Calculating abv

[Flan]

Is there any way of calculating abv if you stupidly broke your hydrometer at the mixing stage before you had a chance to take a reading. (Asking for a friend, honest). Is this the the right formula to calculate abv- og -fg x 131.25.

 

[terrym]

https://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/

 

[Clint]

The best way is to drink five pints and see if...
1, you're not even merry..(under 3%)
2,you're half pissed...(about 5%)
3, you're bladdered...(7%+)

 

[The Baron]

you really do need the OG and FG to calculate ABV I would use one of the handy calculators infact I think there is one if you click on calculators at the top of the forum. If it was a kit they usually give the OG and or approx ABV and as long as you have followed the additions as per instructions just use this on this occasion if not a kit you really do need a reading from a hydrometer

 

[Flan]

The best way is to drink five pints and see if...
1, you're not even merry..(under 3%)
2,you're half p****d...(about 5%)
3, you're bladdered...(7%+)

Hehe, I’ll gauge it by how many doors i walk into after 5 pints.

 

[Flan]

you really do need the OG and FG to calculate ABV I would use one of the handy calculators infact I think there is one if you click on calculators at the top of the forum. If it was a kit they usually give the OG and or approx ABV and as long as you have followed the additions as per instructions just use this on this occasion if not a kit you really do need a reading from a hydrometer

Yes it was a youngs american ipa kit, i stupidly broke the hydrometer when sanitising everything as i was about to take a reading before i pitched the yeast.

 

[The Baron]

Brewers tip always have a spare hydrometer as they tend to break at the least opportune time also 2nd tip as we are entering winter don't eat yellow snow

 

[The Baron]

That is a popular kit on this forum and if it does not give you the info somebody on here will probably pipe up with the approx ABV
Come on Clint I think you have done that kit?

 

[Cwrw666]

Clint isn't far off right. If you haven't got OG and FG then basically drink a pint. You know from experience what effect a 4% brew has, a 5% brew etc. Make an informed guess, you won't be far wrong.

 

[Flan]

Clint isn't far off right. If you haven't got OG and FG then basically drink a pint. You know from experience what effect a 4% brew has, a 5% brew etc. Make an informed guess, you won't be far wrong.

I have the fg it’s 1004. I took a reading when i got a new hydrometer but that was 7 days after pitching, that reading was 1009.

 

[Clint]

I thought the kit suggested fg of 1.008...the ones I did took three weeks + to get there though.

 

[Flan]

I thought the kit suggested fg of 1.008...the ones I did took three weeks + to get there though.

Well i was worried about getting the temperature right to ferment, as it gets pretty cold, down to about 12-14° at night in my kitchen where i was keeping it so i used a heat mat with a box and duvet for insulation and the first night the temp rose to 28° and had a bit of a blow out of the airlock i kept it at 20-22° for the next week and took a reading of 1009 after 8 days, kit says dry hop when reading is below 1010 so i did i took another reading after 2 days of hops going in and it was 1004 for next 2 days so then cold crashed it at 3-5° for 2 days then bottled some and put the rest in pb. So from pitching to bottling it was 15 days which from what I’ve read on here seems a pretty short length of time, Baring in mind this is my first ever go at home brew by the time i found this forum I’d probably made about half a dozen mistakes so god knows what the end product will taste like.

 

[kelper]

Is there any way of calculating abv if you stupidly broke your hydrometer at the mixing stage before you had a chance to take a reading.

What was the recipe or kit? It seems to have fully fermented so the ABV should match the stated one in the kit or recipe.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

I did this kit once. Just checked my notes and following the instructions (as I did then) I had a OG of 1.058 and it finally finished at 1.010 so about 6.2% abv before priming.
As with @Clint, mine took 3 weeks to reach that.

 

[obscure]

As it’s a kit if you put the ingredients into brewers friend or similar as a recipe you can get a pretty good guess of the original gravity, I.e. 3KG of LME made up to 23 litres will have an original gravity of 1.038.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator

 

[kelper]

Young's American IPA says 6.5% on the box and you must be very close to that. Much simpler than previous post!

 

[Clint]

That's getting on for #3 scenario...if I remember you can get yourself in a right state on it as it's very easy drinking.