Question about Alch. content

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yyz

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I am a novice brewer. Up to date I have only brewed 2 batches. Each batch seemed to have a very low alch. content, even after adding rice sugars. Can anybody help me?
 
You're better off taking someone elses advice, as I am new to brewing, but I think more malt and maybe a longer ferment or bottle conditioning would make a higher alcohol content. Maybe honey...meads are higher in alcohol.
 
I'd skip rice sugars. More malt or malt extract (depending whether you're all-grain or extract). More sugar makes more alcohol.

Are you looking for *really* high ABV? Some of my meads got close to 20%, but my beers are more in the 4-7% range normally.

Unless it's sweet when finished (ie not finished at all), you just need a higher gravity wort. Use your hydrometer as a handy way of checking gravity <--- dedicated to richanne ;)

Janx
 
rightwingnut said:
You're better off taking someone elses advice, as I am new to brewing, but I think more malt and maybe a longer ferment or bottle conditioning would make a higher alcohol content. Maybe honey...meads are higher in alcohol.
Yes Yes Yes........More sugar more alcohol. Try some bru vigor for the yeast, or use the same recipe, but dont cut it with as much water. If you unsure, get a hydrometer reading before you start depending on how strong you want it. Definitly longer brewing may be all it needs. Keep it kinda warm (depending on what your making). You may also try a differant yeast next time........Brew on
 
FWIW, letting it ferment longer or using a different yeast will only help if you had enough sugar in the first place but didn't let it finish. In this case it would taste sweet. If it doesn't taste sweet, then that isn't your problem. In that case, just add more malt extract.

Janx
 
yyz said:
I am a novice brewer. Up to date I have only brewed 2 batches. Each batch seemed to have a very low alch. content, even after adding rice sugars. Can anybody help me?
Seemed to have low content? :) If there was ever an argument for using a hydrometer here it is. If you took original gravity readings and final gravity readings you could figure out pretty close what your alcohol content is. Were you using a recipe that included OG and FG numbers. If you did, just curious what they were.
 
Witbier,
I am not sure if the recipe included OG and FG numbers. I am a novice at this, I guess I need to pay more attention. I want to start over with a new recipe, do you have any suggestions?
YYZ



Witbier said:
Seemed to have low content? :) If there was ever an argument for using a hydrometer here it is. If you took original gravity readings and final gravity readings you could figure out pretty close what your alcohol content is. Were you using a recipe that included OG and FG numbers. If you did, just curious what they were.
 
yyz said:
Witbier,
I am not sure if the recipe included OG and FG numbers. I am a novice at this, I guess I need to pay more attention. I want to start over with a new recipe, do you have any suggestions?
YYZ
No expert here YYZ. Anyway brewing is the kind of activity that you can get involved with at so many levels. Are you brewing kits or are you comfortable with recipe brewing. There are some great recipes here and many of them are quite detailed: http://brewery.org/brewery/gambmug/gambmug.shtml
 
yyz said:
Witbier,
I am not sure if the recipe included OG and FG numbers. I am a novice at this, I guess I need to pay more attention. I want to start over with a new recipe, do you have any suggestions?
YYZ

I don't know much about rice sugars as they are not popular over here.

If you don't want an all malt beer, maybe try something simple such as three quarters malt extract and a quarter dextrose (corn sugar for you guys). This is really easy to measure out and there are plenty of books and references to help you calculate the alcohol.
 
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