Beer Strength

[user 18576]

Not really a question this time, more of a comment.
Brewing beer from kits mainly around 5% alc. and have to say the ones I have made have come out at
5% or even a bit higher, usually with 3.5 kg of extract and varying amounts of additional sugar.
No problem so far!
However, some kits state a finished beer of 4.5% but only come with 3kg of extract and no mention of
additional sugars.
You cannot make 40 pints of 4.5% beer with only 3kg of malt. It makes roughly 4% beer.
Anybody else found this?

On a different note I use quite a few 'Festival' beer kits.
The thing I don't like about them is the pesky pouches the extract comes in, in fact after cutting the top of
one the other day the thing fell over while I was putting the scissors down - only let it go for a second and lost
half the extract in that one pouch, had to add less water to the brew to compensate.
'OH DEARY ME' I said.
Anyway, to stop it happening again I bought one of those small containers that are sometimes used in the kitchen for storing flour etc. It's just a little one from a pound shop, discard the lid and the pouch just slips
in a nice fit and no more danger of it tipping up.
Worth a try if you make Festival beers.

One of my favourites so far is Festival Summer Glory.

Paul.

 

[stz]

What is dme? 350lod roughly?
3 * 350 gives 1050 / 20L sg 52.5?
Assume 80% attenuation so 42 * 0.131 = 5.5%?

 

[-Bezza-]

You cannot make 40 pints of 4.5% beer with only 3kg of malt. It makes roughly 4% beer.

I think the kit instructions assume you gain 0.5% through the priming sugar in general. Even if you look at the target OG and FG figures in the kit instructions, you'll often come up short by about 0.5%.

 

[MyQul]

40 pints/20L using 3kg of LME comes in pretty close to 4.5%. According to my brewing software (brewmate), it gets you 4.42% abv (based on 75% yeast attenuation). Then, as Bezza states you get an extra 0.5% for priming sugar, your more or less there

 

[DavidDetroit]

"Anyway, to stop it happening again I bought one of those small containers that are sometimes used in the kitchen for storing flour etc. It's just a little one from a pound shop..."
So you have pound shops? That would be the same thing as a dollar store in the US, I guess? I know it's off-topic. They may have their use or value but there are so many here that it's ridiculous. I'll have to tell my wife; she'll find it amusing. Happy brewing!

 

[dad_of_jon]

jush shrew a bit bort. 21 inshtead of 23 will do it.

 

[MyQul]

jush shrew a bit bort. 21 inshtead of 23 will do it.

Just so you know, D_o_J, shrews dont increase the fermentabilty of wort. Stick to Belgian candi sugar!

(He'll be chucking kittens into his FV in an attempt to up the abv, if we dont keep an eye on him *shakes head*)

 

[Custodian]

Not really a question this time, more of a comment.
Brewing beer from kits mainly around 5% alc. and have to say the ones I have made have come out at
5% or even a bit higher, usually with 3.5 kg of extract and varying amounts of additional sugar.
No problem so far!
However, some kits state a finished beer of 4.5% but only come with 3kg of extract and no mention of
additional sugars.
You cannot make 40 pints of 4.5% beer with only 3kg of malt. It makes roughly 4% beer.
Anybody else found this?

On a different note I use quite a few 'Festival' beer kits.
The thing I don't like about them is the pesky pouches the extract comes in, in fact after cutting the top of
one the other day the thing fell over while I was putting the scissors down - only let it go for a second and lost
half the extract in that one pouch, had to add less water to the brew to compensate.
'OH DEARY ME' I said.
Anyway, to stop it happening again I bought one of those small containers that are sometimes used in the kitchen for storing flour etc. It's just a little one from a pound shop, discard the lid and the pouch just slips
in a nice fit and no more danger of it tipping up.
Worth a try if you make Festival beers.

One of my favourites so far is Festival Summer Glory.

Paul.

I agree with you Paul, I have always rated the LME @ 32 ppp/g the kits you speak of reach 1042.24.in 5 gall but the 2.76
defaceit ( if using the rule of thumb by dividing the OG by 10 to estimate the alcohol content, more about this later.) to get the 4.5%, the LME would have to be rated at 34.1 ppp/g, which is too big a hike for the priming sugar amount to make. The other situation is that for 1042.24 to make 4.5% then the F.G. would have to be,- 1007.44. again, hardly likely. However, if we just reduce the water by a couple of pints,we will prob reach 4.5%, Cheers everyone.

