The Alcohol Industry - Excise Technical Guidelines (current to 30 June 2006)

Chapter 11 - Measuring Strength and Volume of Alcoholic Beverages

This document has been archived. It is current only to 30 June 2006.

Section 1 Introduction

1.1 Acronyms used in this chapter

NATA National Association of Testing Authorities

NSC National Standards Commission

1.2 Appendices at the end of this chapter

Appendix 11.1 Alcoholometer illustrated

Appendix 11.2 Use of alcoholometer

Appendix 11.3 Measuring the contents of bulk vessels and containers (including vats, tankers, casks, barrels and drums)

Appendix 11.4 Determination of quantity by weight

Appendix 11.5 Drum calibration charts.

1.3 Foreword

If you want to know more about Excise go to our website at www.ato.gov.au .

Section 2 Legislation and General

2.1 Overview

The rates of duty which apply to alcoholic beverages (beer, spirits, and other excisable beverages, including vodka, ouzo and gin) are shown in the Schedule to the Excise Tariff Act as fixed dollar ($) amounts per litre of alcohol (Lal). For entry and record keeping purposes, a licensee must measure and record the correct volume and strength of alcoholic beverages. The licence holder is required to record the receipt of such goods from an outside source as soon as practicable after receipt and details of the goods before each subsequent operation or movement ¹ .

Accurate measurement and recording of alcoholic beverage quantities and strengths is critical for the correct calculation of duty liability and for the assessment of any losses sustained during any stage of production, transit, storage or subsequent operations. This ensures that a licensee is able to account for all quantities of such goods.

Sub section 6(2) of the Distillation Act, sub section 3(2) of the Spirits Act and the preamble to the Schedule to the Excise Tariff Act state, respectively, that the volume of alcohol contained in any liquor or other substance, spirits or goods shall be taken to be the volume that would be the volume of that alcohol if the alcohol were measured at a temperature of 20 ° C. Those provisions also specify that the specific gravity of alcohol in relation to water is 0.79067. All quantities relating to external deliveries and receipts are required to be corrected to 20 ° C to correctly assess any duty liability in accordance with the Excise Tariff Act.

These corrected measurements are also required for alcoholic beverages in the header tank or bottling vat immediately prior to bottling.

In all other instances of internal movement of alcohol it is not necessary to correct to standard volumes at 20 ° C. However in these instances, ambient temperatures should be recorded.

Section 3 INSTRUMENTS FOR CALCULATING ALCOHOLIC STRENGTH

3.1 Introduction

There are a number of instruments which can be used to calculate the alcoholic strength of beverages with acceptable levels of accuracy. Gas chromatography, while very accurate, is also expensive. For reasons of accuracy, cost and convenience of use, the instrument most widely used by clients is the alcoholometer (metric hydrometer). Alcoholometers are further discussed at section 3.2 and are illustrated at Appendix: 11.1.

Section 77FB of the Excise Act provides that the Tax Office may determine rules for working out the strength of alcoholic beverages.

The following determinations were made under the provisions of Section77FB of the Excise Act. They specify the methods to be used to ascertain the strength of alcoholic beverages:

Determination No. ED 2003/1 - Beer (access through determination )

by the use of gas chromatography
by the use of near infra red spectrometry, or
by distillation followed by the gravimetric measurement of the distillate or by measurement in a density meter.

If the brewery manufactures fewer than 100,000 litres of beer in a financial year, a hydrometer and a formula approved by the CEO may, with permission, be used to measure the alcoholic strength of beer. See chapter 6 section 1.7.

Determination No. ED 2003/2 - Spirits (access through determination )

by the use of hydrometer
by the use of pycnometer
by the use of gas chromatography
by the use of near infra red spectrometry, or
by distillation followed by the gravimetric measurement of the distillate or by measurement in a density meter.

Determination No. ED 2003/3 - Ready-to-drink beverages and liqueurs (access through determination )

by the use of gas chromatography
by the use of near infra red spectrometry, or
by distillation followed by the gravimetric measurement of the distillate or by measurement in a density meter.

