Substitute for booster?

Is there something I can substitute for the ABV "Booster" that comes with Mr. Beer recipes?

 

You can use DME.

 

Sure. You can add more malt extract, or even just some table sugar. The table sugar will dry the beer out a bit.

 

My West Coast Pale Ale batches are coming out at about 2% ABV...I would like to increase that by at least 2 more.

I make 2 gallon batches...how much DME or sugar should I add?

Thanks!

 

2% ABV? That doesn't sound right.

How are you arriving at that figure? What's your recipe?

 

Hydrometer.

It was the Mr. Beer West Coast Pale Ale, that comes with the kit. It had the "booster" pack, which I used. Could some of my yeast been dead?

Personally, I wouldnt care about ABV, but some of my friends/family commented on it. (read "younger" friends/family)

 

That still doesn't sound right.

How big a batch did you do? What did you include in your recipe?

How long did you let it ferment?
What were your starting and ending gravities?


Sorry for the 3rd degree, but if you did a Mr. Beer kit and only got 2% ABV, something went horribly wrong. It's best to figure it out now and fix it before you do another batch.

 

What was your OG and what was your FG?

 

Im not sure what OG and FG is, but I just looked at the ABV scale on the hydrometer. The beer tasted fine to me...in fact, great...and while all of my friends agreed, those who drank 3 or 4 said they felt very little "buzz".

The beer is all gone now, it was 2 gallons, and I let it ferment for two weeks. It was carbonated perfectly, and was as clear as it was golden.

I got my hydrometer at a yard sale after I had started brewing, so I only had the one reading.

My second batch is already in bottles.

Im a newbie, so go easy on me.

 

The basic (older) Mr. Beer kits have a OG around 1.038. So if it ended at 1.008 its around 4% ABV.

 

That figure would be including the Booster. When I used my Mr Beer I would always add 1 lb DME along with their HME (hopped malt extract) and the Booster to get around 6% abv by overfilling to approx 2.5 gallons.

 

My understanding is only the one that came in the kit was used. The booster is just 500g of brewery grade corn sugar.

 

The current MR Beer booster is Coopers enhancer 1(post merger)
60% corn sugar/ 40% maltodexrin
If you have to use a prepackaged booster Coopers enhancer II is more fermentable and has some DME.
50% corn sugar/25%DME/25%maltodexrin

100%DME would be better.

 

The new standard kits just have 850g of hopped extract (probably just 1.035 OG.)

 

Corn sugar (Dextrose) is what I add to cider to boost the alcohol, per EdWorts recipe.

 

The "ABV" scale on hydrometers is misleading. They don't tell you what the ABV is at that moment, but rather are used in wine making to predict potential ABV post fermentation. It's a completely different game for beer. I don't know this kit in particular, but Mr. Beer kits typically sit around 5% alcohol. If it tastes good, it is probably somewhere around there.

To get actual abv, you need to compare a pre-fermentation reading to a post-fermentation reading. The hydrometer you have should have a few other scales. One will be "specific gravity", which should be a number like "1.050", and another should be degrees plato. Either will work fine for your purposes, but you do need a before and after reading to estimate abv.

 

I don't know what the new kits are, and the specialty recipe kits were all over the place, but the one small can of HME + 1 booster package produces 3.7% ABV, and this is the case for the mentioned West Coast Pale Ale

I know, I've got a stack of kits sitting here that I bought up cheap a few months back.

BTW, the WCPA is pretty tasty stuff- I liked it with a half cup of honey (clover) added. Produced a very faint honey aroma, and dried it out nicely.

 

don't you read the potentional ABV scale before you pitch the yeast? I know I've used it that way and it was close to what beercalculas said my est. ABV would be. I personally don't care for ABV, but do know that my last IPA I used all my scrape malt so it came out 8%, but wasn't the best tasting and it felt like it had a heavier body from the extra malt.

 

The Potential ABV scale is designed for wine, which ferments out much more completely than beer does. If you read 8% before fermentation, it's unlikely that you actually had an 8% beer in the end.

 

gotcha. good thing I don't get excited by looking at that scale.

 

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_21_73_404&products_id=10137

I used this last time, seems to work.

 

Okay, sounds good. On my next batch, Ill do a start reading, then an end reading. Thanks for all the replies/help!

-Chris