More alcohol % required

pure_stoke · Post by **pure_stoke** » Monday Sep 11, 2006 11:38 am

I've just started a Czech Pilsner using Brewcraft Czech Pilsner extract, saaz hops and a 1kg malt mix from the local homebrew shop. Problem is that the OG was 1036 and FG looks to be settling down to about 1015, leaving me with something around the 3% alc/vol range. In hindsight i should have added some extra fermentables from the begining but is there any way to get the alcohol percentage up mid-brew? Can i add some dextrose when i rack the brew or will there be insufficient live yeast left to process it into alcohol? Any help would be appreciated. Cheers

rwh · Post by **rwh** » Monday Sep 11, 2006 12:22 pm

Nah, you should be able to add dex when racking. There will be enough suspended yeast to gobble it up no probs. You'll lose some of the effect of racking though; the yeast cake will be thicker and the yeast will remain suspended longer. Might be worth leaving it in secondary for 10 or more days rather than 7 to compensate.

drtom · Post by **drtom** » Monday Sep 11, 2006 12:24 pm

Or you could rack onto some extra dex/malt/etc, let it ferment out for a week then rack back into your primary for a week before bottling.

T.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Monday Sep 11, 2006 1:17 pm

If your going to rack, then just rack. The FG is already pretty high, and racking in this case should drop you down several points.

Even using malt, you should be able to achieve 1008.

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Monday Sep 11, 2006 5:24 pm

Id just rack it as with the ingredients you used you should be looking well over 3%, Whats your temp on, maybe its just slowed from being to cool, if your realy worried you could rack onto some dex etc just make it a solution with some hot water to disolve it first, with my calculations though you should be up around 4.5% + and thats with a fg of 1012, How many litres did you make it up to?

melbourne man · Post by **melbourne man** » Monday Sep 11, 2006 6:03 pm

by my calculations form 1036 to 1012 gives only 3.7%
to get to 4.5% it would need to reach 1006
what did you do differnt to me lethal?

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Monday Sep 11, 2006 6:05 pm

I used the brewcraft calc but made it as a 22litre brew, thats why i asked how many litres, how did you do it? in any case we both came up with more than 3%

pure_stoke · Post by **pure_stoke** » Monday Sep 11, 2006 10:00 pm

thanks for the help guys.
FG has been steady at 1.015 for 2.5 days now. Temp is kept at constant 25 degrees C using submersed heater that i've added to my fermenter. The brew is 20L. When calculating alcohol percentages based on OG and FG readings, does the size of the brew matter?
Cheers

melbourne man · Post by **melbourne man** » Monday Sep 11, 2006 10:04 pm

No just use the alcohol calculator at http://www.liquorcraft.com.au/wawcs0113 ... ators.html