The above determinations may be subject to change, for example to include alternative, acceptable methods of measurement.

A licensee is required to ensure that the accuracy of the approved measuring instruments is calibrated at intervals of one year or less against standard instruments certified by an independent authority approved by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA). The standard instruments must be calibrated by an independent NATA approved authority at intervals of not more than five years.

Descriptions of the approved equipment are contained in the glossary at chapter 13 of this manual.

3.2 Hydrometers

A hydrometer is an instrument for measuring the density or specific gravity of a liquid.

A metric hydrometer, or alcoholometer as it is commonly known, is used for measuring excisable alcoholic beverages.

Alcoholometers are to be used in conjunction with a thermometer and the Practical Alcohol Tables to convert indicated strength and indicated temperature to the industry standard temperature of 20 ° C.

The use of alcoholometers is described at Appendix:11.2.

3.3 Instrument certification

The Tax Office may require evidence of the accuracy of instruments used to determine the strength of dutiable spirit.
Determinations numbers. ED 2003/1, ED 2003/2 and ED 2003/3, issued for the benefit of licensees, state:

'You must calibrate the accuracy of the measuring instruments (e.g. volumetric glassware, hydrometer, pycnometer, thermometer) at intervals of one year or less against standard instruments that have been certified by an independent authority approved by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA). The standard instruments must be calibrated by an independent NATA approved authority at intervals of five years or less'.

Alcoholometers and thermometers may have an inherent inaccuracy in their readings. During calibration, therefore, a correction factor must be calculated for each instrument.

3.4 Weights and scales

One method of determining the volume of liquid in a container is to measure its weight

The Excise Act ² requires that a licensed manufacturer shall at their own expense provide sufficient lights, correct weights and scales, and all labour necessary for weighing material and excisable goods received into, manufactured and stored in their factory.

On receipt of casks, barrels and drums, a licensee is required to record details of their gross weight in their bond records, hence the reason for including scales in plant and equipment.

A licensee can use scales for determining the quantities of alcohol contained in casks, barrels and drums (the procedure for determining quantity by weight is described at Appendix: 11.4).

If a licensee chooses not to independently weigh casks, barrels and drums on receipt to verify the volume of alcohol received, but to accept the supplier's invoiced quantities without verification, they will not be given any consideration for transit losses and will be held accountable for any shortfalls in the volume of alcohol.

Section 6 in this chapter deals with measuring the contents of casks and drums.

Scales are subject to periodic inspection and certification by State Government authorities under the various States' Trade Measurement Acts. It is a legal requirement in every State and Territory that scales used for trade must be certified by an inspector or authorised licensee. A valid certificate of accuracy must be held for all scales and weight measuring equipment.

Distillers and manufacturers who receive alcohol in tankers may also have access to weighbridges. Otherwise volumes delivered by tanker may be measured by flow meter.

Section 4 in this chapter deals with measuring the contents of bulk vessels (including vats and tankers).

Section 4: CALIBRATION OF VESSELS

4.1 Overview

Licensees are required to account for all alcohol and alcoholic products under their control. They are required to account for:

all excisable product manufactured and all under bond excisable product received
all excisable product that has been delivered for home consumption and whether the correct amount of duty has been paid, and
all excisable product on hand so that excise liability can be calculated.

Accounting for excisable product starts from the time when excisable goods are produced:

for fermentable products - from the time fermentation begins
for distilled products - from the time of distillation, and
for received excisable products - from the time of receipt.

In order to meet this requirement, licensees must be able to accurately measure the quantity of excisable product involved through the various stages of manufacture and storage. Historically this has been done by using calibrated tanks.

Tank calibration involves significant cost especially for the micro market segment of the alcohol industry. When assessing the degree of accuracy required for a given excise liability the Tax Office takes into consideration:

the scale of the excise operations involved
practical limitations to calibrating certain vessels, and
alternative methods available.

