Yet another question

[FatherJack]

My apologies for so many questions here.

I wanted to taste for myself how the beer ages and matures so I tried my first brew and as expected it had a green apple like taste to it on Monday. I tried it again on Wednesday and it's coming more in line with beer taste as the yeast cleans up its mess in the bottles. I'm quite happy with it except for the fact that it seems like it lacks a punch in terms of alcohol.

My next brew, which I have still not decided on, will be on October 30. Since I have a weaker beer I wanted to do something with a little punch to it.

I've mentioned this before but I would like to stick with LME kits for now as I have limited space and time (and experience) but I do want to experiment a bit.

In an 19L batch, if I use a 1.7kg can of Morgans, for example, and a 1.5kg bag of LME this should give me my recommended OG, as recommended by Morgans. However, what if I beef it up a bit and add maybe 500g of DME (or even less)? Is this over kill? I've read my yeast should be able to handle the work load. What does everyone think?

Thanks to everyone again for answering my many questions!

 

[android]

what OG will the 1.7kg can and 1.5kg bag give you? i'm sure the yeast can handle the extra 500g, but you should consult an online calculator like beercalculus.com, it will give you a good calculation on what gravity you can expect by adding the extra 500g. also, keep in mind what style of beer you are making, as the extra alcohol might not go well with certain styles. but overall, it doesn't seem like overkill to me at all to add an extra pound or so of extract.

 

[billtzk]

DME averages about 45 gravity points per pound per gallon of water. 500 grams is 1.1 US pounds. So if you have 1.1 pounds of DME in 1 gallon of water, that is 1.1 * 45 = 49.5 points. Divide that by your brew volume of 5 gallons (19 liters), and you get 49.5 / 5 = 9.9 points. Divide that by 1000 and add it to the OG you expect from your other fermentables to get your new estimated OG.

You didn't say what OG you expect, but let's say it's 1.050. Add .0099 to that to get 1.0599 or about 1.060.

Whether or not that is overkill depends a lot on your own taste. How much additional alcohol it translates to depends on your final gravity, which is influenced by a lot of other factors, including volume loss during the boil, the type of yeast you are using, how long you allow it to ferment, etc.

Assuming you can hit your target final gravity, that extra 10 points of SG will give you a noticeable extra punch. It may also change the characteristics of your brew so that it no longer falls with the guidelines for the intended style. A lot of people don't care about that.

 

[FatherJack]

Wow, awesome replies. Thanks!!! This helps me a lot!