is it possible i made low to non alcoholic beer?

I keep drinking my beer in significant quantity, but I'm pretty sure I'm dead sober or near it after 5 or 6.

My temps were a bit off but nothing crazy. I probably over cooled the wort to around 60 before adding water that was a little too warm.

Plan was to keep the fermenter in water that was 60 - 65, but it was closer to 72. When I finally got ice to bring it down, it would swing down to low 60s, then creep back up, then I'd bring it back down.

I didn't rehydrate the yeast either.

It took awhile to get the bubbling going out of the top, and it didn't last long. Probably bubbled from day 3 to day 4.

Oh I measured the OG and FG like an idiot with the hydrometer directly in the fermenter, so for the FG reading it was hitting the bottom, thus I believe making that reading irrelevant....

I let it ferment for 2 weeks.

Without the OG and FG we can't know.

i'm working on the next half dozen, if i'm not boozed up by then it's definitely crap.

Does it taste good? If so its not a total lose. Yeah yeah eyes didnt cross but if it taste good then ya made something. I will be honest theres been days where i drink and drink and be like what is this water? Then other times i cant even talk right. Might have drank yourself sober. Back off a bit give that liver a break!

I heard (on a pod cast) it was tough to make a great tasting, low alcohol beer, that you really have to be on your game to do so. Congrats, you either made a cool mistake or your tolerance is way up. Some days I can sniff a beer and get chatty, other days I can't seem to catch the buzz. Did you eat alot today, or is this the case everyday with this batch? Nonetheless, enjoy it.

What was the OG? If it was a kit, what OG did the kit say it should be.

Next bottle, pour some of the beer into an hydrometer jar and let it go a little flat, and take the reading. That will be your FG.

Having the OG and FG will enable you to figure out the alcohol.

If you don't have an hydrometer jar, you might be able to use the tube the hydrometer is packed in.

What beer did you make and what equipment are you using? Must be small for the hydrometer to hit the bottom. Was it Mr. Beer? The basic Mr. Beer kits (1 can + booster) only produces a 3.6% abv beer. Compare that to standard Bud at 5%, would mean you need to drink 40% more to get the same effect, or drink 7 Mr. Beers vs. 5 Buds.

Calder, good points and good questions. OG was 1.05.

OG said it should be 1.05.

I made red ale. I used a brewer's best kit. The carboy I dunno it had plenty of room to the top even when filled w/ 5 gallons of beer.

Good point thinking about what the ABV was supposed to be, but I checked and it's supposed to be 5-5.5, which I really don't think it is.

Anyway I agree with what others have said on this thread, essentially I made drinkable beer my first time out, I learned a lot, and just by correcting the small handful of mistakes I made the first time, I'm sure the 2nd will be that much better.

A little math will tell you exactly what you have.

Since you don't have an accurate FG, the next time you open one, pour some in your test jar, let it warm up a bit, then stir it up. That knocks out some of the c02 bubbles than can hold up the hydrometer. Then take a reading.

To figure ABV, the formula is (OG-FG) x 131

If you bottle conditioned, you'll have an additional .25% from adding the priming sugar to the bottles.

So, your OG was 1.050. Once you know your FG, you can figure it out easily.

Say your FG is 1.016. Then, it's (1.050- 1.016) x 131 + .25%

So, it'd be 4.7% ABV if the FG is 1.016.

As a practical matter, I doubt you could drink a bottle of unfermented wort and not notice. It really is cloyingly sweet until the yeast get to it.

Thanks.

It's in a keg but I followed your advice.

(1.05 - 1.007) X 131= 5.63

I guess I'm just awesome at drinking.

JLivermore said:

Thanks.

It's in a keg but I followed your advice.

(1.05 - 1.007) X 131= 5.63

I guess I'm just awesome at drinking.

Click to expand...

I guess that's true.

One thing to mention is that homebrew seems to not affect me that much either. I mean, not like commercial beers. I don't mean the alcohol so much, but I never, ever, ever get a hangover from homebrew. But three bottles of beer at the bar? I feel like crap the next day. I think it's the B-vitamins and the living yeast and the freshness of the homebrew.

Now, I can drink quite a few 5.6% beers and not feel it. But I'm an accomplished drinker, and put 'em away with the best of them. You might not be a lightweight, either! But ABV really doesn't matter, if the beer tastes good. As you get more experience with process and ingredients, the beers will get better and better.

Clearly there is a quality-of-booze to likelihood-of-hangover inverse relationship, and that's actually the main reason I want to brew beer, to make really good beer!

J, if you want you can send the beer to me and I will run it through an all inclusive regimen of scientific (very scientific) digestive tests.