Adding a little alcohol to boil?

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klay23

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Thinking of adding a little something to this oatmeal stout? Nothing crazy, just boost the alc content without affecting taste. Any ideas of how to do this without affecting anything or has worked well for anyone? Help a noob out please. If this is a bad idea, say so. DO NOT want to jack it up

What would adding the priming sugar to boil do? I keg, so it's unneeded

Have NOT brewed yet
 
5 ozs of priming sugar in 5 gallons will increase abv by about 0.25%.

Up to half a pound of sugar (corn or table sugar) will not affect the taste of the beer much, and will boost alcohol. Some beers can support more; in fact, some need more, but you really need to understand what you are doing before adding too much, so I'd suggest restricting it to a half pound for now.

Some additional extract would be better, increasing the malt flavor with the alcohol
 
Any alcohol added to the boil would boil off and not increase the abv at all. If you want a beer with a higher abv brew one with a higher OG.
 
using lactose will give you alcohol and some light sweetness. Milk stouts use this.
 
Calder said:
5 ozs of priming sugar in 5 gallons will increase abv by about 0.25%.

Up to half a pound of sugar (corn or table sugar) will not affect the taste of the beer much, and will boost alcohol. Some beers can support more; in fact, some need more, but you really need to understand what you are doing before adding too much, so I'd suggest restricting it to a half pound for now.

Some additional extract would be better, increasing the malt flavor with the alcohol
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Thank you, I may try this. Milk maybe? Noob here, only a few boils under my belt
 
klay23 said:
No ****... Looking for answers like the rest of the guys. Thanks for the help.
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Am I reading your response right? Are you upset with me because of my response? I meant no disrespect. If I offended you, please accept my apology, as it was not intended.
 
Yeah, came off a Lil crappy honestly.

I was looking for a small boost at no sacrifice to taste. As you read in my first post. I'm trying to do it as intelligently as possible, or not at all. Apology accepted though. Cheers
 
What about vodka? I'm sure someone's done this. Lol.

I'm not one of them, but I bet someone has, haha
 
klay23 said:
Yeah, came off a Lil crappy honestly.

I was looking for a small boost at no sacrifice to taste. As you read in my first post. I'm trying to do it as intelligently as possible, or not at all. Apology accepted though. Cheers
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No worries my friend. Honestly, adding any kind of adjunct that will not effect the flavor would increase the abv so little that I'd be willing to say that you'd notice no appreciable difference.
 
Your title does say "adding alcohol to boil" so I understand where johnsma was confused. I was a little confused myself, but I have come to the conclusion you are already fermenting and just want to boost the ABV because you weren't happy with the OG. As others stated you may be better off adding DME so as not to thin it too much.
 
I'd add a little extract instead of sugar to the boil. It will balance out the alcohol with malt flavor. You'll also want to increase the hops slightly, to balance out the malt.

As was mentioned, adding alcohol to the boil would just boil the alcohol off. But, you could add vodka to the beer after fermentation to give it extra kick. I don't think I'd try it, but that's just me.
 
klay23 said:
Haven't brewed yet.... Sorry for the confusion
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In that case it should be pretty easy to just bump the base grain (or the extract) a little being mindful you may need to bump the hops too. If you change the recipe a lot you may need to adjust your specialy grains to get the flavor/color.
 
Well I am not really sure why you would want to add milk to a beer. To get alcohol the yeast eats sugars and oxygen and poops out alcohol and co2. I don't think there is a lot of sugar in milk, plus have you ever seen what happens to a glass of milk if left out for a couple of days. It gets nasty. I wouldn't want that in my beer.
 
comer88888 said:
Well I am not really sure why you would want to add milk to a beer. To get alcohol the yeast eats sugars and oxygen and poops out alcohol and co2. I don't think there is a lot of sugar in milk, plus have you ever seen what happens to a glass of milk if left out for a couple of days. It gets nasty. I wouldn't want that in my beer.
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That's why I asked. Sounds kinda gross put that way
 
you say youre doing the midwest oatmeal stout kit? you could easily add a few pounds of extract, but you may want to adjust the hops to compensate. i would think you could add a pound of DME without affecting flavor much, but the ABV bump wont be alot. other sugars like honey or maple syrup could also make interesting additions.
 
