Boost Abv

[Aaron62]

I've been trying to boost my Abv on m batches of beer as of late by starting with more LME than usually or adding and extra lb of DME and the highest I've got is 7.3 from a Hef I added blackberries to the secondary. Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[j1n]

How high are your trying to get? And what style of beer are you making?

 

[mrgrimm101]

I'd say it depends on your recipe..some styles you can only do so much with. Adding more extract will boost some, but you run the risk of an unbalanced beer in the end. If you increase the extract, you may have to increase a bit of the hops to balance out the extra sweetness.

You could add some corn sugar (dextrose) to the boil, which will boost the ABV without giving any extra body or sweetness...however you will probably end up drying out the beer more than you wanted.

If you really want high gravity beers and want to stay within style guidelines, brew a big DIPA, Imperial Stout, or Barleywine.

 

[Gavin C]

Why boost ABV on a lower ABV beer when you could just get a recipe for a high ABV and brew it?

Someone has already spent time and effort to craft the recipe for you.

 

[Aaron62]

Doing it for trial and error for when I create my own recipe

 

[mrgrimm101]

You should look at increasing hops and any steeping grains as well. You want the balance of the original recipe..rather than being too malty sweet

 

[Gavin C]

Doing it for trial and error for when I create my own recipe

Fair enough. I would look at crafting a recipe with the high OG (and ABV) in mind from the get go. That way you may be better able to calculate an appropriate hop-bill to go along with the higher level of fermentables.

Upping the ABV in a Hefe to 7%+ is easy but will drastically affect the flavor of this style which has miimal hopping at about 12 IBU

Similarly a recipe for a mild will not benefit from having an ABV more in line with an ESB without also adjusting the hop schedule.

I guess I just approach it differently. I don't want a beer with a higher ABV if the rest of the flavor components are not there to back it up. Of course you will make what you want though and I'm sure you will have great fun in the process.

I'm not trying to call in to question or dismiss your preferences. I just don't share your approach to recipe modification nor the desire to drink those sorts of imperialized beers.

 

[Aaron62]

The Hefe was upped using frozen blackberries in the secondary and came out well balanced in favor. Oh I don't want to up the ABV to unbalance the beer I just like a nice imperial occasionally and I'm trying to get away from kits.

 

[mrgrimm101]

From my experience, "Imperials" or "Doubles" have significantly increased hops, malts, and yeast compared to non-imperial or non-double. One of my favorite DIPAs is Double Crooked Tree by Dark Horse Brewing here in Michigan. They literally double everything (except water) from their Crooked Tree IPA recipe. From a 6% IPA to a 12% DIPA.

If you're trying to get away from kits, my advice would be either to try some commercial clones and/or check out some recipes on sites like BYO.com. They have lots of good pages on particular styles, as well as examples of recipes for each style they feature. When I started creating recipes, I would create hybrids between a clone or otherwise existing recipe and tweak the grain bill or hops to fit my taste. This way, you get a feel for how a particular ingredient can impact the overall flavor of whatever style you're making.

 

[GHBWNY]

I've been trying to boost my Abv on m batches of beer as of late by starting with more LME than usually or adding and extra lb of DME and the highest I've got is 7.3 from a Hef I added blackberries to the secondary. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Don't mean to split hairs, but if you are pushing the ABV of a so-called "hefe" to 7.3, you are also pushing it beyond its style parameters. According to BCJP guidelines, the majority of traditional hefes fall within the 4.2 - 5.5 range. Not to say you can't make a 7.3 *wheat* beer, but I'm not sure that by traditional standards it would still be called a hefe. At 7.3, it sounds more like you've entered the realm of a dunkelbockenweizendoppelhefenroggenweissen.

 

[Calder]

The Hefe was upped using frozen blackberries in the secondary and came out well balanced in favor.

How do you figure you increased the abv by adding blackberries?

If you just fermented blackberry juice, you would probably only get 4.5% abv, and that's assuming an OG of 1.030 and an FG of 0.995 (since it will ferment completely). I found (googled) blackberry juice has 19 grams of sugar per half pint, which is roughly the equivalent of 10 ozs of plain sugar in a gallon of juice.

I don't want to upset you, but you may have lowered the abv by the addition of blackberries.

 

[Aaron62]

Don't mean to split hairs, but if you are pushing the ABV of a so-called "hefe" to 7.3, you are also pushing it beyond its style parameters. According to BCJP guidelines, the majority of traditional hefes fall within the 4.2 - 5.5 range. Not to say you can't make a 7.3 *wheat* beer, but I'm not sure that by traditional standards it would still be called a hefe. At 7.3, it sounds more like you've entered the realm of a dunkelbockenweizendoppelhefenroggenweissen.

It was only 4.3 when it went into the secondary with the frozen blackberries

 

[GHBWNY]

It was only 4.3 when it went into the secondary with the frozen blackberries

Ah, so it's actually a post-hefe-dunkelbockenweizendoppelhefenroggenweissen!

 

[CJ-3]

Something you can do to help with bigger beers is to make sure you have a healthy yeast pitching rate. You also may want to consider oxygenating your wort for the yeast to have a healthy place to multiply.

Just my $.02