There are practical issues to be considered when assessing the need for calibration of tanks for the various types of alcoholic products. These issues include:

Beer

Standard production

practical limitations to the calibration of fermenting vessels include

dip sticks require top access to the tank and opening the top hatch on the fermenter may lead to contamination of the product, and
sight glasses are difficult to clean and may cause contamination.

In the traditional method of brewing matured, carbonated and filtered beer is stored in bright beer tanks but the final volume for home consumption is measured at the packaging stage.

Naturally conditioned beers

The fermented beer is stored to allow secondary fermentation to take place in the container.

Although the final strength of naturally conditioned beers is measured after packaging the final volume is measured at the packaging stage.

Delivery from the fermenter directly to the bar

Some licensees use multi-purpose tanks, that is the product is fermented and stored in the same tank. The beer is drawn from the top of the tank and delivered directly to the bar.

Apart from the practical limitations discussed above regarding the calibration of fermenters, dipping of such tanks may be impractical due to the waste dregs which settle on the bottom of the tank and make up between 3.5% and 7% of the apparent volume.

Other excisable beverages

Fermented beverages

The practical limitations discussed regarding the calibration of fermentation vessels for beer apply for all fermented beverages.

Spirit based beverages

There do not appear to be any practical limitations regarding the calibration of storage tanks for other excisable beverages which are spirit based.

Spirits

There do not appear to be any practical limitations regarding the calibration of storage tanks for spirits.

Liqueurs

There do not appear to be any practical limitations regarding the calibration of storage tanks for liqueurs.

Alternative method for measuring volume

Flow meters may not meet accuracy requirements for excise purposes due to physical factors (for example worn blades and build-up of deposit on blades) and process factors (for example flow-rate and viscosity). Periodic recalibration of flow meters is essential for maintaining high accuracy over time. Flow meters, as with other measuring equipment, should have valid certification and, when readings become doubtful, should be recalibrated.

Following consideration of all of the above the Tax Office has adopted a tailored policy regarding the need for calibration of tanks within the various sectors of the alcohol industry.

Taking into account the realities of each sector and their critical points of measurement each sector will have to satisfy the Tax Office that their measurement systems are defensible and accurate and pose no threat to the revenue.

The following subsections apply where calibration of tanks is required. Use of the words vessel, or spirit vessel in any reference in this section, means any vat, tank or other bulk container used at any stage for storage, holding transfer, temporary holding or blending of spirits.

4.2 National Measurement Act

The National Measurement Act 1960 is administered by the National Standards Commission (NSC) and sets certain standards for measuring instruments for example flow meters, dipsticks.

The National Measurement Act requires measuring instruments to be 'pattern approved' as suitable for use in trade.

The NSC or its delegate, is responsible for approving the patterns of instruments and issuing verification certificates. Details of the approval number may then be endorsed on the relevant instrument.

Whether an instrument is pattern approved may be verified by examining the outer surface of the instrument and checking for a nameplate which carries details relevant to that instrument. The instrument should have an NSC mark as follows:

NSC : 5/6B/...

NSC : S

The NSC/5/6B/ mark relates to the actual instrument. For example a meter such as the Oil Impianti SBM 75 meter used by some companies for tank calibration may have an NSC Approval no. 5/6B/71A.

The NSC : S mark relates to auxiliary equipment attached to the instrument. For example temperature compensators or flow controllers which control the calibration factor.

The Tax Office does not have a role in the actual authentication of measuring devices such as meters or dipsticks, or in the actual calibration of tanks and vats.

4.3 Exceptions to the National Measurement Act

There are several types of equipment which the NSC does not yet control by pattern approval. Where such equipment is used in conjunction with the calibration of a spirit vessel, the calibration equipment should have a current certificate of approval (that is less than two years old) issued by a NATA registered authority.

4.4 Pattern approval of spirit vessels

The pattern approved requirements of the National Measurement Act do not extend to the actual calibration of the spirit vessels themselves. Operation of that Act is confined to the measuring devices used in the calibration of the vessels.

The measuring equipment used in association with spirit vessels must therefore be NSC or NATA approved (see section 4.2).

If the calibration of vessels is carried out by a NATA approved authority, the Tax Office will assume that the calibration equipment used is compliant with NSC or NATA standards. The Tax Office only needs to check the currency of calibration equipment if the vessels are being calibrated by an entity not approved by NATA.

4.5 Spirit vessels requiring calibration

New vessels :

All new vessels which are to be used in any stage of spirit operations (storage, holding transfer, temporary holding, blending and so on) are required to be calibrated before they can be accepted for use in such spirit operations.

Existing vessels :

Existing vessels which have previously been calibrated only require re-calibration in the event of:

damage (bumps, dents, bulges and the like) where such damage is sufficient to create doubt as to whether the original calibrations remain accurate, and
variations in measured volumes which indicate a systemic error over an extended period of time where this is sufficient to give concern about the accuracy of declared production or duty liability.

Vessels moved from one site to another :

where fixed vessels (for example vats which are bolted or concreted in one place) are moved from one site to another, whether or not the sites are within the same premises, the re-sited vessels will be treated as new vessels and are required to be re-calibrated before they can be accepted for use in spirit operations
mobile vats, by their very nature, are designed and intended to be moved from one site to another. Tax Office policy is that mobile vats only need to be recalibrated when they have been altered, modified or damaged to an extent that the previous calibrations are brought into question.

Vessels subject to alteration, modification or substantial repair :

Where vessels are altered, modified or repaired to an extent that is likely to affect the accuracy of the original calibration, the tanks are to be treated as new tanks and are to be re-calibrated before they can be accepted for further use in alcohol operations.

4.6 Calibration to be carried out by recognised experts

Calibration is to be carried out by persons with recognised expertise (for example a NATA approved entity). If a licensee has the necessary expertise within their own business to undertake the calibration of their spirit vessels, and they can satisfy the Tax Office regarding the level of that expertise, that calibration will be recognised by the Tax Office subject to the licensee providing a certificate of calibration as follows:

certifying that the equipment used in the calibration complies with NSC pattern approval or NATA certification, and
certifying the accuracy of the calibration and calibration charts prepared in relation to the calibrated vessel.

4.7 Calibration charts

A licensee is required to retain calibration charts and make them available for inspection by the Tax Office as required. Calibration charts will enable the licensee to convert the measurement of the depth of spirit in a container to the volume of spirit in that container.

4.8 Standard drums

For convenience, calibration charts have been produced for standard 200 litre stainless steel drums and standard 200 litre plastic drums (Appendix: 11.5) and may be used with suitably calibrated dip sticks.

These charts are to be used only for standard drums. A number of steel drums contain a poly liner within the steel casing. The calibration chart is not to be used for those drums.

4.9 Expression of calibrated quantities

The calibration of vessels is expressed in the number of litres per millimetre.

Dip sticks or tapes which are used to measure the volume of alcoholic product in a vessel, are to be marked in millimetres so that the vessel can be dipped, the reading in millimetres compared with the calibration chart and the quantity in litres determined.

Some vats may be fitted with a sight glass for a direct level reading. Sight glasses usually consist of a clear tube running vertically the full height of the vat. They are marked with calibrated gradations expressed in litres. Care must be taken when reading a sight glass as the level in the tube may be affected by:

air in the glass tube
surface tension being sufficient to hold the level too high, and
capillary action resulting in the level climbing.

Often sight glasses will have a drain valve and where possible, the contents of the sight glass should be drained and allowed to refill to a current accurate level before taking a reading.

In some instances, the glass may have been broken and replaced by plastic tubing. In such cases the plastic tubing must be securely attached to the vessel to avoid tampering and the calibrated gradations must be clearly marked.

4.10 Care and keeping of equipment

It is a licensee's responsibility to maintain measuring instruments safely and in good order and condition.

Section 5 MEASURING THE CONTENTS OF BULK VESSELS

(INCLUDING VATS AND TANKERS)

A licensee is required to record the following data:

dip stick or sight glass measurement both in millimetres and in litres from the calibration chart
temperature of sample and, if possible, temperature in the centre of the tank, and
alcoholometer indication and apparent strength determined from the Practical Alcohol Tables .