When I first started brewing I got a kit from midwest like you and added a bunch of honey to boost my alcohol levels. It was a bad idea. The beer was not that good. Now I just stick to the recipes. If you want to make higher Alcohol beers then get a recipe that has the right balance so it doesn't taste bad. that is my 2 cents but you can give it a try. You could just drink one more beer instead of have something that could taste bad but have a high alcohol content.
 
You could add a lb of DME and adjust your hop schedule for a little more bitterness w/o needing more. Like if the recipe calls for 1 oz hops at 60 and 1 at 20...could change it to 1.25 oz at 60 and .75 at 20 mins. That would bitter it a little more to compensate for the additional malt.

I would download the free trial of Beersmith2 and plug the ingredients into that, then play around with it.
 
strambo said:
You could add a lb of DME and adjust your hop schedule for a little more bitterness w/o needing more. Like if the recipe calls for 1 oz hops at 60 and 1 at 20...could change it to 1.25 oz at 60 and .75 at 20 mins. That would bitter it a little more to compensate for the additional malt.

I would download the free trial of Beersmith2 and plug the ingredients into that, then play around with it.
Click to expand...

I downloaded Beertarget today- it's Open Source (free). Brewmate as well. Seems to be debate as to which program is better, but tons of options (been very helpful for me in analyzing cause and effect the short way ;) ).
 
When I brew a beer with a low OG, I'll add corn sugar to the secondary to boost the alcohol. This will alow the the yeast to work away at the malt sugars and it doesn't seam to thin out the taste.
 
klay23 said:
What about vodka? I'm sure someone's done this. Lol.

I'm not one of them, but I bet someone has, haha
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This is actually a pretty good solution. Make the kit as per the instuctions. After it is done fermenting if you still want to increase the alcohol, just add the vodka to your bottling bucket.

This was you don't have to worry about adding sugars, DME, and adjusting your hop schedule.
 
Newbeerguy said:
This is actually a pretty good solution. Make the kit as per the instuctions. After it is done fermenting if you still want to increase the alcohol, just add the vodka to your bottling bucket.

This was you don't have to worry about adding sugars, DME, and adjusting your hop schedule.
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How much would you add? Don't want a vodka taste though, I was Just thinking about whatever since it seems like about everything has been thrown in to someone's brew at one point or another...:mug:
 
BobC said:
When I brew a beer with a low OG, I'll add corn sugar to the secondary to boost the alcohol. This will alow the the yeast to work away at the malt sugars and it doesn't seam to thin out the taste.
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How much to add to a secondary? What if I had a witbier in the fermenter at he moment?? :D
 
If it was me I would leave this batch alone and pour the vodka into a shot glass, drink it, and chase it with your beer.. Meanwhile, order a kit with a higher OG/ABV..
 
Stauffbier said:
If it was me I would leave this batch alone and pour the vodka into a shot glass, drink it, and chase it with your beer.. Meanwhile, order a kit with a higher OG/ABV..
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Lol, we have that answer already. This is curiosity guys, nothing more. I will not ruin this beer. I look forward to the original, curiosity at its best only...:mug:
 
Yes, adding to a boil means adding to a boil. You asked about "Adding a little alcohol to boil?". You don't add any alcohol to a boil, hence the people wondering what the heck you're talking about. Don't get mad at me for what you wrote.
 
sudsmcgee said:
Yes, adding to a boil means adding to a boil. You asked about "Adding a little alcohol to boil?". You don't add any alcohol to a boil, hence the people wondering what the heck you're talking about. Don't get mad at me for what you wrote.
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No worries... :mug:

Pretty sure someone's added alcohol to the boil, didn't do them any good probably, but I bet someone has. I agree my wording is a little confusing. But, cant change the title or I would
 

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