Testing alcohol content?

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buffalo

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I'm sorry if this has been asked a million times here before but i am looking for information on how to find out the alcohol content on cider. I am going to start my first batch next week and have read that there are some measurments that need to be taken at the beginning but i'm not sure what is needed,how to do it. If anyone could give me a link to a post about this or walk me through it i would really appreciate it.
 
buffalo said:
I'm sorry if this has been asked a million times here before but i am looking for information on how to find out the alcohol content on cider. I am going to start my first batch next week and have read that there are some measurments that need to be taken at the beginning but i'm not sure what is needed,how to do it. If anyone could give me a link to a post about this or walk me through it i would really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

All you need is a hydrometer. But it's easier if you also have a test jar (a long skinny jar with a flat bottom) so you can bend over and read it at eye level with the test jar on the counter. I think a hydrometer is about $5 and a hydrometer test jar is about $3.
 
Test jar and hydrometer. Test jar is 14.5 inches long.

IMG_7302.jpg


Test jar filled with water. Note that I left space at the top.

IMG_7304.jpg


Fuzzy closeup of hydrometer in test jar. Note that a lot of the space is taken up now that the hydrometer is in the water.

IMG_7305-1.jpg


How to read a hydrometer.

reading.jpg
 
Oh, and a decent formula to go by:

% Alcohol = (((1.05*(OG-FG))/FG)/0.79)*100

Where OG is original (or starting) Gravity, and FG is Final (or current) Gravity.
 
UpstateMike said:
Oh, and a decent formula to go by:

% Alcohol = (((1.05*(OG-FG))/FG)/0.79)*100

Where OG is original (or starting) Gravity, and FG is Final (or current) Gravity.
Click to expand...

I didn't acually do the math to figure out how close your method would be to my method, but what I do is (OG-FG)*131=ABV
 
beninan said:
I didn't acually do the math to figure out how close your method would be to my method, but what I do is (OG-FG)*131=ABV
Click to expand...
Given that OG is 1.072, and FG is 1.000,
Your method = 9.43% ABV
My method = 9.57% ABV
 
Thanks guys for the help,i got a Test Cylinder today so once my setup arrives and i get it together i will use your info to get my starting measurment. I'm hoping to start a batch this weekend if all goes as planned.
 

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