Abv

[mtrogers14]

Is there a way to increase the alcohol content when using an extract kit ??

 

[billl]

Yes, you can add some more stuff that ferments - sugar or more extract.

If you are just starting out, that kinda defeats the purpose of a kit though. You are paying a bit extra for a proven recipe that is ready to go right out of the box. If you want to start creating recipes of your own, there is nothing wrong with that, but I'd get a couple brews under your belt before you start experimenting. You can certainly change the balance of a beer with only minor tweaks.

 

[J187]

How much we talking?

You can use fully fermentable simple sugars like dextrose, corn sugar, honey or table sugar.

1lb of sugar adds roughly 1.009 SG to 5 gallons

It will finish a little dryer and have a slight decrease in body perhaps.

You can do it in moderation with little to no change to flavor.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

If you want to boost abv on the cheep add up to 20% by weight of white sugar to the grain bill. So if the recipe was 5lbs of malt extract you could add 1lb of sugar. 1lb of sugar in 5 gallons will add about 1% ABV, But it's going to taste more like a BMC clone than whatever you are brewing.
You can also drop the amount of water by about 20% and still have decent beer with most kits. If you drop a 5 gallon 5% abv recipe to 4 gallons you'll have about 6% abv.

 

[TopherM]

Order from Austin Homebrew. They sell all of their kits with an optional 1% ABV boost that's basically some concentrated wort that won't color/flavor the original recipe or throw anything out of wack.

With very few exceptions, you don't want to just add ABV to a recipe. Any good recipe balances the malt backbone, hops bitterness, and alcohol content. Throw the alcohol content too much out of balance, and all you are going to taste is alcohol burn. It takes certain formulations of malt backbone and hops bitterness to mask higher alcohol content, hence styles like Belgians (trippels, quads), Imperial styles, barleywines, etc, but the original recipe is formulated for high ABV.

So basically, follow the recipe and don't go bumping ABV willy-nilly. If you want higher ABV, find styles and recipes that start with that ABV and everything will be in balance and drinkable.

Good luck!