Abv problem

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Aschecte

Brewtus Maximus
HBT Supporter
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
1,673
Reaction score
64
Location
Florida
Well I definately messed up in my excitment making my first apflwein I forgot to take my OG to get my final abv in the end. I used 5 gallons AJ 2lbs corn sugar and lalvin ec-1118 yeast. in edworts recipe he says the Og is 1.066 but I obviously don't know mine. is there any other way to find what the abv is wether by instrument or other calculation? Thanks.
 
Since there's no efficiency issues with this, I'd say you're probably pretty close to edwort's OG as long as your measurements are correct. Plus, since you've already introduced the yeast, you can't really go back and take an OG reading.

The FG is a different story as there will be other factors that can affect attenuation.
 
wow I used brewcalculas and I really think i got it wrong according to the calc at 40 lbs of AJ ( 8lbs per gallon) with 2lbs corn sugar it says I will be about 42% abv that can't be right and it says my OG is 1.428
 
I think you have to assume that the apple juice comes in at about 1.046 (the gravity of 1 lb of sugar dissolved in 1 gal. of water). I remember reading something about it here. From that you can calculate how much the sugar you added would increase that.

(Potential x weight)/volume = gravity increase
So for corn sugar at 46 potential, that gives you:
(46 x 2lbs)/5gal = 18.4
Add that to your 1.046 and you wind up at around 1.064. If you assume that you will ferment down all the way to 1.000 (which it probably will, if not lower), that gives you about 8.4% alc.

This is all an estimation. If you've got any apple juice left over you could measure the gravity of it, or you could take a look at the bottle and try to figure out how much sugar is in there from the nutrition facts. Also, if you added the entire 5 gals of apple juice and the sugar, the sugar will displace some volume, and you'll actually wind up at more than 5 gal, which would drop your ABV, but not by a terrible lot.
 
I think you have to assume that the apple juice comes in at about 1.046 (the gravity of 1 lb of sugar dissolved in 1 gal. of water). I remember reading something about it here. From that you can calculate how much the sugar you added would increase that.

(Potential x weight)/volume = gravity increase
So for corn sugar at 46 potential, that gives you:
(46 x 2lbs)/5gal = 18.4
Add that to your 1.046 and you wind up at around 1.064. If you assume that you will ferment down all the way to 1.000 (which it probably will, if not lower), that gives you about 8.4% alc.

Using 1.046 for the juice is a good estimate.

Corn sugar is only 36 points per lb (table sugar is 46). So the final OG would be around 1.060, or about 8% abv.
 
Back
Top