Volume at 20 ° C calculated where applicable using the temperature correction tables contained in the Practical Alcohol Tables .

Procedures for measuring the contents of bulk vessels are detailed at Appendix: 11.3.

Section 6 MEASURING THE CONTENTS OF CASKS,

BARRELS AND DRUMS

Casks barrels and drums are containers that are often irregular in shape. Therefore, the method used to calculate contents must be based on weight.

A licensee is required to record the following data:

gross weight of the cask, barrel or drum, using certified scales (tare weight of the cask, barrel or drum to be deducted to give net weight of spirit in kilograms), and temperature of the sample drawn from the vessel.
alcoholometer indication and apparent strength determined from Practical Alcohol Tables .

Using the tables in Volume 2, Practical Alcohol Tables , where applicable the following is required to be determined and recorded:

strength at 20 ° C, and
density per litre at 20 ° C.

Procedures for measuring the contents of casks, barrels and drums are detailed at Appendix: 11.4. Drum calibration charts are shown at Appendix: 11.5.

Drum calibration charts may be used with suitably calibrated dip sticks, for calculating the contents of standard 200 litre drums of spirit if scales are not available for weighing the drums.

Section 7 QUANTITIES FOR DUTY CALCULATION

For goods cleared on a prepayment excise return in compliance with section 58 of the Excise Act all quantity calculations are to be performed to at least two decimal places of a litre of product or of a litre of alcohol (Lal) as the case may be. The final quantity for duty may be truncated to one decimal place.

For goods cleared on a periodic settlement excise return in compliance with section 61C of the Excise Act, truncation to a single decimal place of the final quantity for duty (at the classification and statistical level) applies to the total deliveries during an accounting period.

APPENDIX 11.1 Alcoholometer illustrated

(section 3 in this chapter)

APPENDIX 11.2 Use of alcoholometer

(section 3.2 in this chapter)

Alcoholometers which comply with Australian Standard 2371/1980 have been approved for the purposes of the Distillation Act. This standard relates to the glass alcoholometer (metric hydrometer) used for the determination of alcoholic strength.

Australian Standard 1006/1995 applies to solid stem general purpose thermometers which are used in conjunction with hydrometers.

Prior to each use, the alcoholometer and thermometer should be inspected to ensure that they are free from damage and are thoroughly clean and dry.

It is particularly important that the alcoholometer and thermometer should be thoroughly cleaned after each use. The alcoholometer and thermometer should be washed in clean water and dried by gentle wiping with a clean cloth.

Detergents must not be used and the alcoholometer must not be rubbed vigorously with the cloth, otherwise static electricity may be generated and affect the accuracy of readings.

A Thorpe's Still may also be required to extract the alcohol from the sample being tested where the specific gravity of the sample is affected by obscuration.

Strength testing steps

Pour the alcohol sample into a glass hydrometer jar or similar glass test cylinder. The sample should be poured down the side of the jar so as to reduce agitation and the formation of air bubbles.
Stir the sample thoroughly to disperse all bubbles. Do not use the thermometer to stir the sample.
Select the alcoholometer with the highest % a/v readings.
Gently lower the alcoholometer into the sample until it feels in equilibrium, and release with a slight spin. The spin is intended to remove any air bubbles sticking to the side of the alcoholometer.

Reading alcoholometer and thermometer scales

The reading is where the surface line intersects the alcoholometer.
Look at the alcoholometer scale from below the surface of the sample and gradually bring your eye level up to just below the surface.
When reading an alcoholometer, always read down to the nearest 0.2 % graduation on the scale (that is if you can't see the next graduation, read down to the previous value), for example 37.3% becomes 37.2% and 37.4% stays at 37.4%. This is the observed strength .
Apply the alcoholometer correction factor (if any). This is the indicated strength .
Use the thermometer to determine the temperature of the sample in degrees Celsius ( ° C). When using a thermometer, read up to the next 0.5 degrees if the thermometer's mercury column exceeds the whole degree or half degree graduation, for example 20.4 ° C becomes 20.5 ° C and 20.0 ° C remains at 20.0 ° C. This is the observed temperature .
Apply the thermometer correction factor (if any). This is the indicated temperature .

