Increasing Alcohol Content ?

[plasma1010]

Okay so I have finally made a beer I enjoy quite a lot. I am going to replicate it, however up until this point I have everything going perfect, brewing, bottling, priming, saving yeast ... except my alcohol content is low. I know the first thing someones gonna ask is "whats the gravity" ... look I dont have or use a hydrometer, so Ill just get that out of the way. If anyone has read my other posts Ive been making mead for years so I know how to make alcohol.

I know decreasing water and increasing sugar content is about the most important part, I was wondering what ratio is suggested to have a decently alcoholic beer ? Im currently using about 12 cups of water to 1 lb of malt. I was going to decrease the next batch to 10 cups of water to 1 cup of malt.

See when I make mead I go by 1/4 ... 1 lb of honey to 4 cups of water. Thought the beer ratio might be a little higher.

 

[Kee]

You can pick out any recipe with the ABV you are looking for, say a Belgian triple, and scale it to whatever size batch you are brewing. Your efficiency may not be exactly the same, but after the first batch you will can make adjustments.

 

[Calder]

Im currently using about 12 cups of water to 1 lb of malt. I was going to decrease the next batch to 10 cups of water to 1 cup of malt.

See when I make mead I go by 1/4 ... 1 lb of honey to 4 cups of water. Thought the beer ratio might be a little higher.

What do you mean by 'Malt'? Is that 1 lb of grain, and is the 12 cups the start volume or the final volume? I suspect you are talking about LME (Liquid Malt Extract) and are using 1 lb and making the volume up to 6 pints.

1 lb of LME made up to 6 pints will give you an OG of 1.048. Average yeast will ferment it about 70 to 75% attenuation, and end up at 1.014 to 1.012 resulting in ~ 4.6% abv.

By comparison, 1/4 lb of honey in 4 cups (2 pints) of water will get you an OG of ~1.033, but with a decent wine yeast will ferment lower than beer due to being all simple sugars, and probably end around 0.995, resulting in an abv of ~5.0% abv. Not much different from the beer.

Not sure what you are making, sounds like you may not be boiling, so might not be adding hops either.

Yes, reducing the water you add will get you higher alcohol. Most decent ale yeasts will be able to ferment out to 8% if the right sugars are available with not too much effort.

 

[Owly055]

The first thing to do is go to Brewer'sFriend.com. They have an online brew software that is simple to use, and can be used at no cost. There is a paid version also, and a version that works IOS that is cheap.

Start with your batch size and add your fermentables by selecting them from a list. You can use various malted grains, dry malt extract (DME), liquid malt extract (LME), and various sugars and such. Select your DME for example... light, dark, etc, and enter the amount. It will calculate the starting gravity, final gravity, and alcohol content. It also allows you to enter your hops, when you add them..... minutes of boil, hop stand (after the boil), etc, and give you your bitterness in IBUs.
You can also select your yeast, and that will change the default alcohol by volume (ABV).

Unlike Beer Smith, Brewer's Friend doesn't bother you about your process and equipment, etc, though you can add that information. It's simple, it's free, and it's accurate.

If you don't want a hydrometer or refractometer you don't need one to brew. I've always had one since I began brewing in 1967 at age 12 (on the sly). I've often not bothered with ANY readings. Just ferment it out, and bottle it.......... though the bottles I use will NOT burst. The EZ Cap flip top bottles (Grolsch style caps) are rated at over 100 PSI, and will vent before they can burst. Most beer bottles are not nearly as heavy.

Brewer's Friend will also help you determine how much priming sugar you need for various levels of carbonation appropriate to various styles of beer.

The simple answer to getting more alcohol is to add sugar. This will not change the weight of the beer, making it a heavier beer, as adding malt will. Table sugar ferments out completely with no residual body or sweetness.

I currently have a brew approaching 18% ABV...... it's over 16, and slowly chugging along toward final gravity and a calculated 17.9% ABV. Pretty extreme, and not something you want to try unless you have a way to oxygenate your wort periodically as you add fermentables throughout the fermentation process. Most of my brews hit about 6%, and about any yeast will get it there.


