Does priming increase ABV?

[ike8228]

By adding priming sugar to carbonate through fermenting a little in the bottle, does it, and how much would it increase the alcohol. I have had a couple beers that give me a head change more than what I think it would. Most the time I get around 5-5.5% but a couple of my beers give a feel of a 7-8%. I was wondering if priming would increase the ABV a little. I know not 2-3% worth, but maybe 1/4 % ?

 

[dmtaylor]

Slightly, yes, priming sugar will increase alcohol. By about 0.3% or so in most cases.

 

[VikeMan]

By adding priming sugar to carbonate through fermenting a little in the bottle, does it, and how much would it increase the alcohol.

It will always increase the amount of alcohol, but I think you're really asking if it increases the ABV. The answer is "almost always."

The 0.3% @dmtaylor mentioned is a pretty reasonable estimate/average.

The actual increase in ABV will depend on the amount of sugar being added, and the amount of water that sugar was dissolved in before adding.

 

[ike8228]

Ok well having said that, a follow up question. Let’s say I want to take a hydrometer reading of the beer after conditioning in the bottle for a few weeks. Is that an ok way to measure it again, and would the bubbles from carbonation have an affect on the buoyancy of the hydrometer? I know this is all negligible and doesn’t really matter to the normal person, but I’m curious just for the sake of knowledge.

 

[VikeMan]

Ok well having said that, a follow up question. Let’s say I want to take a hydrometer reading of the beer after conditioning in the bottle for a few weeks. Is that an ok way to measure it again, and would the bubbles from carbonation have an affect on the buoyancy of the hydrometer? I know this is all negligible and doesn’t really matter to the normal person, but I’m curious just for the sake of knowledge.

If you want to measure the gravity of finished beer, you should de-gas it. Actually, you should de-gas fermentation samples too, but it's more important with fully carbonated beer.

Having said that, if the beer was bottle carbonated, and you want to use a de-gas'd sample to determine ABV, you're also going to have to account for the change to the effective "Original Gravity," including the priming sugar's and water's impact on it.

 

[Stormcrow]

If you're checking a beer that's been chilled, remember the temperature adjustment for your hydrometer. If you're de-gassing though, you'll probably be bringing it up to room temperature anyway.