Commercial beers v Homebrews/real ales

[motney]

Why is it that identical homebrew/real ale versions of commercial beers are lower in alcohol? I have been talking to two companies who sell real ale barrels of well known brands. They state the alcohol content of their identical products will be lower because commercial beers have to have higher alcohol content to obtain the same taste? I do not understand for instance Speckled Hen in cans and bottles is 5.4 but real ale/homebrew versions are 4.7. That's quite a difference. Does anybody why this is?

 

[captain wassname]

http://www.greeneking.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=70

says 4.5 and 5.2 GW,s recipe is 5.6
Jennings Cumberland is similar 4% kegged and 4.7 bottled.GW works out @ 4.1
I suspect its a price thing.Bottles command a premium Pumped beer is more price sensitive.

Jim

 

[graysalchemy]

Why is it that identical homebrew/real ale versions of commercial beers are lower in alcohol?

Mine aren't :whistle: :whistle:

 

[calumscott]

Why is it that identical homebrew/real ale versions of commercial beers are lower in alcohol?

Mine aren't :whistle: :whistle:

*cough* likewise.. :whistle:

 

[Dr Mike]

For some commercial beers, it would be fair to say the cask and bottled versions are actually different beers which just happen to be sold under the same brand name.

Fullers are the same. London Pride is 4.1% in cask but 4.7% in bottles and ESB is 5.5% in cask but 5.9% in bottles.

It could be a price / cost thing but I wonder if it might be for taste reasons as well. A couple of factors might be that bottles are more highly carbonated and customers are more likely to serve them cold. Perhaps London Pride at 4.1% from a bottle just wouldn't taste right ?

 

[steve4520]

I might be totally wrong in this but your ABV readings are taken at the start before fermentation and then when fermentation is finished but i've been led to believe that a further 0.5% -0.7% happens in the bottle during conditioning .....if this is untrue i'm sure someone will let me know lol.. :grin:

 

[Dr Mike]

Bottle conditioning adds 0.1% to 0.2% ABV to the beer.

Most commercial bottled beers are artificially carbonated so don't get that boost.

 

[steve4520]

Bottle conditioning adds 0.1% to 0.2% ABV to the beer.

Most commercial bottled beers are artificially carbonated so don't get that boost.

Looking at your brewing history your an all grain brewer and that being the purest of way of brewing i wonder if that is the same as kit brewing.The reason i question your point on 0.1%-0.2% is that i recently bottled a Brewmaker ipa at 4.2% and after 3 bottles got the desired effect of 6x 440ml of fosters at 4%.....the ipa had been conditioning for 2 months in the shed and had developed an higher alcohol taste than i'm use too...seems to me this area could be explored more thoroughly to determine what happens in the conditioning process. :

 

[Dr Mike]

I calculated the 0.1% to 0.2% based on adding 80g of priming sugar to 23L which is typical. This would add 1.25 points to the SG which would yield just under 0.2% ABV when fermented out.

The logic should be the same whether it is kits or AG. The ABV generated during conditioning would be more if there were still fermentables left after primary, but the beer would be very fizzy. A conditioning phase which boosted the ABV by 0.5% to 0.7% would also put 3 times as much CO2 in the beer and make it a real gusher.

I'd say as homebrewers, I think we can only predict ABV to, say, +/- 0.2% anyway. The way alcohol makes us feel has many variables (what we've eaten, tiredness etc) some of the other trace compounds in the drink might make a difference too, so I'm not sure that is really an accurate guide. :-)

 

[tommidolcetto]

http://www.offlicencenews.co.uk/news/fu ... touch.html

Article from a couple of weeks back in trade mag talking about this very thing.

 

[rpt]

Fullers say

Bottled and canned beers are brewed with a higher Original Gravity and corresponding Alcohol level (ABV) to compensate for the slight unavoidable loss of flavour and character that results from the additional processing and filtration required to produce a bright (clear) beer suitable for bottling or canning.

 

[Duxuk]

I think the higher hop content of homebrews, particularly late and dry hops, have a narcotic effect. :thumb: If you were to smoke hops you'd get an effect and probably a headache! I drank a bottle of ale at 1050 OG earlier and felt a bit high. Yum yum! It had 2g/litre of flameout Centennial at about 15%AAs.
You probably all know that hops and marijuana are from the same genus of plants and contain many unique chemicals.

 

[motney]

Many thanks lots I did not know.