Increasing The Alcohol Content Of A Fermented Beer

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Westo

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Hi

is it at all possible to add Dextrose after the fermentation has finished to try to increase the ABV. I have a beer that is sitting currently at 3.2% after the first gravity reading, I'm hoping that when i check tomorrow for the second reading that this will not be the final outcome. If this is the case would adding Dextrose do anything?

its a pale ale 21 ltrs with OG 1.040 yeast - US05
i have ruled out temperature as i have another beer fermenting next to it with the same yeast and its doing well at around 5%
ideally id like the pale ale to finish around the 4%
 
So your SG is reading ~1.015 at the moment?
 
Freeze it and pull out the ice. :super:
 
Hi

is it at all possible to add Dextrose after the fermentation has finished to try to increase the ABV. I have a beer that is sitting currently at 3.2% after the first gravity reading, I'm hoping that when i check tomorrow for the second reading that this will not be the final outcome. If this is the case would adding Dextrose do anything?

its a pale ale 21 ltrs with OG 1.040 yeast - US05
i have ruled out temperature as i have another beer fermenting next to it with the same yeast and its doing well at around 5%
ideally id like the pale ale to finish around the 4%


If it's still in the fermenter sitting on the yeast cake go for it. Dex if you want a thinner style beer, or some dried malt extract if you want to increase the malt. Even be a good chance to throw in some extra hops depending on style.


QldKev
 
@OP...
I think the most impotrant thing(s) are...

a/ is this low in abv due to stalled ferment? If so, then corrective action for the stall, rather than an increase in abv per se is required; or,

b/ the low abv is not due to stalled ferment. In which case, why do you want to increase abv? If it is to improve the taste/quality of the beer, that is one thing....if it's purely because you want more alcohol, then that is another thing entirely...
 
If it's still in the fermenter sitting on the yeast cake go for it. Dex if you want a thinner style beer, or some dried malt extract if you want to increase the malt. Even be a good chance to throw in some extra hops depending on style.


QldKev

yes its still in the primary and its a fat yak clone style i only want to bump it up closer to 4% so would 200g maybe 100g dex / 100g malt do the trick or should i be adding a bit more?

the current reading with temp factored in is 1.016

as it stands if it was in a 345ml stubby it would be 0.9 standard drinks,,,, may as well drink water lol so if i could get it up to 4% or close to then id be happy

I have never had a stuck fermentation before so as never experiencing one what are the tell tails that this may be the cause? and would it be an easy fix?

thanks guys for all your help so far
 
post your recipe including yeast used, mash schedule and the details on fermentation time and temperature. 1.015 is pretty high for a 1040 beer of that style.
 
It is winter, and every year we see stalled ferments. For a 1.040 OG kit I would expect 1.009 FG with kit yeast.

But wack some more sugar in there and wake it back up. Don't stress and take the fun out of brewing. Keep it warm, say 18 to 20 (assume kit yeast) and all will be AOK. You will (hopefully) get back to 1.010 to 1.012 and have beer.

QldKev
 

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