Increase in alcohol from fruit?

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dharmabuhm

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Is there a guideline for how much the addition of fruit will increase the amount of alcohol in a batch of homebrew?
 
Is this on a FAQ or sticky somewhere? If not, can it be. The question seems to come up weekly.

Roughly 7 gravity points per pound of fruit per gallon of wort.
 
The problem is that it isn't a set number like adding sugar because fruit also adds water. Because of this it effects different beers differently, in a low gravity beer fruit will raise the alcohol, but in a high gravity beer it will actually lower it because it adds a lower ratio of sugar to water than the base beer.
 
The ripeness of the fruit is also a factor. Generally, the more the fruit ripens, the more sugar is present.
 
Fruit runs 4-8 Brix. That's 1.016 to 1.032. As oldsock says, most of the time fruit will reduce the ABV.
 
I don't mean to be cheeky, but does it really matter anyway? Just seems to be a very common question - and it's not like we need to label the bottles with the ABV!

It would generally be a small difference due either way to the increase in water that accompanies the fruit/sugar.
 
Thanks for all the info, especially the "sugar and acid" chart. No, it doesn't really matter to me what the ABV is - but I've got a girlfriend who counts calories so it helps keep me in good standing with her. :)
 
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