Weak Alcohol Content!

[floydmeddler]

Hi all,

Really worried about the alcohol content within my latest batch. Here’s the recipe I came up with. It is my own recipe and my first stab at using grains so worried I may have made a few schoolboy errors!


Dark Lager
Munton’s Premium Lager
1kg of Munton's Beer Enhancer
250g of crushed Chocolate Grain (20 mins)
50g crushed Roasted Barley (20 mins)
30g Hallertau (20 mins)
Half tsp Irish Moss (15 mins)

OGR: 1032.

Two days ago I did another check and it had fallen to 1010. I checked today and it had only fallen by 0002! So far it gives an alcohol reading of 3.25% which is pretty worrying. I want it to be around 4.5% when bottling. Is it realistic to think that t will fall by another 0006 over the next few days? If this is totally unrealistic, is there anything I can do to ‘up’ the alcohol content, i.e. adding more dextrose? Or is that just wrong?

Some other info: Beer has been fermenting for a total of 3.5 days.
Beer has been fermenting between at temps between 21c-24c.

Thanks.

P.S, feel free to criticize my recipe if need be… Have to learn after all!


Floyd.

 

[peas_and_corn]

With the grains you are using, don't expect it to fall to crazy low levels- there will be unfermentables. Ferment at 18-20C, that's optimum temperature. Also, leave it for a week before thinking about alc% and the such, these things take time.

 

[Adamt]

What we really need to know is the volume in the fermenter... If it's around 23L your OG should have been around 1.040.

 

[Muggus]

Your OG seems a bit low to me. Did you make a large batch or something?
You're probably not going to get to 4% with such that sort of gravity.

Also interested to know what yeast you're using?
21-24 degrees is considered ale temperature.

 

[floydmeddler]

Hi again. I made a 23L batch. What can I change in this recipe to ensure a 4%-4.5% alcohol content next time?

 

[Bribie G]

Three comments:

1 Muntons is a Pommy kit, and over there 'session' beers are often only about 3.8% alcohol so you can drink eleven pints and still recognise the Mrs when you get home and, as here, the kits are meant to mirror local tastes. When they first introduced 5% lagers there like Stella, hardened steelworkers could be seen grovelling in the gutter after six or seven pints.

2 Depending on what exactly is in Munton's brew improver, even if it was totally fermentable at a volume of around 23 litres you would be hard put to crack 4%. If it contains dextrins and other unfermentables designed to give body, head and mouthfeel you are looking in the three percents for sure. (courtesy Butters' excellent spreadsheet calculator).

3 If I were making it I would definitely have tossed in either an extra kilo of LDME or at least done say a 1.5 kilo mini mash with a pom lager malt. You've paid enough for the brew so an extra 8 dollars isn't going to break the bank. That's just to my personal taste of course.

Should still be a tasty brew however

Edit: couldn't find a link to Buttersd70's spreadsheet and have taken the liberty of putting a copy here:

View attachment copy_of_butters_calculator.xls

Just enter quantity, ingredients and for a rough guide put 75% for each of the yeast attenuation values and voila.

 

[David Sinclair]

Yup some of the tastest brews i've made are around 3.8% awesome session beers.

 

[buttersd70]

Adam is right, the numbers for the OG just don't add up....regardless of the fermentability of the ingredients, the OG should have been 1040 for this recipe if at 23L. So the 1008 you have at the moment sounds about right. And even if it is was actualy 1032(which I'm sure its not, in 23L the can itself would give you 1023, and 1kg of dry adjunct, any dry adjunct, would push it to 1038 ), don't let a 3.25% put you off....my regular session beer is 3.3%, and the one I have on tap at the moment is a shocking 1.8% (no, that's not a typo .)

Don't stress, wait for stable fg, and then bottle or keg it off. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

 

[bradsbrew]

What was the temperature of the wort when you took the O.G. It does seem a bit low.

 

[Tony]

And why did you put chocolate malt and roast barley in a lager??????

 

[floydmeddler]

What was the temperature of the wort when you took the O.G. It does seem a bit low.

The temp was actually around 25C when I took the first reading. It took me a while to chill the wort down... Only my second ever brew! Lessons have been learnt I assure you.

Cheers.

 

[floydmeddler]

And why did you put chocolate malt and roast barley in a lager??????

Hi Tony. Because I wanted to make a dark lager with a hint of chocolate and a roasted taste??

Well, to be honest, I came across a few different recipes online, combined and adjusted them and ended up with the above. Here's the recipe that inspired me most:



Cheers.

Floyd

P.S, why do think chocolate malt and roasted barley are bad ideas for a dark lager?

 

[reviled]

3%odd is sweet as for a good summer lager, I have a 2.5% APA which I tasted for the first time last night and its fantastic! Definately one for the hot summer days :icon_cheers:

 

[sinkas]

3%odd is sweet as for a good summer lager, I have a 2.5% APA which I tasted for the first time last night and its fantastic! Definately one for the hot summer days :icon_cheers:

In New Zilund?

 

[reviled]

In New Zilund?

ROFL, yeah mate, believe it or not, we do actually get a couple of weeks of summer, maybe just cranking on 30 if were lucky... Allthough 30 over here is like 45 over there, our humidity is horrendous...

Mid summer, with no wind = tops day B)

Dont get me wrong, id still rather be over there... But NZ's weather isnt as crap as most people think...

 

[floydmeddler]

Result! The reading is now 1003.

 

[reviled]

Result! The reading is now 1003.

When you bottle it that should come to 4.4% It came down quite low?? What yeast did you use?

 

[floydmeddler]

Hi. Saflager s-23. In secondary now. Look forward to bottling it up!