Correcting readings to the standard temperature of 20 ° C

Alcoholometers are calibrated to the standard temperature of 20 ° C. You must therefore correct the indicated strength reading to the standard temperature .
Refer to Volume I, Practical Alcohol Tables . The front section of the book consists of temperature correction tables. Ambient temperature is shown across the top of each page and indicated strength is shown down the left hand side of each page.
By cross referencing the readings you can arrive at the apparent strength (sometimes called the corrected strength) which has been corrected to 20 ° C.
Adjust for obscuration. Obscuration is the alcohol obscured or undisclosed by matter such as sugar or colouring in an alcoholic beverage. Add the obscuration to the apparent strength to give the actual strength of the sample. The obscuration figure is normally obtained from the distiller's laboratory test results. Obscuration can be determined independently using a Thorpe's Still.

Example

Using the volume strength reading of the alcoholometer and the temperature reading of the thermometer, you can determine the ethanol strength expressed as a percentage of ethanol by volume at 20 ° C by reference to Volume I, Practical Alcohol Tables contained in AS2371 - 1980.

Observed	Read back	Alcoholometer	Indicated
Alcoholometer reading 60.5%	to nearest sub-division 60.4%	correction factor +0.2%	strength 60.6% a/v

Observed temperature reading			Read to next highest 0.5 ° C
18.7 ° C			19.0 ° C

From tables contained in Vol I select the page where temperature and observed % a/v coincide:

At page 291 of tables

60.6 at 19 ° C = 60.9 a/v at 20 ° C

APPENDIX: 11.3 Measuring the contents of bulk vessels and containers (including vats and tankers)

(section 5 in this chapter)

Procedure

Record the dip stick or sight glass measurement in millimetres.
Refer to the calibration chart for the vessel being dipped and convert the reading to litres.
Draw a representative sample and do strength and temperature tests (see Appendix: 11.2), correcting for instrument error to give an indicated strength .
Refer to Volume 1, Practical Alcohol Tables for the apparent strength .
Record the temperature correction factor from the second section (the complement) to Volume 1, Practical Alcohol Tables using the indicated strength .
Multiply the number of litres determined from the calibration chart by the temperature correction factor. This will give you the volume (in litres) at 20 ° C.
Multiply the volume (in litres) at 20 ° C by the actual strength and this will calculate the number of Lals.

Example:

Vat no.	Dip/- reading	Litres	Temp. of spirit in vat	Temp. of sample ex vat	Indicated strength	Apparent strength	Temp. corr.	Act. Str. inc. 0.3% Obs.	Lal
15	2180	12850	14 ° C	15 ° C	58.4	60.1	1.005	60.4	7800.2

Calculation:
12850 (litres)

x l.005 (T.C.F./litre)

12914.25 (litres of product at 20 ° C)

12914.25 litres x 60.4% = 7800.2 litres of alcohol

APPENDIX 11.4 Determination of volume by weight (including casks, barrels and drums)

(section 3.3 and section 6 in this chapter)

Appendix: 11.3 details the method for calculating litres and Lals using dips and sight glass readings. A similar calculation may be done using weights and density tables.

Procedure

Lower an alcoholometer into the alcohol sample.
Read and record the observed strength (% a/v). Where % a/v does not reach the next graduation, read down to the nearest 0.2%. Apply the alcoholometer correction factor as appropriate. This will give the indicated strength .
Lower a Celsius thermometer into the alcohol sample.
Read and record the temperature in degrees Celsius to 0.5 ° C. When the observed temperature is between graduations, read the temperature up to the next 0.5 ° C (for example 21.7 ° C ? 22.0 ° C).
From Volume 1, Practical Alcohol Tables , select the page where temperature and indicated strength coincide.
Read and record the apparent strength (this is the strength corrected to 20 ° C) from the table.
Refer to the density tables (that is the main table in Volume 2, Practical Alcohol Tables ) and using the apparent strength locate the strength in the body of the table under the 20 ° C column and read the corresponding density from the left column. Density will range from 0.7700 to 1.0000.
Divide the net weight of the product (in kgs.) by the density to obtain the volume, that is the number of litres (mass = volume x density; therefore, volume at 20 ° C = mass ÷ density).
Add the obscuration to the apparent strength to determine the actual strength .
Multiply the number of litres by the actual strength to determine the litres of alcohol (Lals).

