my holiday RIS

for christmas this year I decided to brew a RIS and give it out as presents. it was a last minute idea and I just used the LHBS extract recipe. it turned out pretty good (not great but not horrible) it really needs to age and I told everyone who got a bottle that it is drinkable right now but would really benefit from age. anyway, this is all besides the point. a bomber of this stuff seems to get me pretty tipsy; much more tipsy than a 7.4 ABV beer should. enough to make me think this stuff isn't 7.4 at all but that I got a poor OG reading. I got an OG of 1.082 at about 78-80 degrees (if i remember correctly) and an FG of 1.023 which gives me 7.4 abv... but I don't know if that is right. the recipe called for 11 pounds of LME for a 5 gallon batch (with about 2 pounds of steeping grains). is there any way I can find out that a theoretical OG of a 5 gallon batch with 11 pounds of LME should be? I just really feel like I'm off on this one.

LME is roughly 37 ppg. 37*11 (lb)= 407. 407/5 (gal) = 81.4, or 1.0814. Add the steeping grains and adjust your hydro reading, and you're pretty close.

well I guess my mixing and hydrometer are pretty good. I don't know what it is about this stuff but it just knocks me down after a bomber. thank you for clearing that up though. I'll have to remember that conversion. (i had to type this real slow to avoid mistakes )

I mentioned adjusting your hydro reading, but I didn't really mention how. A reading at 80F is going to be about .002 low, so if you read 1.082, it would really be closer to 1.084. That gets you up to 8% ABV, if that makes you feel any better.

I remember correcting for temperature, I just can't remember exactly what temp I had (I didn't take any notes on brew day). I just have to remember to drink these ones a litle slower. thanks again for the help!

7.5%-8% ABV is deceptively strong. We're talking twice as strong as your typical session beer. So theoretically a 22oz bomber would probably be the equivilent of drinking 4 BMC type beers. And if you've drank that in the timespan of what you would normally drink 1-2 beers... then ya, it can slam you pretty hard.

oh I know, but usually they don't get me like these. a bomber of double bastard or a barley wine or something else store bought that strong or stronger just doesn't seem to do the same. not that I'm complaining or anything. after giving them out I only have a few left so being able to enjoy just one and get a nice buzz all at the same time is a win win if you ask me.

maybe it's just the fact that this is the biggest beer I've made. (I usually keep my brews around 5ish%) so I'm just not used to my beer getting me like this.

Maybe you are subconciously realizing how much cheaper your bomber is than a bomber of double bastard so you're drinking it faster!

Cheaton said:

Maybe you are subconciously realizing how much cheaper your bomber is than a bomber of double bastard so you're drinking it faster!

Click to expand...

I think we have a winner!!:rockin: