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Date: 20 Sep 2007 21:46:07
From: Ben Rum
Subject: Alcohol Content
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I've been doing home brew with pre-made ingredients (syrup,
dextrose/malt, hops) which I get from the local home brew shops, in
order to mimic some local beers. However the alcohol content has been a
bit low (around 3.5%)
What can I do to bump up the content, to possibly 4-4.5, nothing majorly
high, just a little bit extra.
I've been using the pre-sized carbonation drops which I think may be a
bit too small for my liking.
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Date: 20 Sep 2007 09:13:25
From: Mark R
Subject: Re: Alcohol Content
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"Ben Rum" <bundyrum75nospam@yahoo.com > wrote in message
news:fctmk4$2nj$1@news-01.bur.connect.com.au...
> I've been doing home brew with pre-made ingredients (syrup, dextrose/malt,
> hops) which I get from the local home brew shops, in order to mimic some
> local beers. However the alcohol content has been a bit low (around 3.5%)
>
> What can I do to bump up the content, to possibly 4-4.5, nothing majorly
> high, just a little bit extra.
>
> I've been using the pre-sized carbonation drops which I think may be a bit
> too small for my liking.
You can add sugar as the others suggested, either extract or table sugar. If
your already getting pre made "kits" from your LHBS have you tried asking
them? Pick a kit you already like and ask them if they have a kit of similar
style but with a little higher alcohol content. My LHBS sells kits that
cover every style and alcohol content from 2.5 - 10+.
Mark R
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Date: 20 Sep 2007 13:10:00
From: Thomas T. Veldhouse
Subject: Re: Alcohol Content
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Ben Rum <bundyrum75nospam@yahoo.com > wrote:
> I've been doing home brew with pre-made ingredients (syrup,
> dextrose/malt, hops) which I get from the local home brew shops, in
> order to mimic some local beers. However the alcohol content has been a
> bit low (around 3.5%)
>
How do you know what your alcohol content is in the beer? Did you measure
with anything? Is is 3.5% alcohol by weight or volume?
> What can I do to bump up the content, to possibly 4-4.5, nothing majorly
> high, just a little bit extra.
Add more suguar or more malt. Make sure to balance with hop bitterness to
keep the beer tasting similar before. Sugar will ferment dry and malt will
obviously make a heavier beer.
>
> I've been using the pre-sized carbonation drops which I think may be a
> bit too small for my liking.
>
Just use a bottling bucket [I assume you already do] and put the sugar
solution [disolve sugar in equal volume warm water] in the bottom of your
bottling bucket and rack your beer on top of it. No need to add drops to each
bottle, and cheaper too.
--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
You will be advanced socially, without any special effort on your part.
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Date: 20 Sep 2007 13:01:02
From: Bart Goddard
Subject: Re: Alcohol Content
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Ben Rum <bundyrum75nospam@yahoo.com > wrote in news:fctmk4$2nj$1@news-
01.bur.connect.com.au:
> What can I do to bump up the content, to possibly 4-4.5, nothing majorly
> high, just a little bit extra.
You have to add more sugar. I think the best way would be to add
some malt extract, which your homebrew store will be delighted
to sell you. You could get a gallon bucket of it and store it
in your fridge for a very long time. Depending on your batch
size, you can try adding various amounts to each batch. I'd start
with 1 cup, and see what that does. (Maybe 2 cups if you're making
5 gallon batches.)
Adding more malt will make the beer a little sweeter, and you may
want to compensate by adding some extra hops. There's probably
a chart on the wall at the homebrew store and you can find a
flavor of hops appropriate to the style of beer you're making.
1/2 oz of something with 4 or 5 % alpha acids is a rough guess
at a starting point.
Or you can do what all the Canadians do: When the beer is
finished, dump in a quart of Everclear :- >
--
Cheerfully resisting change since 1959.
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