Does alcohol content rise after bottling?

Hi everyone,

First brew, alcohol content is around 3.5% according to my hydrometer. I added 5 oz corn sugar priming sugar to the bottling bucket with 5 gallons of my beer and bottled it up. Will the ABV rise during the two-four weeks the bottles will be sitting? If so by roughly how much? One last thing, my brew smells great, looks great, but tastes a bit off before I bottled it - does the taste improve while sitting in the bottles? (obviously it wasn't carbonated or cold when I tried it before bottling)

Thanks,

Dave

How did you determine the alcohol content of your beer. Did you use the OG-FGX131 formula or by your potential alcohol scale? We get this question so many times, usually because the new brewer used the pot alcohol scale (which we don't use in brewing beer) instead of the proper way. I can't think of any kits that are truly that low.....

In answer to your question the standard 5oz of priming sugar would have an impact of maybe 0.002 on the gravity. So oo2% additional alcohol. Which no hydrometer will ever show as changed FG in the carbonated beer.

It is great to taste and smell your brew before it is finished, like when you bottle it or other points along the process that you can duplicate. It will eventually give you good reference information for future brews. It is also a good idea to tast and smell your malt and your yeast. Beer needs to condition in a bottle at least several weeks before you drink it. There are lots of opinions how long, and there are lots of folks who think that their beer is ready the second that it becomes carbonated at all. I would say that most folks would condition three weeks. Take your time, especially hard on the first few brews, but you will be rewarded with a better tasting end product most times. I have a number of beers that I condition 6 weeks and one that I don't drink for three months. I also feel strongly that my high hop beers, especialy APA's start to show significant deterioration three months after they complete a 3 weeks condition.
As for further alcohol development in the bottle....you have yeast and fermentable along with some 02 so there will be some additional fermentation and therefore some additional alcohol but not that you will ever be able to measure with a homebrew hydrometer. No matter what elses there is, there isn't enough 02 to do much more than carbonate.

zywo said:

i added 5 oz corn sugar priming sugar to the bottling bucket with 5 gallons of my beer and bottled it up. Will the abv rise during the two-four weeks the bottles will be sitting? If so by roughly how much?

Click to expand...

.27% ABV rise

Revvy said:

How did you determine the alcohol content of your beer. Did you use the OG-FGX131 formula or by your potential alcohol scale? We get this question so many times, usually because the new brewer used the pot alcohol scale (which we don't use in brewing beer) instead of the proper way. I can't think of any kits that are truly that low.....

Click to expand...

I used both the potential alcohol scale and the OG-FGX131 method, both were about the same reading. (5.5% original, ~2% final) and (1.041-1.014)*131