true alcohol content

[petescrivs]

Hi
Does anybody know if there is a formula to calculate alcohol content, taking into account the sugar added for carbonation?
I know how to work out from start and finish gravity readings but I added 3oz of sugar (dissolved in a small amount of water) to 40 pints prior to bottling - does this make a noticeable difference or am I trying to be too accurate?
Thanks in advance
Pete :

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome. To my knowledge the amount of sugar added for priming will not have any major effect on strength.

 

[morethanworts]

I use this. Like most of us, I suspect, I am quoting secondary information: I am not a scientist!

(OG-FG)/0.0074 gives you a decent figure for the primary ABV% (Ken Shales, "Brewing Better Beers")

Then for priming sugars, base your calculation on 18g white cane sugar yielding 1%ABV in 1 litre. So 80g, for example, will yield fractionally under 0.2%ABV in a 23 litre brew. Not totally insignificant, I'd suggest. If using something other than cane sugar to prime then you'd need to reduce the maths proportionally.

I suspect it's all rather approximate, but probably pretty close in most cases.

 

[peelman]

Coopers say add 0.5% ABV for bottled conditioned beer as a rule of thumb?..

Mind you I'm no scientist either.. :ugeek:

 

[petescrivs]

Thanks very much for the welcome, and thanks very much for the replies and information, I shall sleep easier tonight (not just for the added knowledge but also for the few bottles of homebrew ( with the additional 0.2-5%ABV))

Thanks again
Pete :