How Much Alcohol Can I Expect?

[coldrice]

I've used 5 gal cider, cotes de blancs yeast, 4 lbs honey...does anyone have any idea what the ABV will end up like? And if you add more sugar to cause carbonation when racking, how do you know that the bottle won't explode from excessive amounts of surviving yeast?

 

[Yooper]

Did you take an SG reading? That's the way to know how much ABV you'll get in the in. You can sort of estimate it, by assuming that the juice was medium-sweet, and the honey was about the same as most other honeys.

It's not surviving yeast that makes the bottles explode- it's the amount of sugar you add to it. If you add the correct amount of priming sugar, you'll have carbonation without bottle bombs. If you add too much sugar, then you'll have worries.

The easiest way to do this is to let it ferment out completely (honey can take a while) and clear. Then, add one ounce of priming sugar per gallon (dissolved in a little water) when you bottle.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

If you didn't take a hydrometer reading, there's no way to know the actual ABV. 8-10% is my shot in the dark. You don't add priming sugar when you rack, you add priming sugar when bottling. If you add the proper amount (about 3/4 cup), and bottle at the appropriate time (when fermentation is complete), you will not have bottle bombs. FYI, it's excess sugar, not excess yeast that causes bottle bombs.

Do some reading on basic brewing concepts and techniques. How to Brew - By John Palmer is a good start.

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

I've used 5 gal cider, cotes de blancs yeast, 4 lbs honey...does anyone have any idea what the ABV will end up like? And if you add more sugar to cause carbonation when racking, how do you know that the bottle won't explode from excessive amounts of surviving yeast?

Assuming normal cider with a SG of 1.046, plus 4 lbs of honey should give you an estimated OG of around 1.073, estimated FG of 1.000 would be around 9% ABV. Very roughly, you might hit 0.092, or 1.010 if it gets stuck.
Excessive amounts of yeast will not be a problem, it would be too much sugars added, or bottling before fermentation is completed, again resulting in too much sugar.
That is why a hydrometer is critical. As pointed out honey can slow fermentation so even though it looks done, it is not.

 

[coldrice]

its been only 3 weeks fermenting, and it appears to have stopped bubbling...i know its not a temperature issue, so what gives? with 4 lbs of honey even I, a novice, would have expected more time...i took the lid off and its still pretty dark, noticeably lighter than when I started, but i can't imagine its done...so when do I bottle if I can't go by bubbles anymore?

 

[ChshreCat]

You get a hydrometer.

 

[EvilTOJ]

Yep, get a hydrometer. gotmead.com has an excel spreadsheet calculator on it somewhere that has water, honey, cider and sugar additions so you can guesstimate what the OG would have been. I'd link it, but gotmead is blocked at work for some reason.

 

[Ben25]

Wait at least another month or 2 to bottle. And get a hydrometer.

 

[coldrice]

so it is possible, then, that it is still fermenting even though bubbling has stopped? I've spent 5 minutes at a time just sitting there watching it and I've seen nothing...is this normal?

 

[Firstnten]

Brewhaus Calculators

The SG ABV calculator here seems to be accurate. The conversion tables are helpful also. Once you have your Hydrometer the advice of the posters here are invaluable, you'll be in business.

 

[Tusch]

Yes, Mead in particular, can ferment VERY slowly. It is not uncommon for it to appear completely done, and be far from it. My first batch of mead ended up a partial failure, because I jumped the gun, didn't use hydrometer (thought bubbles = fermenting, no bubbles != fermenting) and ending up losing several bottles. Thankfully this was just due to corks shooting out not bottle bombs.

Bottom line, there's no way to know if fermentation is complete, without using a hydrometer. It's cheap and worth it for all your future experiments.