boosting alcohol

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Movinfr8

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Hi, am on my 3rd brew, second Apfelwein:rockin: , and the beer(brown ale) is coming out to about 3% abv. SWMBO and I:mug: would like a tad more kick:drunk: , so can I add some corn sugar during the boil? after the boil? if so, about how much translates to 2% boost to about 4.5-5%??
Norm
 
What's your recipe like? I would rather add some DME but you can add about 1.5-2lb to boost the alcohol level. If the beer tastes good, that's all that matters, IMO. You want to add the sugar during the boil, are you doing full volume? If your doing something like 3 gal boil add it during the last 10 min.
 
Iordz said:
What's your recipe like? I would rather add some DME but you can add about 1.5-2lb to boost the alcohol level. If the beer tastes good, that's all that matters, IMO. You want to add the sugar during the boil, are you doing full volume? If your doing something like 3 gal boil add it during the last 10 min.

I used Munton's Old Ale kit, 1/2 oz cascade hops, and 2 lbs of DME this time. that will probably be the standard recipe for this beer. may go with 3 lbs DME and add 1-2 lob sugar next time.
 
ok, I just got a hydrometer before this last kit, so the OG was 1.044 (corrected) also, I did a batch last Saturday, would it be crazy to rack it to secondary and add a couple pounds of sugar and do another pirmary fermentation? would there be enough yeast? could I just add it to the primary?
Could I be any more of a dummy?
Norm
p.s. I'll do a hyd. reading and get ya'll a current FG in a few minutes...
 
1st....who cares what the ABV is if the beer tastes good?

2nd....if you wanted to boost the ABV, I would agree with the DME, especially since it's a brown ale. Depending on how much you add, you may want to add a little bit more hops to but since it's a brown ale I wouldn't be all that concerned about that...it's just something to think about.
 
Just tried to do a FG, and after breaking the hydrometer, I tasted the wort, and it wouldn't need any more hops, for sure! maybe a tad bitter, actually.
I think I'm gonna go for it and add at least a pound of corn sugar, rack it to another container, and let it ferment another week, order another hydrometer, and see what I have..
anybody think that'd be a bad idea?
 
If you add the sugar straight to the wort it will take long to dissolve and it is not necessarily sanitary. The least you can do is boil the corn sugar in a little water for about 15min, to sterilize it.
 

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