second batch - low alcohol?

[PorterStout]

Hi - just finished my second batch, and both have turned out tasty but very low in alcohol content. I haven't bought a hydrometer yet but will in a day or two. I'm using the Northern Brewer deluxe kit. First batch was Caribou slobber, which turned out to taste great but had extremely low alcohol. It also finished primary fermentation in about 12 hours, max. Second batch was the partial grain Oatmeal Stout - again, tasty (although a little lacking in flavor?) but low alcohol. Not as low as the first, but still...with this one, primary fermentation was VERY active and it bubbled and had a thick cap for almost 4 days.

Followed the recipes perfectly, used distilled water. I'm kegging, not bottling, and serving with a beer engine with very low CO2 pressure.

Any help as to what I'm doing wrong would be appreciated. I'll get a hydrometer and see what the oatmeal stout actually measures, but I don't know what I would/could have done differently. It stayed in primary and then secondary fermentation for just over 2 weeks each.

 

[chickypad]

If you have no hydrometer how do you know the alcohol content? Was the first kit extract? If fermentation was vigorous and you hit the volumes it's unlikely you're too far off on an extract kit. I hope you let it go longer than 12 hrs though, visible signs of fermentation aren't the best way to tell if it's done and 12 hrs is certainly too short for things to finish and clean up.

 

[Lefou]

A hydrometer to check your post-boil gravity and post-ferment gravity is a "must have" tool, in my opinion. It's a great way to verify if your fermentation is complete or not.
If you're doing a kit the numbers, process, and method is all there for you but that hydrometer is important in estimating ABV, too.
You don't want to be too early or late getting your beer bottled. Sometimes, the yeast can go dormant and cause flat beer.

I've had good beer fail to bottle carb properly even though it hit proper final gravity right out of the carboy.
That's a pain to remedy if you aren't kegging.

 

[beergolf]

How do you know they are low alcohol. I can give you a 9% Belgina tripel that definitely does not taste like a 9% beer.

The only way to tell is to get gravity readings( with a hydrometer) before fermentation (OG) and after fermentation is complete. (FG). Then you can use the formula. (OG-FG) x 131.25= ABV

A hydrometer is a must have tool for brewing.

 

[PorterStout]

Thanks. I'll be getting a hydrometer tomorrow. I know they're low alcohol because, not to put too fine a point on it, I can knock back 4 pints and feel barely buzzed. Barely. So it'll be interesting what the hydrometer shows - I may be wrong.

 

[PorterStout]

A hydrometer to check your post-boil gravity and post-ferment gravity is a "must have" tool, in my opinion. It's a great way to verify if your fermentation is complete or not.

Didn't know this - so a post boil gravity check (at 68 degrees I assume) before it goes into primary fermentation? And then, what...another check as it comes out of primary fermentation?

 

[kh54s10]

If you used all the ingredients and ended up with the volume that the kit was made for you do not have a low alcohol beer. It will be what the kit says it should be. (assuming it's an extract kit) It is also highly unlikely that your fermentation was fully finished in 12 hours. If the active part of the fermentation ended that quickly you probably fermented your beer too warm. Mid sixties is best for most ale yeasts.

Use a swamp cooler or some other form of temperature control to maintain an even temperature during fermentation.

Get the hydrometer and learn it's uses. It will tell you every thing you need to know.

 

[rjwoody]

Yep, check post-boil before you add the yeast, and again when fermentation is finished and use the formula given above by beergolf, or use an online ABV calculator. The temp. of the sample depends on what your hydrometer is calibrated for, usually 60 deg. or 68 deg.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks. I'll be getting a hydrometer tomorrow. I know they're low alcohol because, not to put too fine a point on it, I can knock back 4 pints and feel barely buzzed. Barely. So it'll be interesting what the hydrometer shows - I may be wrong.

I weigh 130 pounds, soaking wet.

I can knock back 4 pints and feel "barely buzzed" myself. I don't usually do 9% ABV pints in a row, but I've been known to.

Without a hydrometer, you really don't know the ABV of your beer.

However, if you take the OG given in the kit (always correct, more or less) and the suggested FG (not always correct, but often in the ballpark), you will be able to guess the probable ABV within a small margin.

What does your kit say for the ABV? It's very close.

 

[PorterStout]

If you used all the ingredients and ended up with the volume that the kit was made for you do not have a low alcohol beer. It will be what the kit says it should be. (assuming it's an extract kit) It is also highly unlikely that your fermentation was fully finished in 12 hours. If the active part of the fermentation ended that quickly you probably fermented your beer too warm. Mid sixties is best for most ale yeasts.

Use a swamp cooler or some other form of temperature control to maintain an even temperature during fermentation.

Get the hydrometer and learn it's uses. It will tell you every thing you need to know.

The first batch was a typical extract kit. I say the fermentation was finished in about 12 hours because by that time the cap had collapsed and the bubbling in the air trap had stopped. I left it in primary, undisturbed, for about 2 weeks.

The second batch was a partial mash and fermented in the same conditions (a dark closet) at about 65 to 70. Pretty stable. And it had a thick cap for nearly 4 days and bubbled like there was no tomorrow. Again, I left it in primary undisturbed for 2 weeks before going into secondary.

I'll get that hydro and add this to my process. I didn't get one initially because the instructions and videos didn't mention it. Live and learn.

Thanks very much!

 

[max384]

Thanks. I'll be getting a hydrometer tomorrow. I know they're low alcohol because, not to put too fine a point on it, I can knock back 4 pints and feel barely buzzed. Barely. So it'll be interesting what the hydrometer shows - I may be wrong.

Unfortunately, you won't know the ABV of your current beers because you need both the original and final gravities to determine the alcohol content.