low alcohol percent

[iceman]

hello, i have brewed about 3 batches of beer so far, and my problem is no matter what i do the percent is very low, i did a pumpkin ale, and in secondary i checked and it was 2.8% that ain't worth bottling it, in my opinion. i mean i'm not an alcoholic(okay maybe i am) but i want it to atleast be like drinking real beer, like 5 or even up to 7. its been a while, but i think the pumpkin was like 6lbs of malt. malt is what gives you the abv right?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Malt is among the ingredients that ferment, resulting in alcohol. Anything containing sugar will typically ferment as well (honey, molasses, corn/priming sugar, fruit, etc). What are your recipes, and how are you measuring?

 

[iceman]

i am going to a local brew shop, and buying recipes, they give you all the stuff, like the pumpkin beer was 6 or 7lbs of malt, the powder in the package, and it was 3 oz of 2 different kind of hops, i think it was perle and cascade, and it had an oz of irish moss. and it came out 2.8%...

 

[Brewsmith]

What did your hydrometer read in the secondary? 6-7 lbs of extract should get you where you wanted.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Again, how are you measuring?

 

[david_42]

If you are using a hydrometer, you seem to be mis-reading it. A hydrometer does not tell you what the ABV is, it only tells you how heavy it is relative to pure water. Some hydrometers have a % alcohol on them, but that is only the potential level.

You calculate ABV by taking a reading before fermentation and after fermentation. The difference between those two measurements tells you the ABV.

 

[docbee]

Just a quick measurement with DME at 6 lbs should give close to 1.048 SG and with 75% attenuation should end up with about FG of 1.012 and ABV of @ 4.6%. As mentioned above the measurments and how you got them may be the difference.

 

[catnip1970]

Just a quick measurement with DME at 6 lbs should give close to 1.048 SG and with 75% attenuation should end up with about FG of 1.012 and ABV of @ 4.6%. As mentioned above the measurments and how you got them may be the difference.

Can you post the formula for getting the 4.6 from the 1.048 sg/1.012 fg? Math was never a good thing for me. My first batch had a SG of 1.051 and a FG of 1.020 and I would have thought that would give me a ABV of 3.1% by simple math but I guess I may be missing something.

 

[jezter6]

The standard formula I've seen is ABV% = (OG - FG) * 131

In the above case 1.048 - 1.012 = 0.036

0.036 * 131 = 4.716

Yours would have been (1.051 - 1.020) * 131
0.031 * 131 = 4.061 ABV%

 

[docbee]

Actually I'm too lasy for math so I just plugged into Beer Tools Pro and let it calc for me.:rockin:

 

[catnip1970]

Thanks Jezter! Simply subtract the final from the original and multiply by 131 and there you have it. Great info.