Og 1.042 fg?

[Dondlelinger]

So I was curious if my OG is 1.042 what approximately would be my final alcohol content of this brew. I'm guessing around 4.5-5%. if its lower I'm wondering if I could add a cup or 2 of sugar while its just fermenting or not.. I have star san so I could keep it pretty clean...but just wondering what you guys think. I wanted this brew to be about 5.5% but from what I read I'm guessing now it will be a bit lower.

Thanks

 

[B0rnFrustr8ed]

What is the style of beer?

 

[topend]

There is a pretty good website for this. It is:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/

Assuming your FG is 1.010, you can expect 4.22% ABV. Best of luck with it!

 

[Dondlelinger]

Its a coopers kit real ale. I added about 1kg of honey and about 2 cups of brown sugar.. just curious if I could add a bit more sugar to get it sweeter.

 

[Calder]

Sugar and honey will not make it sweeter. They actually make it drier; they completely ferment, increasing the alcohol making it seem drier.

If you have added 2+ lbs of honey and 1 lb of sugar in a 5 gallon batch, I would not mess with it anymore. You have just increased the abv by 3%, but added no additional flavor or body, so it will seem thin.

 

[Dondlelinger]

If you have added 2+ lbs of honey and 1 lb of sugar in a 5 gallon batch, I would not mess with it anymore. You have just increased the abv by 3%, but added no additional flavor or body, so it will seem thin.

Well honey will add some flavor and I actually used brown sugar which will add a bit as well.(molasses will add flavor) I just want the wort sweeter to make a bit more alcohol. (I know the end product won't be sweeter, I just want a bit more alcohol) I could add about 500ml more of honey(approx 1 pound)..or brown sugar ...

 

[SnallygasterBrewery]

Depends on the yeast strain you're using as well as things like time and fermentation temperature. If the yeast has an apparent attenuation of, say, 70-75% you can use it as an estimate (shoot high if you ferment in the upper range, lower if you go cooler -- I just estimate in the middle so let's use 73% in this example). Take your OG points (42 in your case) and multiply by 1-.73 (your AA% in decimal form). That gives you about 10 leftover (1.010 in FG speak). So then to figure out your ABV:

(OG - FG) x 1.25 x 105 = decent estimation of ABV.

(1.042 - 1.010) x 1.25 x 105 = ~4.2%. Hope this helps.

 

[jonmohno]

If your using coopers i think its more med than high attenuation probably less than 05 or nottingham yeast so i think your good to go, if you hit 1.01 or higher it will be sweeter,ive hit 1.006 with 05 yeast alot.generally if you use crystal malts and mash around 155-8 youll get sweetness.
There is a balance between steeping grains and yeast type that will get you a sweeter type beer generally crystal malts or mashing higher if you start doing either.Otherwise some malt extracts have more unfermentables in them also.

 

[ACbrewer]

If you want to improve the ABV and don't want to thin it, your only choice is to sanitize a container, and mix in some DME with some of your almost completed wort.

You could just boil up some water and put the DME in it, but then you risk diluting and not moving stuff along. The DME should be sanatized to begin with, and not need to be boiled - although I'm sure others will correct me if I'm wrong. Roughly I thinkyou will get 1% per lb of DME you add.

 

[jonmohno]

Just leave it. 1% is not worth futzing with it.It will be beer and learn for your next one.

 

[Dondlelinger]

I just added .5 kg of honey I slowly heated it and added it .. took a new og and it is now 1.46 so that should work. It will be roughly 4.8% if it ferments like my last beer.. Re sanitized the stir stick and lid and all that..

using coopers yeast so I think it should turn out about 4.8% now which is what I am aiming for.