calculating alcohol %

Hey all,
Ive been reading threads on here for ages, have got some good ideas on what to an not to do. keep up the awsome work it makes brewing alot easyer.

First question i have is, is the alcohol% on a shop brought beverage apv or someting else?

Also i am wondering, is there a SIMPLE equation that you can use to calculate the aprox apv or % to use before brewing, to work out aprox final %, assuming all the sugars have been eatin by the yeasteys?

Am planning on test batching some 3 litre hard cider, want to work out how much sugar to add, taking into account the around 10.3% sugar already in the apple juice and want to get between 8 and 10% finished product.

cheers

The alcohol % is usually alcohol by volume (ABV)

Try looking into some brew software like beersmith. You can input recipes into that am it will calculate the approximate outcome of various recipes. I believe they have a free trial you can use for 30 days, if memory serves.

As billy said, Beersmith is an amazing tool that has the intricacies. The little "potential ABV" thing you most hydrometers is useless since almost no beer will ever get 100% conversion.

The way to do it on a hydrometer is to take the potential alcohol on the scale at the OG and subtract from it the potential alcohol on the scale for the FG.

try using the tastybrew abv calculator off the net.

Awsome, beersmith is exzactly what i needed thanks guys. Something simple

Here is a simple equation to determine ABV% yourself:

Example scenario:

OG 1.055
FG 1.010

.055 - .010 = .045 x 133 = 5.985%ABV (so I'd call that ~6%ABV)

And this is a great free recipe calculator app that I use and like:

http://beercalculus.hopville.com/recipe