More alcohol required...

[Lovemebeer]

I'm fairly new to brewing and thought i would try and master kit beers before trying all grain. I am making mainly IPA's and am on my 4th brew and they are tasting fairly good. I have been using TC Pale ale kit with US-05 SAFALE yeast. I have been adding 500g of malt and 500g of dextrose. My First gravity readings have been around 1.038 and finals around 1.010, and doing the calculations for alcohol content is about 3.6%. what should i add to make it more of a full strength rather than a middy, and how much?

Cheers

 

[Nick JD]

Add less water.

 

[Bribie G]

Nick could be onto something there, what volume have you been doing? Following normal Coopers instructions you should be getting around 4.7% or Carlton Draught / Tooheys New strength.

If you want to up the alcohol a bit more than that, try a kilo of LDME and half a kilo of dextrose or plain sugar.

 

[bum]

Nick's suggestion will work but you also get less beer. That may not factor into your plans as neatly as you'd like. The other end of the scale is adding more fermentable sugars - which gets turned into more alcohol. There are many ways to do this and very few of them are "wrong".

Have a look at this thread and it should give you more than enough info to start thinking about how you'd like to approach it. http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/9233-frequently-asked-questions-for-the-new-brewer/

Note that that thread is very comprehensive and covers other topics as well, feel free to scan it for the info you're after but it is a good thread that may answer many other questions you may have so it is worth the time to go through it properly.

[EDIT: typo]

 

[Liam_snorkel]

for standard (23 litre) batches, some people have good results adding 1kg dry malt & 300g of dex.

as Nick says, reducing the amount if water will increase the strength, but it will also increase the bitterness (may not be an issue if you're brewing IPAs.

I strongly recommend having a play around with Ianh's spreadsheet here: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/29655-kit-and-extract-beer-spreadsheet/

 

[yum beer]

Don't forget you add .5% for bottle priming.

Get you about 4.2%

I agreee with Liam....1kg LDM and 300gm dex is a nice mix.

 

[Nick JD]

You're not making IPAs. That's like saying you have a Maloo and then arriving with a MightyBoy.

To make an IPA put 3 cans of Canadian Blonde and 20L of water in ya barrel and add a pack of US05.

 

[tanukibrewer]

If ya want to increase the alc of the brew you have just done then semi freeze it just before you keg/bottle it.That will do 4 things ,clear up the brew,increase the colour,increase flavour and increase the alcohol content.

 

[manticle]

To make an IPA put 3 cans of Canadian Blonde and 20L of water in ya barrel and add a pack of US05.

That's it? 3 can CBIPA?

 

[QldKev]

You're not making IPAs. That's like saying you have a Maloo and then arriving with a MightyBoy.

To make an IPA put 3 cans of Canadian Blonde and 20L of water in ya barrel and add a pack of US05.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOeJak0qKMM

 

[Diesel80]

Swap the US05 for some Notto and the fermenter with Nicks triCan receipe wouldn't look to dissimilar to Kevs linked video, save for the chunks of flying rubber.

 

[Nick JD]

3 cans of 20IBU goop = 1.060 and 60 IBUs. Dry hop it with Citra and you have instant IPA ... just add water.

 

[Nick JD]

Wait, the cans are 1.8kg - right? Be more like 1.070 and 60 IBUs. Either way - a nice, fullbodied IPA without any boiling.

Same trick can be used to make a 2 can Belgian Triple ... just use 1214 or 3787 or 3522 and 2 cans with only 15L of water.