ÷ juice Brix
- 5→30 °Brix
- ≈ 6:1, ~83% water off
- Solids
- conserved during boiling
- Privacy
- Runs in your browser; nothing uploaded
Boil off the water, keep the solids
Tomato juice is mostly water — only about 5% is soluble solids — so making paste is really about removing water. Because the soluble solids are conserved while water boils off, the paste weight is simply the juice weight times its Brix divided by the target Brix, and everything else leaves as vapour. Going from 5 to 30 °Brix is a 6:1 concentration, which is why over four-fifths of the starting juice disappears and why evaporation energy dominates the cost.
This tool gives the paste yield, the water removed, the concentration ratio and the target Brix from the juice weight and Brix you enter. Use it to size batches, plan evaporation and energy load, work backwards from a target paste quantity to the juice needed, and check product specs. Pair it with the Fruit Pulp Yield, Fruit Juice Yield and Dehydration Ratio tools for the full processing picture.
Size the batch
Know the paste from any juice and target Brix.
Plan evaporation
See the water you must drive off as vapour.
Work backwards
Find the juice needed for a target paste run.
Hit the spec
Match purée, paste or double-concentrate Brix.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is tomato paste made from juice?+
Fresh tomato juice sits around 5 °Brix — about 5% soluble solids. To make paste, that juice is boiled (often under vacuum) so water evaporates and the solids concentrate up to roughly 28–32 °Brix. Nothing is added; the soluble solids simply make up a larger share of a smaller, thicker mass as water is driven off.
How is paste yield calculated?+
Because the soluble solids are conserved, paste weight = juice weight × juice Brix ÷ target Brix. The rest is water removed = juice weight − paste weight. So 1000 kg of 5 °Brix juice concentrated to 30 °Brix gives about 167 kg of paste and removes about 833 kg of water. The calculator does this from the weights and Brix you enter.
What is the concentration ratio?+
The concentration ratio shows how much juice each kg of paste used — it's target Brix ÷ juice Brix (the same as juice weight ÷ paste weight). Going from 5 to 30 °Brix is a 6:1 ratio, meaning six kg of juice boil down to one kg of paste. It's a quick way to gauge how heavily you're concentrating.
What Brix counts as paste, concentrate or double-concentrate?+
Trade terms vary, but tomato paste is commonly 28–32 °Brix, with hot-break and cold-break styles. Lighter tomato concentrate (purée) sits lower, around 8–24 °Brix. So-called double or triple concentrates push higher still. The right target depends on your product spec, customer and how it will be reconstituted.
Why does so much water have to be removed?+
Tomato juice is mostly water — only about 5% is soluble solids. To raise that to 30% you must drive off the bulk of the water, so well over 80% of the starting juice weight leaves as vapour. That's why evaporation energy is the dominant cost in paste making and why heat recovery and vacuum evaporation matter.
Does boiling change the soluble solids?+
The mass of soluble solids stays essentially constant — that's the principle the calculation relies on. What changes is the water around them. Heat does affect colour, flavour and consistency (hot-break versus cold-break processing), but the Brix maths simply tracks the conservation of solids as water is removed.
Can I work backwards from paste to juice needed?+
Yes — rearranging gives juice needed = paste wanted × target Brix ÷ juice Brix. So to make 200 kg of 30 °Brix paste from 5 °Brix juice you need about 1200 kg of juice. Enter the figures and the tool shows the relationship so you can plan how much raw juice to crush for a target paste batch.
Does this work for any juice Brix or unit?+
Yes — it works for any starting juice Brix and any target paste Brix, in whatever weight unit you use (kg, tonnes or quintals). It also applies in principle to other concentrated products where soluble solids are conserved, though tomato is the classic case.
Are the figures precise?+
They're solid planning figures based on conservation of soluble solids. Real plants lose a little solids to fouling, foam and carry-over, and refractometer readings carry small errors, so actual yield runs slightly below the ideal. Measure your incoming juice Brix each batch and use these numbers to plan evaporation load, energy and packing rather than as an exact promise.