The above method would only be suitable for use where the weight or mass in kilograms is known or can be ascertained. For example, it could not be applied to calibrated vats which cannot be weighed.

Example:

Vessel no.	Gross weight	Tare	Net weight	Temp ( ° C)	Indicated strength
10	260	50	210	13.5	59.4%

Apparent strength	Strength in tables under 20 ° C	Density	Litres	Actual strength (inc. 0.3% obscuration).	Lal
61.6%	61.6%	.9055	231.91	61.9%	143.5

APPENDIX: 11.5 Drum calibration charts

(section 4.8 and section 6 in this chapter)

Standard 200 litre stainless steel drum

cm	Litres	cm	Litres	cm	Litres
1	2.5	31	79.5	61	156.4
2	5.1	32	82.0	62	159.0
3	7.6	33	84.6	63	161.5
4	10.2	34	87.2	64	164.1
5	12.8	35	89.7	65	166.7
6	15.3	36	92.3	66	169.2
7	17.9	37	94.8	67	171.8
8	20.5	38	97.4	68	174.4
9	23.0	39	100.0	69	176.9
10	25.6	40	102.5	70	179.5
11	28.2	41	105.1	71	182.1
12	30.7	42	107.7	72	184.6
13	33.3	43	110.2	73	187.2
14	35.9	44	112.8	74	189.7
15	38.4	45	115.4	75	192.3
16	41.0	46	117.9	76	194.9
17	43.6	47	120.5	77	197.4
18	46.1	48	123.1	78	200.0
19	48.7	49	125.6	79	202.6
20	51.2	50	128.2	80	205.1
21	53.8	51	130.8	81	207.7
22	56.4	52	133.3	82	210.3
23	58.9	53	135.9	83	212.8
24	61.5	54	138.4	84	215.4
25	64.1	55	141.0	85	218.0
26	66.6	56	143.6	86	220.5
27	69.2	57	146.1	87	223.1
28	71.8	58	148.7	88	225.7
29	74.3	59	151.3	89	228.2
30	76.9	60	153.8	90	230.8

Standard 200 litre plastic drum

cm	Litres	cm	Litres	cm	Litres
1	2.4	29	69.0	57	135.7
2	4.8	30	71.4	58	138.1
3	7.1	31	73.8	59	140.5
4	9.5	32	76.2	60	142.9
5	11.9	33	78.6	61	145.2
6	14.3	34	81.0	62	147.6
7	16.7	35	83.3	63	150.0
8	19.0	36	85.7	64	152.4
9	21.4	37	88.1	65	154.8
10	23.8	38	90.5	66	157.1
11	26.2	39	92.9	67	159.5
12	28.6	40	95.2	68	161.9
13	31.0	41	97.6	69	164.3
14	33.3	42	100.0	70	166.7
15	35.7	43	102.4	71	169.0
16	38.1	44	104.8	72	171.4
17	40.5	45	107.1	73	173.8
18	42.9	46	109.5	74	176.2
19	45.2	47	111.9	75	178.6
20	47.6	48	114.3	76	181.0
21	50.0	49	116.7	77	183.3
22	52.4	50	119.0	78	185.7
23	54.8	51	121.4	79	188.1
24	57.1	52	123.8	80	190.5
25	59.5	53	126.2	81	192.9
26	61.9	54	128.6	82	195.2
27	64.3	55	131.0	83	197.6
28	66.7	56	133.3	84	200.0

1 Section 50 of the Excise Act.

2 Section 52 of the Excise Act.

ATO references:
NO NAT 14790-04.2006

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