Too much alcohol abv?

[PaulosK]

I made mead and packed it in bottles today. I started with 1.108 gravity and i finished with 0.92. Is this like possible? I used 2 packets of dry mead yeast that have an alcohol tolerance of 18% abv, 4 kilos of honey and 10 liters of water. The weather got super hot this past few days so i decided to pack it after 5 weeks of fermentation. It has 25% abv, it is super dry and probably still ferments (i put some in a glass jar and shook it, it produced bubbles), idek how since it has reach 40 celcius here, you would guess the yeast would have died by now.
I calibrated the hydrometer with water, it says 1.000, how is it possible to get this much abv?

 

[Lampy]

I think it isn't possible. My guess is that your second gravity reading is slightly off because starting at 1.108 shouldn't physically be able to make that much alcohol.

 

[madscientist451]

I agree with Lampy, I put your honey and water combination in a few different mead calculators and I came up with more like 18%. I'm skeptical your final gravity is .092. But making mead is more than hitting your numbers. With a high ABV dry mead, letting it sit for a year or two will greatly improve the flavor, so its hard to tell what you are actually going to have at this point. When I make mead, I bottle it up, put it in the back of the closet and don't even think about it for at least a year. There is no mention in the above post about nutrient additions. Let your mead age a while, it will probably be OK.

 

[doug293cz]

I agree with @Lampy & @madscientist451 . A starting SG of 1.108 corresponds to 25.5°Plato, which means the starting solution of honey and water is 25.5% by weight sugar (and other dissolved solids.) That works out to 3.565 kg of dissolved solids. If we assume 100% of the dissolved solids are fructose and glucose, then the maximum mass of ethanol that can be created is 1.823 kg (92.14 g Eth / 180.16 g glucose or fructose) and the total water mass is 9.982 kg + 0.435 kg [from honey] = 10.417 kg. This gives an ethanol weight percent of 100% * 1.823 kg / (1.823 kg + 10.417 kg) = 14.90 wt% ethanol, which corresponds to 18.41 %ABV, and the SG would be 0.977.

Brew on

 

[hungupdown]

Did you add any hydrometer temperature correction factors, to your readings?

My hydrometer is calibrated at 15°C. It's chart, shows to add 6.8 (points) at 40°C (so a reading 0.92 would be gravity 0.988).

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I was gonna say what hungupdown said. What was the temp of your sample?

 

[Raptor99]

@PaulosK Is it possible that your FG was 0.992 rather then 0.92 ?