how to get a higher abv%

Hey guys I am a huge fan of ipa's and I have my first batch getting readdy to bottle and its around 5% but for my next batch I want it to be in the range of 6.5-8 abv. What is all the things I can do to raise the alc. Thanks for the help.

sick-cadaver said:

Hey guys I am a huge fan of ipa's and I have my first batch getting readdy to bottle and its around 5% but for my next batch I want it to be in the range of 6.5-8 abv. What is all the things I can do to raise the alc. Thanks for the help.

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more sugar = more alcohol. Add another lb or 2 of dme or lme or dexrose.

badbrew said:

more sugar = more alcohol. Add another lb or 2 of dme or lme or dexrose.

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Does that change flavor at all?

mdineenwob said:

Does that change flavor at all?

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Yes

mdineenwob said:

Does that change flavor at all?

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The dextrose will give you more alcohol without changing much else. It does impart some minor flavors that you may not like but it shouldn't be much. The malts will give more body, flavor and alcohol. Look at this to get an idea:

Beer Calculus . homebrew recipe calculator

You need to compensate by adding more bittering hops to avoid the finished beer being cloying.

Download BeerSmith and set all of the settings to what you're doing (partial/all grain, pre-boil volume, equipment, etc). Enter your recipe into there. 5% is way too low for an IPA.

What you're going to want to do is up the grains or extract as well as the bittering hops. BeerSmith will give you a great approximation of IBUs and OG if you have everything set correctly. The alcohol comes from the malt but in order to not end up with a sweet beer, you need to up the bittering hops as well.

I try to keep my extract, whether it be LME or DME, at around 60% of my malt when doing partial mash. In other words, 60% would be LME/DME while the other 40% are my grains.

5% is not way too low. In Utah, we have 4.0% ABV IPA's that aren't terrible. YMMV.

Adding any fermentable sugar will increase alcohol content in your brew. I would consider finding a recipe that has the ABV that you want rather than take an existing recipe and just increase the sugars.

nebben said:

5% is not way too low. In Utah, we have 4.0% ABV IPA's that aren't terrible. YMMV.

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How so? 4-5% is standard for APAs. IPAs generally have a much higher IBU which would usually require much more malt to achieve a proper balance. Maybe it's not WAY too low but it is too low to be classified as an IPA, IMO.

Doesn't Utah have the law that beer can't be over a certain ABV?

for the most part the ABV will go up when you use more malt. most of the brew calculators will show you the IBUs lowering when you add more malt. Here's a link to one American IPA recipe I've made just to show that you can hit high ABV for an IPA style.

Hopville . "How the Hop are you?!" American IPA Recipe

I know, I know.. different strokes for different folks. but...

I just don't understand the push high ABV's. I guess it's just me. I'm beyond the age where 'being tipsy' is 'where it's at'. I'm in love with sessions where I can have a few without feeling it's time to quit. I've had wonderful IPA's that are less than 5.8%. Granted, I've had some killer ones that are 8+.. but, I definitely only have them on a special occasion.

YMMV.. I know mine does now.. certainly not trying to put a damper on it. But I can have a real good time with friends and my brew buddies with session.

Add a couple of pounds of invert sugar solution (or plain old table sugar solution) to the last 10 minutes of the boil. This will help the beer dry out a bit while providing more fermentable for your yeasts to devour.

HbgBill said:

I know, I know.. different strokes for different folks. but...

I just don't understand the push high ABV's. I guess it's just me. I'm beyond the age where 'being tipsy' is 'where it's at'. I'm in love with sessions where I can have a few without feeling it's time to quit. I've had wonderful IPA's that are less than 5.8%. Granted, I've had some killer ones that are 8+.. but, I definitely only have them on a special occasion.

YMMV.. I know mine does now.. certainly not trying to put a damper on it. But I can have a real good time with friends and my brew buddies with session.

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I'm in the same boat as you. I end up hitting high ABV based on what malts I use just to hit SRM for the style. When it comes to IPAs I'm all for the flavor/aroma. There's no need, but some folks want to see how high they can go.

I made this one about a month ago and it's absolutly amazing!! Definitely on always have some around list! Hops make it a bit pricey but it's amazing! Btw, i am pretty sure I added 1.5-2 lbs of corn sugar instead of just the .75. It still turned out amazing and not boozy at all!
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/pliny-bastid-21229/

I think IPA's benefit greatly from a higher ABV and a little extra residual sugar. As such I would go the route of adding a couple pounds of DME or LME and upping the hops a touch.

Can Malts increase ABV ? Doing a longer boil to extract more natural sugars? Just curious.

Painty said:

Can Malts increase ABV ? Doing a longer boil to extract more natural sugars? Just curious.

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More malts mean more sugars and a higher gravity which can mean more alcohol. Boiling longer makes less wort but increases the gravity mean more potential alcohol.

starrfish said:

Doesn't Utah have the law that beer can't be over a certain ABV?

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Yes, anything on draft or sold in a grocery store can not exceed 4% ABV. or 3.2% ABW (Utah measures it by weight).

Does it suck? Sometimes, but we know we can go to a brewery after work and have a multiple beers with friends and not be drunk. Like having a session beer. And if we want higher % we buy bottled stuff at breweries or liquor stores.

