can I figure out an approximate final ABV ?

[octavian]

I used a muntons premium bitter kit and I did not add any other sugar so this means my beer will be relatively weak right ?

I also did not take an OG reading but I took one on day 2 and it was 1.018 and one on day 3 at 1.014.

 

[budbo]

Not necessarily weak. Using extract you can usually assume you got very near the recipe OG.

 

[octavian]

The recipe says the OG should be between 1.036-1.040 but but that is with extra sugar added which would raise the OG to the level right ?

 

[milwaukee]

If the recipe called for additional fermentables, your wort's original gravity would be lower.

So the yeast would have fewer sugars to ferment into alcohol, and your final ABV would be lower.

You can still figure out your ABV, however, by taking just the gravity points contributed by your extract. That would give you your actual original gravity.

That combined with your final will allow you to easily estimate your ABV.

 

[osagedr]

Sorry to hijack but didn't want to start a new thread. I recently started a 6-gallon honey blonde batch that was to have an OG of 1.046. I ended up adding 1/2 a pound of liquid honey and didn't have my hydrometer so I didn't measure OG. Anyone have a guess as to how many gravity points would have been added?

Fermented beautifully with Wyeast 1056; down to 1.006 which is the lowest I've ever had a beer finish.

 

[iron_city_ap]

Octavian, I'd say you aren't going to have the strongest beer around, but it'll be fine. I would guess your OG was probably in the 1.020 area. There are too many variables to say for sure. How aggressive was the fermentation at first?

osagedr, I started a new recipe in Beer Smith and only had .5lb of Honey as the lone ingredient. No hops, yeast, etc...Its shows an OG estimate of 1.003. Don't know how accurate that would be, but hopefully it helps.

 

[octavian]

There were no bubbles in the air lock at all but someone told me that could just be becuase th lid does not seal 100%, although it did bubble up and leave a ring of foam on the inside of the bucket.

 

[octavian]

Can i add some extra sugar at bottling time to bring up the ABV or will that just cause my bottles to explode?

 

[frazier]

Check out How To Brew, all your questions will be answered, including the many you haven't thought of yet.

Believe me, when I started out, every answer just led to more and more questions...

Don't bottle until the hydrometer readings have flatlined for a fw days. The bottling sugar will restart yeast activity, but will not add significant alcohol - just carbonation. Generally, add about 3/4 cup sugar per 5 gallon batch.

Oh, and check out How To Brew!

 

[octavian]

alright so my beer will most likely end up under 2% ? ahah oh well I guess I just use this as a learning experience and make sure I add some sugar next time. thanks for the help

 

[Yooper]

alright so my beer will most likely end up under 2% ? ahah oh well I guess I just use this as a learning experience and make sure I add some sugar next time. thanks for the help

Instead of sugar next time (I'm not a fan), buy some more malt extract. It costs more, but will give you a far better beer.

I'm assuming you used a no-boil prehopped kit? If so, next time you can just use two cans for a 6 gallon batch, and probably have a much better beer than one can and a KG of sugar. Or, you can buy some hops and some unhopped extract and make a different beer.

 

[goose1873]

use this site, ask questions, use more malt extract then sugar if possible

Above all have fun! Palmers book "how to brew" is a must read if you plan on pursuing this as a long term hobby...

cheers!

 

[IceFisherChris]

I would avoid the sugar. Your flavor comes from the malt, not the alcohol of fermentation. (Example: Adding tons of sugar to orange juice isn't going to make it taste better, in fact it may taste really funny.)
Get another can of malt instead, or get a different kit that comes with more malt (most other kits aren't "no-boil" though)

 

[firebird77]

Just drink a few and see how wrecked you get

 

[octavian]

aha I guess thats all I can do eh

I think next time I will add 2 cans of malt and forget about adding sugar.

 

[octavian]

This is probably a really stupid question but can I add sugar at this point after its been fermenting for a few days or will that really mess things up ?

 

[Ooompa Loompa]

If you really want to you can add some sugar at this point......just be sure to give it more time then you had originally intended since the fermentation is probably just about done at this time and the sugar will start it back up.

 

[DirtyMcCurdy]

alright so my beer will most likely end up under 2% ? ahah oh well I guess I just use this as a learning experience and make sure I add some sugar next time. thanks for the help

1.040 initial minus 1.014 * 131 = approximately 3.4% ABV.

 

[octavian]

but I only added 1 can of malt and no extra sugar so the OG would most likely have been much lower that 1040 right?

 

[Yooper]

but I only added 1 can of malt and no extra sugar so the OG would most likely have been much lower that 1040 right?

What size batch did you do? If you did 5 gallons, the OG would have been 1.024. If you did 6 gallons, the OG would have been 1.020.

Depending on where it finished, it may be around 2% ABV.

An easy way to figure ABV is:

(OG-FG) x 131 = ABV.

So, for example:
(1.024- 1.010) x 131 = 1.84% ABV

 

[osagedr]

Handy alcohol content calculator if you haven't seen it:

http://www.steubrew.com/alcohol-content-calculator.html

 

[octavian]

Alright thanks, thats very helpful.