 

[Custodian]

By the way, most of the homebrew forum sites that we see, when googling for info, are Yankie. This puts a whole different picture on points per gallon as they (USA) quote for THEIR gallons. So dont be misled when you see 42 points per pound per gallon
of sucroses. Their gallon is only 83.26% of OUR imperial gallons. So therefore,in our terms, the ppp/g of sucrose will be
16.76 % less of 42 . = 35. I recently tested one pound of household sugar from Lidl,and got 1035.0 ppp/g. but different brands can vary, and 36.5 points is a good average to go by and is what the hydrometer must have been geared to .
Also ,on your standard 20 deg C, hydrometer,you will see written along the measuring scale, the number of ozs of sucrose ,per gallon, and the % ABV that is produced. For 16 ozs, it reads very nearly 6%. I calculate 36.5 x .1632 = 5.95% ABV . Where do I get the .1632 figure from,you may ask? .1632 is a multiplying factor used on the number of fermentable degrees available. It is applicable for one fifth gravity beers of the all malt class pale ales etc. Usually expressed as percentage fermentability on malt bags etc.
In this case (Sucrose sugar) it is considered all fermentable and this factor will give you the ABV %.
Do not confuse this factor with the one used to calculate the ABV from the gravity drop, that multiplying factor is .1293 . Both of these factors can be proven to each other by calculation, to two decimal places, which is enough for Customs & Excise purposes. These factors were originally 9 and 10 digits long respectively. If anyone is interested in seeing the proof calculations, just ask.
Cheers for now.
P.S. 16 ozs in 5 uk gallons will give, 1.19% ABV, so 3 ozs will give, .223 % ABV. and would have raised the OG by only 1.3675 points.

 

[Clint]

...says M with his Knees up muvver brahn ale with platypus dry hop.
M...king of the hipsters...

 

[dad_of_jon]

Just so you know, D_o_J, shrews dont increase the fermentabilty of wort. Stick to Belgian candi sugar!

(He'll be chucking kittens into his FV in an attempt to up the abv, if we dont keep an eye on him *shakes head*)

here's my candi stockpile....

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&s...aw0ToM4agxIVnO06gB1jTAbz&ust=1533156761343389

 

[dad_of_jon]

failing that chuck a tin of golden syrup in , 500g bag of dme. don't bother with candi sugar I have most of the worlds supply of it

 

[GerritT]

But no more than 10% sugar, it's gonna taste weird.

 

[Custodian]

40 pints/20L using 3kg of LME comes in pretty close to 4.5%. According to my brewing software (brewmate), it gets you 4.42% abv (based on 75% yeast attenuation). Then, as Bezza states you get an extra 0.5% for priming sugar, your more or less there

40 pints is nearly 23 Litres mate. 3K of LME dose not make 4.5% even with the priming sugar. See my post.

 

[GerritT]

40 pints is nearly 23 Litres mate. 3K of LME dose not make 4.5% even with the priming sugar. See my post.

Mate, how about you do some filling in and explaining the results back?

https://www.brewersfriend.com/extract-ogfg/

 

[Custodian]

Mate, how about you do some filling in and explaining the results back

Gerrit, If you had followed me then you would have known.

LME is rated at 32 points per pound per gall so max you have from 3k will be 6.6lbs x 32 divided by 5 gal = 1042.24.
your priming sugar will not sufficiently bring this to 1045. an FG test after 8 days will be circa 1009. which gives 33 .24 degrees drop. so x by .1292987805 = 4.29789,% v/v
your priming sugar wont lift this to 4.5 no way.
Happy ?
























































https://www.brewersfriend.com/extract-ogfg/

 

[Custodian]

Hey mate, you didnt jump in on MyQui for what he said, so why me? Are you inferring that I am wrong? If so, then YOU give explanations OK?

 

[Dutto]

In the bad old days (i.e. when I was working) I had to receive crude oil from tankers and blend gasoline and diesel to other tankers.

The refinery I worked on was American Owned, the Country where the Refinery was situated was the UK and the ships were from all over the world.

The difference between USA Measures, UK Measures and Metric Measures created a nightmare to calculate so that all the various factions were satisfied that they weren't being cheated!

Here's a great example that takes us away from brewing.

We all know what a "45 gallon oil drum" is in the UK, but how many people know why it only holds 36 gallons?

It only holds 36 gallons of oil in the UK because, although there are 8 pints to a gallon in both countries, the USA only has 16 fluid ounces to a pint whereas here in the UK we have 20 fluid ounces to the pint.

I suggest that before making a statement about anything to do with recipes, we all make sure that we are not mixing the different measures between the UK, the USA ...

... and of course, the Metric System. :thumb:

 

[GerritT]

Hey mate, you didnt jump in on MyQui for what he said, so why me? Are you inferring that I am wrong? If so, then YOU give explanations OK?

According to Brewersfriend you are wrong. Your explanations are worth nothing if they're wrong. Mate.

 

[Dutto]

The Title of this Thread is "Beer Strength".

With much respect to the scientific minds amongst us, if a brew doesn't taste of vinegar, old socks or a Turkish Wrestler's jock-strap I don't give a toss that it may contain 0.5% more or less of alcohol.

I use the "Calculators" and "ABV - Alcohol by Volume" that is at the top of every page on this Forum and so far my results (given the fact that most SG readings are a very hit or mis affair) have been more or less what I expected.

Now please stop the bickering 'cos I've lost interest in the original subject!