ABV Question

[brandono]

Due to the fact my wife loves citrus and raspberry brews I tried my hand at making an Amber Orange ale. Upon taste testing it from the secondary, I found it was not fruity enough for her so I added approx 400 mL of Triple Sec.
My initial S.G. was 1.048. I am curious about what this will do to my final ABV in a 5 gallon batch? Thanks.

 

[Nateo]

Do you know the final gravity of the beer, before you added the booze?
If you do know the FG, then figure out the ABV from the base beer, and volume of the base beer. Then it's simple:
[(ABV1)xV1+(ABV2)xV2] / V1+V2 = ABVt

ABV2 is whatever triple sec's ABV is, V2 is 400ml.

If you don't know the FG before you added the booze, you could use the same equation substituting gravity for ABV, then figuring ABV out from there.

 

[brandono]

Hey, thanks. I will get out the calculator and get my math done. Thanks again.

 

[Nateo]

It's easiest to work with specific gravity in the form of "points." Just drop the 1 off the front and use the decimals. So 1.050 is 50 points, and so forth.

 

[brandono]

5.2%...thanks for the help and I will keep this formula handy. I often don't like to put adjuncts in, but it was needed in this batch to get a more interesting flavor. Thanks again.