ABV of Whiskey Porter

[Tex2Ten]

So I brewed a 5 gal Porter which checked at 7% after primary. While that was happening, I had a bunch of oak chips soaking in 16 oz of 40% whiskey. After primary was complete, I racked the Porter onto the chips AND the whiskey. How much is my final ABV?

Just trying to think it through, here's what I came up with...
5 gal = 640 oz + 16 oz of whiskey =656 oz.
7% ABV beer + 40% whiskey = 47%
47/656=0.0716463415

So...by adding the whiskey, I went from 7% to 7.16% ??

 

[ajdelange]

640*0.07 = 44.8 Oz ETOH from the beer
16*0.4 = 6.4 Oz ETOH from the whiskey
Total ETOH = 51.2 Oz
Total Volume = 656 Oz
ABV = 51.2/656 = 7.8% ABV

 

[Tex2Ten]

Sorry, but what is ETOH?

 

[mozart4898]

That's a lot of whiskey added to a beer. May taste great, I don't know (especially if you love whiskey *raises hand*) but I would have just soaked the chips in the whiskey and then strained the chips out and saved the whiskey to perhaps flavor another batch of chips.

As for the math, I forget how to figure that and ajdelange is probably dead on, but it seems crazy that 16 oz of 40% alcohol whiskey would raise the ABV of 5 gallons of beer close to a full percentage point.

 

[ajdelange]

Sorry, but what is ETOH?

ETOH = Ethyl Hydroxide = CH3CH2OH = Ethanol = Ethyl Alcohol

 

[ajdelange]

1/8th of the ETOH comes from the whiskey

 

[Tex2Ten]

Thanks for your help, ajdelange.

Yeah, I was expecting it to be more, too.

CHEERS!

 

[Tex2Ten]

That's a lot of whiskey added to a beer. May taste great, I don't know (especially if you love whiskey *raises hand*) but I would have just soaked the chips in the whiskey and then strained the chips out and saved the whiskey to perhaps flavor another batch of chips.]

The chips I used are Jack Daniel's oak chips made from old barrels. They're sold for grilling. I had guys tell me the chips would give enough flavor themselves, but I soaked them in Jack to sanitize them, mainly. I threw the whole jar in just for more whiskey character and to boost the ABV.

I tasted the beer a couple weeks ago and it was delicious. I've had bourbon barrel porters before that have a strong whiskey flavor and this did not. I racked to 2nd on 6/12/15 and will bottle mid-August. I am planning for it to be ready by Thanksgiving.