ABV and Fruit Additions

My first beer, I made an extract hefeweizen and decided to rack onto 5 pounds of peaches to make it a peach hefeweizen. All went well and everyone liked the beer.... but something is bothering me. The wife made a comment after drinking two beers to the effect of "how much alcohol is in this? usually I get a buzz off two beers, but this is more than a buzz". It got me thinking that the beer may be higher ABV than the recipe indicated based on the starting and final gravity because of the fruit addition. How do you guys measure ABV when you are adding more sugar in the middle of the fermentation process? It seems that you would take readings at start, before fruit addition, after fruit addition and end to get a more accurate ABV. The problem with this that I see is when do you take the reading after you have added the fruit? In my case, I added sliced peaches so it is not like the sugars are going to get into the wort right away and the active yeast are going to be eating the peaches as the sugars disolve into the wort. Any thoughts? Is my answer "shut up and enjoy your buzz"?

I had the same question a while back and never really got an answer. My stout hit FG (1.010) then I racked onto cherries. Checking gravity now, 3 weeks later it is down to 1.012.

The only thing I can come up with is use the balling scale on the Hydrometer. If you subtract the original reading on the balling scale from the one it shows after the fruit fermentation....you should have an alcohol content. If this is correct, my cherry stout is sitting at 10%....but i haven't been able to verify that this reading is correct. I will ask today when I go to my LHBS and see what they say.

I've experienced the same thing. I made a Hefeweizen that I added the juice and zest of 4 oranges to. Hydrometer readings indicated it was 5.4%, but it tasted stronger.

couple reasons.
Some sugar is added with the fruit but not a whole lot. so the abv will be higher but not significantly. I don't know what kind of beer your wife normally drinks but it could be the weaker stuff but again i don't know what she drinks so this could be wrong. also there is talk about a certain "hop euphoria". many seasoned beer drinkers will tell you the same thing. they get more drunk off of homebrew than commercial brew. some speculate that with the freshness of the hops that the hops add a certain "something". there has also been talk of this something being related to the fact that hops are related to weed. however that is pure talk and more or less just a conversation piece.

It is starting to sound like "shut up and enjoy your buzz" might be my answer, unless I want to really get scientific and find a way to calculate the sugar additions from sliced peaches. It usually takes more than two beers for me... but I noticed a difference as well. Wife really likes Pyramid Apricot Ale (thus... the peach hefewiezen I made). Interesting about the hops..... I hadn't thought of that.

It's tough to calculate and pretty much impossible to measure. Since solid fruit mixed in with beer is not a homogenous solution, you can't accurately get a hydrometer reading from it.

I just chalk it up to "it adds a bit" and call it good. I couldn't tell you the ABV on the last 8 beers I've brewed... I just don't calculate it anymore

Yeah, checked with the guys at the local shop..... Unless you know how much sugar is in the fruit you're just guessing. So my balling scale idea is out. Just drink it.