High Gravity Hefe... <crazy>

**FSR402** · 08-20-2007, 12:35 PM

I made a very simple Hefe-Weizen that had an SG of 1.05 and an FG of 1.010 giving it an ABV of 5.2%. No big deal right?
Well then I racked it onto 6# of strawberries, that night it fermented so hard that it blow the airlock and bung across the room. I then stuck in a 1.25dia blowoff tube in and for the next 2 days it was pushing berries up the tube.
I have no idea how much sugar the berries added to this thing but one thing I do knw is that after drinking about 32oz of it I have a buzz.

I took a gallon of it to a party this past weekend and one of my buddies had a glass (22oz) of it. When he first tasted it he said, "I don't think I like this, it's just strange." By the time he finished the class he was saying "Man, this stuff is good, I'm even starting to feel it."

Is there any way to find out what it is now? I have a tripple that is at 9% and it does not hit me like this stuff does.

**FlyingHorse** · 08-20-2007, 01:40 PM

Strawberries are about 7% sugar, or a potential of maybe 3 points per lb per gallon. The fruit barely moved the needle on your alcohol level.

http://tomsaaristo.com/strawberries.html

Quote:

Just how sweet are strawberries? Harold McGee, food scientist and author of The Curious Cook [North Point, 1990], lists the average sugar content of strawberries at 7 percent--well above lemons [2 percent], on par with cantaloupe and raspberries, and significantly under blueberries [11 percent] and pineapple, which tops the chart at 13 percent.

Funkenjaeger · 08-20-2007, 02:22 PM

Do you have a refractometer and a hydrometer? If you use both of them together, you can calculate ABV of a finished beer (as well as predict the OG, which can be useful for trying to develop a clone recipe of something)

As for the sugar level, did you use just strawberries, or did you use the frozen ones that come in sugar-added syrup? The latter would probably add quite a bit to your ABV, while the former (as Bike N Brew said) may not.

**FSR402** · 08-20-2007, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evandude

Do you have a refractometer and a hydrometer? If you use both of them together, you can calculate ABV of a finished beer (as well as predict the OG, which can be useful for trying to develop a clone recipe of something)

As for the sugar level, did you use just strawberries, or did you use the frozen ones that come in sugar-added syrup? The latter would probably add quite a bit to your ABV, while the former (as Bike N Brew said) may not.

no just the berries that I cooked at 180* in 2 cups of water for 30 minutes, then chilled and racked onto them.