ABV per amount of corn sugar?

Is there a simple rule of thumb regarding how much ABV is added per weight of corn sugar added?

So, something like 1 lb of corn sugar adds 1% ABV to 5 gallons. I know there are some other factors involved, but having a rule of thumb would be nice.

Thanks for your help!

The formula for ABV is (OG - FG)*131, IIRC. Corn sugar has a potential gravity yield of 1.046 per pound per gallon. Since corn sugar is supposed to ferment pretty much completely, you should get about 0.046*131 = 6.03% ABV per pound of corn sugar per gallon. In a normal 5 gallon batch that's about 1.21% ABV per pound of corn sugar, thus the general 1% per pound rule of thumb. The above percentages should represent an upper limit, so the actual yield is probably slightly less, somewhere between 1% and 1.2% per pound in a 5 gallon batch.

That makes sense.... Thank you!

that said, I really wouldn't be dumping corn sugar in your beer to get more alcohol. use DME or LME. corn sugar adds no body or flavor, just alcohol.

the first couple of cooper's kits I used called for corn sugar, and the beer they produced was the worst beer I made save for the 2 batches I completely screwed up.

in other words, you'll notice it in the finished beer, and so will the friends you share it with. vs using extract for extra alcohol, body, and flavor....which gives you a homebrew that your friends will think is a microbrew that you removed the label from.

Alright, so I want to make a week beer that is supposed to have an OG of 1040. I'd like to bump this up a bit, so how much of what do you suggest?

Here are the ingredients of the kit-
http://www.northernbrewer.com/docs/kis-html/1261.html

Correction Wheat not week

You could probably get away with adding another pound or so of extract without having to tweak anything else, because it seems like it has a fair amount of hops in it already and shouldn't become drastically unbalanced with a moderate increase in malt. If you want to increase it any more you should probably up the bittering hops a bit to compensate.

With that said, obviously it's your call, but in my opinion, paying much attention to the ABV of your beers is not the best plan. Adjusting a recipe for the sole purpose of increasing the ABV can lead to a less balanced, enjoyable beer, unless you are careful to adjust everything to compensate and keep it balanced. Generally if I want to brew something quite strong, I would start with a style where it's appropriate - imperial IPA's/stouts or belgians are a good example.
This isn't an attack on your current question, nor is it meant to offend, because there's no harm in bumping things up a little bit in a given recipe, and experimenting is always good, it's just something I always want to point out whenever anyone starts talking more about ABV than about other, more important aspects of a beer. Just my 2 cents, something to think about.

Thanks... I appreciate that.