Kokopuff829 said:

More malts mean more sugars and a higher gravity which can mean more alcohol. Boiling longer makes less wort but increases the gravity mean more potential alcohol.

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TY...

JRL said:

Yes, anything on draft or sold in a grocery store can not exceed 4% ABV. or 3.2% ABW (Utah measures it by weight).

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Guess that must be Utah and a few other states. Russian River's Pliny t E is 8% on tap.. Their Belgian Damnation is like 10+% and Mortification is about 11%.

Bear Republic's Black Bear Stout is about 8%..

Thanks for all the replys . Yea I was just trying to make sure I was right about how to raise the abv. I am a new guy and I plan to make great beer lol well atleast try my hardest so any helpful words are great. And I like beer with a higher abv it puts a taste on ur lips extra character . Here in Baltimore we have a good selection of craft beer and most with high abv.so after a while u get used to it u grow a tolerance for high abv. Or Mabey its from the arrogant and lucky bastard I love to drink so much \m/ but what ever it is like u said we all diffrent with diffrent taste .but I don't think a ipa with low abv is a ipa (my opinion) a ipa needs that extra push I thinly lol .. thanxs guys for the teaching

Painty said:

Can Malts increase ABV ? Doing a longer boil to extract more natural sugars? Just curious.

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Just a note - boiling does not extract more natural sugars. Boiling coagulates proteins and extracts alpha acids from hops. It also caramelizes some of the sugars, which makes them less fermentable. It doesn't increase the amount of sugar (though as previously pointed out it reduces volume which may concentrate them unless you top off at the end).

JRL said:

Yes, anything on draft or sold in a grocery store can not exceed 4% ABV. or 3.2% ABW (Utah measures it by weight).

Does it suck? Sometimes, but we know we can go to a brewery after work and have a multiple beers with friends and not be drunk. Like having a session beer. And if we want higher % we buy bottled stuff at breweries or liquor stores.

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So I guess that means that you have a pretty poor selection of beers on tap there. I guess some of the cheap light beers (coors light, miller lite, etc.) may qualify.

Coors, bud and miller are are 4.2% abv, can't even get that! I guess at 2.8% you could get yourself some MGD 64 lite! Poor utah
I guess the big breweries could always just add more water to their beer and it would be exceptable then.

badbrew said:

So I guess that means that you have a pretty poor selection of beers on tap there. I guess some of the cheap light beers (coors light, miller lite, etc.) may qualify.

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Not true. I was out there last year and had quite a few good local beers. If you are looking for specific beers you are accustomed to out of the state, you are SOL, but if you are open minded you'll enjoy what you find.

On the bright side, breweries grain bills should be way cheaper which should lower their cost a bit.

sick-cadaver said:

I am a new guy and I plan to make great beer lol well atleast try my hardest so any helpful words are great.

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Don't worry, you'll get there. It took me a couple batches before I was able to brew anything drinkable and quite a few before I brewed anything I'd consider great. Learning from your mistakes is the only way to get there. Every time you brew you'll realize something you did wrong and the next time you'll be able to fix it. Read as much as you can and, as boring as the scientific stuff may seem, it's very important to understand what exactly is going on. Learn about the different styles and work on them as much as you can until you perfect them. Take notes because the best part of brewing comes when you formulate your own recipes. Good luck!

JRL said:

Yes, anything on draft or sold in a grocery store can not exceed 4% ABV. or 3.2% ABW (Utah measures it by weight).

Does it suck? Sometimes, but we know we can go to a brewery after work and have a multiple beers with friends and not be drunk. Like having a session beer. And if we want higher % we buy bottled stuff at breweries or liquor stores.

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I've read the law and it does say over 4% ABV is 'strong beer.' It's difficult to make a good 4% IPA. It comes out like hop water--I've tried. 7% is where I like it. 1.070 and 70 IBU.

Drinking in Utah is a unique experience....In some cases you can't get a beer without also getting food....then I ordered a "Stong Beer", all 4 or 5% of it, and had to sit in a different part of the bar/restaurant to drink it because it was "strong"....I was like "What?, Really? are you just messing with me because I'm from California??"

The laws here are getting better.

Yeah i recently read that is some areas of Utah customers are actually now allowed to see mixed drinks being prepared!

Matteo57 said:

Coors, bud and miller are are 4.2% abv, can't even get that! I guess at 2.8% you could get yourself some MGD 64 lite! Poor utah
I guess the big breweries could always just add more water to their beer and it would be exceptable then.

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They make 3.2 draft for some states

Getting back to the original topic, you can certainly add more malt extract to raise the ABV. The only issue is that of balance- you need to add more hops to balance more malt.

Think of it this way. You made 1 gallon of spaghetti sauce, but just found out that you need to take 3 gallons to a party. You could add two gallons of tomato sauce, but then it wouldn't be the same spaghetti sauce at all. You'd need to add more oregano, garlic, basil, and so on so it's the "same".

The same is true of your grainbill when you increase the fermentables in your beer. Yes, you'll get more alcohol. But you'll also get more malt flavor, and if you don't balance it out with more hops, it won't be the same beer.

The best way to make a higher ABV beer is to start with the right recipe in the first place, instead of boosting the fermentables in a different recipe.