ABV Calculators

Hi guys,

Does anyone happen to know how to obtain the most accurate ABV reading? The OG was 1090 and the FG is 1000. According to the hydrometer this should produce around 14.5% alcohol, but online the calculators vary from 11.8% to 12.9%. any help would be appreciated

Thanks

RickCov said:

Hi guys,

Does anyone happen to know how to obtain the most accurate ABV reading? The OG was 1090 and the FG is 1000. According to the hydrometer this should produce around 14.5% alcohol, but online the calculators vary from 11.8% to 12.9%. any help would be appreciated

Thanks

Click to expand...

The quick and "close enough" way is pretty simple.

(OG-FG) x 131 = approximate ABV.

So, in this case, I come up with 11.79% (call it 11.8%).

On your hydrometer, the only way the "potential alcohol" is correct is if the wine finished dry (.990), and even then it'd be around 13%.

Brilliant, thanks alot. I wondered why it didn't taste as strong as 14.5% Although that is strange, on my hydrometer the potential alcohol for this particular gravity is 14.5.

Quick question.. Is temperature not an important factor when working out alcohol content? As some of the online calculators require a start and finish temperature.

RickCov said:

Quick question.. Is temperature not an important factor when working out alcohol content? As some of the online calculators require a start and finish temperature.

Click to expand...

Yes because the hydrometer reading needs to be corrected for the temperature.

there are online calculators which (assuming they are accurate?) show you the difference
such as
http://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/

I've gotten away from using calculators and just calculate it myself. That brewers friend one was telling me my IPA was over 8%, near 8.5%. But when I calculated it myself I got around 7.3%. I was worried more a minute, because I had not hopped it up to be that strong. I did'nt want a IIPA.

I've also found that the online calculators that ask for the temperature at the start and finish give far different results to working it out manually. I'd love to know which is correct