H.W.

 

[plasma1010]

What do you mean by 'Malt'? Is that 1 lb of grain, and is the 12 cups the start volume or the final volume? I suspect you are talking about LME (Liquid Malt Extract) and are using 1 lb and making the volume up to 6 pints.

1 lb of LME made up to 6 pints will give you an OG of 1.048. Average yeast will ferment it about 70 to 75% attenuation, and end up at 1.014 to 1.012 resulting in ~ 4.6% abv.

By comparison, 1/4 lb of honey in 4 cups (2 pints) of water will get you an OG of ~1.033, but with a decent wine yeast will ferment lower than beer due to being all simple sugars, and probably end around 0.995, resulting in an abv of ~5.0% abv. Not much different from the beer.

Not sure what you are making, sounds like you may not be boiling, so might not be adding hops either.

Yes, reducing the water you add will get you higher alcohol. Most decent ale yeasts will be able to ferment out to 8% if the right sugars are available with not too much effort.

Sorry not to clarify, its 1 lb of malt powder (DME) extract to 12 cups of water. I do boil to integrate the sugar into the wort, but I do not use hops.

With mead I use 1 lb of honey to 4 cups of water. The alcohol content is well above 5%, probably closer to 10% - 12% with Champaign Yeast.

Is the alcohol content different when using LME or DME ?

Since I dont want a heavy, overly sweet beer, should I substitute less water ratio with just more table sugar ?

Also does the fermentation make difference in the amount of sugar that ferments, or do cooler temperatures just take longer to ferment ?

 

[LostHopper]

Dumb question alert:
How do you figure ABV on a finished beer without a hydrometer or refractometer? I'm not saying one is necessary to brew.
And I can see that recipe calculators would give an estimate but how does the OP know the alcohol is low? No buzz?

 

[NathanDH]

Dumb question alert:
How do you figure ABV on a finished beer without a hydrometer or refractometer? I'm not saying one is necessary to brew.
And I can see that recipe calculators would give an estimate but how does the OP know the alcohol is low? No buzz?

You don't. At least not at the homebrew level.
I'm assuming as you are, that the OP is determining the content by the effects.

My suggestion for the OP would be to go ahead an pick up a hydrometer. Of course, you know how to make alcohol. However, you also stated you didn't want an overly sweet beer. Well, that is going to be determined by more than just ABV. You also have BU:GU.
My real concern would come in with determining that you have completed fermentation. If you don't know ABV because of lack of a hydrometer, no one really gets hurt. If you don't know if you hit your FG, and you bottle, someone could get hurt (Bottle Bombs).

I am not familiar with mead making, but I know in wine you kill the fermentation (K-metabisulfate). We don't do this in beer brewing because we desire carbonation.

Hope this helps.

 

[plasma1010]

Dumb question alert:
How do you figure ABV on a finished beer without a hydrometer or refractometer? I'm not saying one is necessary to brew.
And I can see that recipe calculators would give an estimate but how does the OP know the alcohol is low? No buzz?

Because Ive been making mead for years. I can tell the difference between alcohol and sugar water, also Ive been drinking alcohol for almost 20 years. Are you telling me that you wouldnt be able to tell if your brew contained little alcohol without a hydrometer ? You know people have been making alcohol for thousands of years without a hydrometer ?

Ive been waiting 3 weeks before bottling the ale and fermenting around 65F - 70F. Ive been making ale since early July and have bottles about 30 - 40 beers without any incidents, so I am confident the ale is fully fermented.

And no, I do not halt the fermentation of my mead. In fact, after a month I transfer it to a glass container with a spigot and drink fairly alcoholic mead over the following month, until the next batch is done. I make mead from full moon to full moon. I follow traditional Norse processes for making homestead mead / beer, without technology. That is my style, however I appreciate all the info and take it into consideration, but I dont appreciate criticism. Im smart enough to know what alcohol tastes like, and I take detailed notes on how every brew is made. I make quite a delicious banana cinnamon mead with good alcohol content, and ive never used a hydrometer or anything beyond a jug, yeast, ingredients and a pot.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Dad?