Boosting alcohol

As my first batch draws closer to bottling date (only one more week) I'm really surprised about how relaxed I have been throughout since pitching the yeast. I had my concerns about the rate of bubbling throughr the airlock but I really only check it once a day to be sure it hasn't made a mess. My concern now has moved on to my next batch.

I'm going to be doing a Newcastle clone for #2 and ill do it by the recipe but an interesting question was posed by a good friend. What about ABV%? How can I bring it up? I know adding fermentibles will boost the level BUT how will that affect the flavor? Does the sugar you add depend on the yeast? I think my third batch will be a bit of tinkering so any advice would be great!

You can't boost ABV significantly without altering the flavor. You can usually get an appx. 1% increase without too noticeable of a taste change, by adding a pound of sugar with 5 minutes to go in your boil. It will have a bit of a drying effect on the finished beer, I usually get 0.002 points lower on final gravity with a sugar addition.

adding more extract will increase abv. If you increase the abv you may need to make a yeast starter.

Boosting ABV usually requires longer conditioning times and higher chances of stressed yeast and off flavors. Friends always want to do high gravity beers but they don't really understand what that entails. My advice is to get that idea out of your head and worry about flavor first.

dbsmith said:

Boosting ABV usually requires longer conditioning times and higher chances of stressed yeast and off flavors. Friends always want to do high gravity beers but they don't really understand what that entails. My advice is to get that idea out of your head and worry about flavor first.

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^That!!!

dbsmith said:

Boosting ABV usually requires longer conditioning times and higher chances of stressed yeast and off flavors. Friends always want to do high gravity beers but they don't really understand what that entails. My advice is to get that idea out of your head and worry about flavor first.

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I'm not looking for huge spikes. It's flavor first, everything else second. I'm just looking in to it for reference. I know a LHB'er that consistently produces excellent beers in the 6-9% range and if I can hit that quality with an ABV nearly double where I am now it'd last longer! Ha!

I had looked at sugar and, according to the online calculators, it would take 5 lbs of corn sugar just to get in his range so I'm curious what his secret is. Anyways, advice heard. Ill stick with making good beer.

I misread your question and thought you wanted to boost an existing recipe a little bit.

Making a 8-9% beer is not hard but it takes some more equipment than normal. You need more yeast and more oxygen. You'd need a yeast starter to get more yeast cells and you'd need a way to get your oxygen level in the wort over 8ppm, so the yeast can function properly. maybe yud need a pure O2 system if you're looking at 8%< beer if you want to be consistent. Off flavors are caused by the yeast being stressed.

If you've got that taken care of just increase the grains and extract until your OG is high enough. Just as an example, take the Newcastle recipe and increase everything by 50% but keep water the same. The ABV will be higher but it'll taste different than the real thing.

cpesko said:

has anyone else's bottles been exploding?

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This guy did have one batch that would shoot beer everywhere like he shook them up. I assume now that he had too much sugar in his bottles...

I added a booster to my first batch and wasn't to pleased I did so. It was a fat tire clone and tasted close to the real deal except for the alcohol hint in the finish. Everyone liked it but I dont think I will ever boost again. What a stupid thing I did to my first batch. More ABV does not equal better flavor just more alcohol. Sometimes the lessons you learn are best taught by yourself. Have fun!

mufflerbearing said:

I added a booster to my first batch and wasn't to pleased I did so. It was a fat tire clone and tasted close to the real deal except for the alcohol hint in the finish. Everyone liked it but I dont think I will ever boost again. What a stupid thing I did to my first batch. More ABV does not equal better flavor just more alcohol. Sometimes the lessons you learn are best taught by yourself. Have fun!

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Yeah. I figured it wasn't best to boost a clone. I may worry about tweaking that later when I've established an ability to tweak recipes to get a flavor profile that I'm looking for. As of right now I haven't even bottled my first batch yet...

cpesko said:

has anyone else's bottles been exploding?

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The usual cause of exploding bottles (bottle bombs) is not giving the beer enough time or the proper conditions to complete the fermentation before adding priming sugar and bottling. Adding too much priming sugar is another possibility but it takes quite a bit extra to do that. The third possibility is dirty bottles that harbor something that infects the beer and eats sugars that normal beer yeast can't. I've had 2 (out of over 1000) that had residue that didn't get all cleaned out that exploded. Fortunately they were well contained (as are all my bottles) and no glass went flying.

You don't need a starter to brew stronger beers. What you need is more viable yeast. A starter is just one way to do it. You can also use more yeast packets. Another way would be to brew a 1.050 beer, transfer it to secondary as soon as you hit your FG, and add the high-gravity wort to the yeast cake. You have some options for the yeast.

As for making high gravity beers, you just need more fermentable sugars. Most American style strong beers get this by adding more malt. Many beers include adjuncts. But if you want a full or medium mouthfeel, adjuncts are out.

If you want to brew a strong beer but aren't sure about the recipe, consider buying a kit for a stronger beer.

If you have a recipe that you want to boost up, as others have said, you can simply add more grain (if AG) or more extract. Keep in mind that gravity will also effect your hop utilization so hopping rates also have to be increased to stay close to flavor.

One easy to do boost to gravity is boil your wort longer to reduce the amount of water in it. Change from a 60 minute boil to a 90 minute boil, for example. The measurement is alcohol by volume, so you either increase the alcohol or reduce the volume that is not alcohol. This longer boil will lead to a higher degree of caramelized sugars, which is acceptable in some styles. It will also effect your hops, so you may have to slightly reduce the amount of hops used.

I'm gonna disagree with the consensus a bit here. Simply adding grain or extract will increase the abv but it will also increase your final gravity. Remember, malt is not 100% fermentable and therefore a percentage of the malt will not be consumed by the yeast and will be left behind as residual sugars. This can lead to cloyingly sweet beer if used in excess.

I also don't agree that adding sugar or dextrose will lead to a change in flavor as long as your smart about it. Many, if not most, Belgian beers use sugar as part of the grist. Using up to around 10% sugar should not have an affect on flavor. Now, from my experiences, when you add the sugar is more important.

Sugar is 100% fermentable and easier to consume by yeast. I've found that adding during the boil can lead to a perception of alcohol heat or burn. By letting the beer ferment for a few days and adding the sugar a few days in, the yeast will have eaten the majority of the harder to consume malt (main course) and will then focus their attention to the sugar (dessert). You'll end up with a stronger beer, with a smooth, although perhaps slightly thinner finish.

cpesko said:

has anyone else's bottles been exploding?

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If you're having this problem, then you didn't let the beer fully ferment before bottling, or you added WAY too much sugar at priming. Either way, be CAREFUL!! exploding bottles are a good way to get yourself seriously hurt. IF you have some protective eyeware, and maybe some gloves, I would suggest popping the cap (SLOWLY) on each bottle, letting it sit (covered loosely) for about 10 mins, then recapping. This should relieve the pressure in the bottles, and get some of the carbonation out of the beer.