Heyoh!
Just getting into this brewing thing and it's awesome. I have 2.5 gallons of pineapple wine almost ready as my first brew and just started 5 gallons raspberry lemon wine that seems to have stalled -used Red Star for it and Lalvin for the pineapple. May pitch Lalvin to re-start.
ANYWAY, my question is about sugar. I currently do NOT have a hydrometer. Have been following guidelines/ recipes. I just really want to know if there exists a chart or calc that will tell me how much total sugar to have in the wort to get out a given alcohol percentage. For example I would specify: 5 gallons and 10% ABV target, and I would receive the correct total amount of sugars that should be in the wort. Assuming I was using Lalvin EC-1118 which ferments up to 18%.
Is there some basic rule of thumb I am missing? Is it just trial and error? Because I have scoured the net and everything I have found are just suggestions and guidelines that vary a lot. I want a reliable source I can refer to. This might just be impossible without a hydrometer. But I'm sure there's a way. I want to be able to say, "Ok, this juice has X grams of sugar. In a vessel X gallons big, I need to use a total of X grams sugar to reach X ABV."
Is the percent of sugar in the water going to exactly equal the amount of alcohol it gets converted into? What's the difference by weight or volume?
Ok that's it, hope someone can help me out!
PS. On a totally unrelated matter, I know it's usually not a good idea to try and carbonate with dry ice because of inaccurate amounts and differences between headspace pressure and rate of CO2 absorption. But I think this guy has figured it out:
http://www.rickety.us/2012/07/extra-fizzy-homemade-carbonated-beverages/
All that's needed is a pressure let-off valve rated for a PSI under the rated PSI of the bottle, and some food-grade dry ice. What do you think?
ipe:
Just getting into this brewing thing and it's awesome. I have 2.5 gallons of pineapple wine almost ready as my first brew and just started 5 gallons raspberry lemon wine that seems to have stalled -used Red Star for it and Lalvin for the pineapple. May pitch Lalvin to re-start.
ANYWAY, my question is about sugar. I currently do NOT have a hydrometer. Have been following guidelines/ recipes. I just really want to know if there exists a chart or calc that will tell me how much total sugar to have in the wort to get out a given alcohol percentage. For example I would specify: 5 gallons and 10% ABV target, and I would receive the correct total amount of sugars that should be in the wort. Assuming I was using Lalvin EC-1118 which ferments up to 18%.
Is there some basic rule of thumb I am missing? Is it just trial and error? Because I have scoured the net and everything I have found are just suggestions and guidelines that vary a lot. I want a reliable source I can refer to. This might just be impossible without a hydrometer. But I'm sure there's a way. I want to be able to say, "Ok, this juice has X grams of sugar. In a vessel X gallons big, I need to use a total of X grams sugar to reach X ABV."
Is the percent of sugar in the water going to exactly equal the amount of alcohol it gets converted into? What's the difference by weight or volume?
Ok that's it, hope someone can help me out!
PS. On a totally unrelated matter, I know it's usually not a good idea to try and carbonate with dry ice because of inaccurate amounts and differences between headspace pressure and rate of CO2 absorption. But I think this guy has figured it out:
http://www.rickety.us/2012/07/extra-fizzy-homemade-carbonated-beverages/
All that's needed is a pressure let-off valve rated for a PSI under the rated PSI of the bottle, and some food-grade dry ice. What do you think?
ipe: