WTF 3.8 ABV !

[ZeeRoDaHero]

Hello gang, been busy whipping away tears all this week. Bottled my " Knuckle Sanwich clone " last weekend. After much anticipation....my IPA clone was almost a complete let down. The alcohol content was at best.....3.8 % The aroma was right on the mark, so was the color. But in order to get a decent buzz.....I need to drink 3 gallons of my beer. I would like to know why my alcohol content was so low? Truth be told....I was hoping for at least 8% alcohol. I don't know what I'm doing, this was my first time trying my "own" recipe. Here is the run down.

5 Gallon Batch
Crystal Malt 40L 1 pound
Carapils .50 pounds
Liquid Malt Extract 6 pounds
Amarillo Hops 2 oz
Simcoe Hops 2 oz
California Ale Yeast WLP001

I talked to a few experienced brewers and the consensus is that my yeast did not activate properly. I do remember that the first two days of the fermentation process, the process was not as hectic as other times. It was more like a subtle bubbling.
When answering my question....please pretend you are talking to a complete noob. I barely know brewing terms. Thanks.

[JonW]

Biggest thing missing from your post is your gravity readings. Did you take any? How do you know it is 3.8% at best?

If you're not taking gravity readings, then you need to start. It's really the only way to know what the potential alcohol is prior to fermentation and to also know what the real finished alcohol level is after fermentation.

Are you using brewing software or anything to calculate what your target gravity is pre-boil and into the fermenter?

It's possible your yeast didn't do their job, but without knowing what your gravity measurements are, anything is just a guess.

[JonW]

Also, I'm not an extract brewer, but I just checked in Beersmith what 6 lbs of LME would get in a 5 gallon batch and it came out to 1.045 starting gravity and 4.3% ABV.

[lexuschris]

Hey Hero,

I put your recipe (at least my interpretation of it .. targeting 5.5 gal batch to fill a corney well) into Beersmith, and it comes out at 3.7% ABV on my extract system, using a full boil. Targeting 5.0 gallons brings it up to 4.1%.. Here is what I used.

Recipe: ZeroDaHero IPA
Style: American IPA
TYPE: Extract

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.80 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.24 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.037 SG
Estimated Color: 9.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 57.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 1 13.3 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 6.7 %
6.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 3 80.0 %
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 46.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5 11.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 6 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 7 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast 8 -

First off, relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew! You made beer!!!

Enjoy your sessionable IPA in between a Knuckle Sandwich, Narwhal, or maybe Stone's new Green Tea IPA! You are off to a great start!

Your recipe is not technically flawed at all. However, it is not a knuckle sandwich. The only fermentable sugar in this recipe is the Liquid Malt Extract (LME). Yeast eat sugar to make alcohol, so you just needed to double your LME to get your ABV up to the 8% range. 12lbs of LME and you would right in range.

As you add more fermentable sugar (LME, DME, honey, sugar, etc.), the original gravity (OG) goes higher. This yeast will eat about 76% of that sugar. So, 12lbs of LME brings your OG upto 1.080 or so, then when the yeast is done, it will finish around 1.020...

The ABV comes directly from how many points the yeast eats. So you either raise your OG, and lower your Final Gravity (FG). Some yeast strains will ferment more percentage of sugars.. that is called attenuation. WLP001 has a 74%-80% attenuation rating... which is generally on the high side... although there are some that will go much higher.

Again, if your beer tastes good, then you are off to a great start! On your next batch, post your recipe idea up a week early and get some feedback. Also, plan to take a gravity reading before you pitch the yeast. I usually grab a few ounces for my hydrometer tube during cooldown.

I would also suggest using a brew recipe calculator like Beersmith or Brewtoad.com .. brewtoad is free..and will help you calculate those gravity points by just adding ingredients.

Good luck & happy brewing!!

--LexusChris

[dhempy]

+1. Well said Chris. And Jon is right ... you need to start taking gravity readings.

BTW Beersmith can be had for $20 ... Good use of funds. Search forums ... there was a recent thread that I started ... someone posted a link for $20 Beersmith.

Dan

[DrDually]

Download the "free" version and check it out
http://www.beersmith.com
Well worth the $27.95 it costs

[dhempy]

Sorry I didn't add this to my post earlier ... tough to navigate with my phone.
Beersmith Thread

I just checked the "Birdman Link" and it would appear that you can still get it for $20.

Dan

[ZeeRoDaHero]

Thanks for all the info gang. Besides the alcohol content being so low....now I'm 100% sure my knuckle sandwich clone was a complete bust. I opened a bottle today, hoping for the best, who knows maybe the beer gods would help me out heh? Well nope! When I popped the bottle, the beer behaved more like champagne than beer. The beer foamed up and it slowly rolled out.The beer did not gush out but the only time I've seen beer do this is on YouTube.
Now my question to you guys is....what is the best way to get rid of bad beer? Sink? Bathtub? Give it your boss and have him drink it?
For those that wanted to know. The OG was 1.050. The FG was 1.020.
I'm so freaking new to home brewing . I don't use any software or I don't have a real process besides having an idea in my head, doing the sign of the holy cross and hoping for the best.

[lexuschris]

The higher starting gravity could be because you ended up with a volume of beer closer to 4 gallons after the boil (if you started with 5 gallons of water, then boiled). That should put 6# of LME up into the 1.050 OG category.

It also sounds like your yeast was not quite done working their magic, or you added too much priming sugar (s/b 3-4 oz of corn-sugar). Your beer is on its way to a 5% ABV bottle gusher... It should finish at 1.010-1.012 FG according to my guestimates. However, all that CO2 production will make it very highly carbonated.

I would not recommend letting it stay capped at room temp, as that pressure will build. Not sure if it is enough to explode a glass bottle, but I do not think you want to find out.

You could try popping all the caps (over the sink) and after foaming subsides, laying a loose piece of sanitized aluminum foil over the tops. Keep it a loose sheet, so gasses can escape, and let it sit for another few days at room temp. You do risk something getting in there, but aside from fruit flies or something, I think you would be okay.

At that point, you will have fermented all the sugar in the beer, and it will be without any carbonation. You could buy priming sugar drops and put one in each bottle, then recap the bottles with new sanitized caps.

I would definitely keep it around for a few weeks to see if you like it any better after all that. Meanwhile, you can start thinking of your next batch. Don't worry about making a mistake or three on batches... it is how we all learn... and even the more experienced brewers here still make mistakes from time to time.. I know I have!

Good Luck!
--lexuschris

[dhempy]

+ 1 to what Chris said ... you may be able to salvage some beer ... but get 'em cold at least to slow down the fermentation or you'll likely have some bottle bombs (and a mess to clean up ... as me how I know! )

Did you taste any of it after the foam settled? If it tastes OK, then try to salvage it as Chris suggested, if not then get 'em opened and dumped.

And (plug for the club) if you become a member (maybe you already are ... I haven't checked) , you can come to one of the brewdays and see everything in action, ask lots of questions, AND very likely enlist an experienced brewer to help you brew. Of course, you will always get online help by posting here but having someone that's been there and done that by your side is invaluable.

BTW: at some brewdays, we get multiple brew sessions going and all types of brewers are welcome.

As you can tell from the responses to your original post, this club big on helping folks brew good beer. Ask and ye shall receive!

Dan

[bwarbiany]

I'm so freaking new to home brewing . I don't use any software or I don't have a real process besides having an idea in my head, doing the sign of the holy cross and hoping for the best.

Brewing is like baking. You don't just "wing it". It's about time, temps, process, and continual refinement of all of those.

I recommend the software, and probably keeping a notebook where you log the steps taken for each batch. Read How To Brew (1st edition free online). It'll give you all the basics on following decent practices.

Then, when you make a beer, think about what you're doing, why you're doing it, and try each time you brew to think about how you can improve the process. Every little change, every little improvement adds up. Before you know it, you'll be making great beer!

It's a journey. One that even the best brewers in our club probably won't claim that they've reached the end of, because like anything, it can always be better. But it's a delicious journey!

[ZeeRoDaHero]

Thank all of you, complete strangers, for your honest input. I think I will be able to save some beer.This is why I joined this group, the few people I have talked in person seemed well informed.
From my failed Knuckle Sanndwich clone I got this.....1) get beersmith, 2) fine tune my planning process , 3) post my next beer project and have you gents analyze it before I do anything.
Once again thank you all for the constructive criticism ,Cheers!

[BrewMasterBrad]

Sorry to get in on this late. I would also suggest that you try some simple recipes for some lighter styles before you jump into something that is more complicated. If you can learn to brew a Blonde Ale or an ESB with minimal flaws in the finished beer, then your hoppy and high gravity beers will also benefit.