Advice on a bet

So I made a bet with a couple friends about the alcohol content of a particular beer. If it was below 7.2, they win, if above, I win. If 7.2, we push. Anyway, they tell me that they asked a rep/brewer from the company and they said it is 7.1. I decided to test the beer myself, and based off of their OG of 1.071 listed on their website and my FG reading of 1.011 (which I did right in front of them, correcting for temperature and the whole nine yards), I found the beer to be around 7.9%. Being non-science majors and non-brewers, they pretty much dismiss the evidence. They say the beer is supposed to be 7.1 as the alleged brewer says. I suppose to some people that experimental evidence is just magical trickery. Who is right here? Should I pay? Should we just drop the bet? Should they pay me?

throw a real wrench into the mix and double down on the ABW instead of the ABV. If they are they non brewers, ull prob win

The ABV is just a generalization. As you know it's really difficult making the exact same beer twice. Guidelines require they stay within a certain range of their listed ABV, but .8% does seem off. Honestly there is no true way of knowing who wins be because you don't know the OG of THAT batch. It could have been lower than what their website says.

Given all the information available to you though, I'd say you win or call it a draw.

If you have a refractometer, by taking both a hydrometer and a refractometer reading of the finished beer, you can work back to OG. You can do this in Beersmith so that they see it's not your own calculation, but rather an impartial 3rd party.

With those together, you should be able to get a reliable enough number to win [or lose] your bet.

White Labs Alcohol Test Kit

Settle it once and for all.

what on the line for this bet? as in how bad do you want to wind?

I have a question, does the dissolved CO2 in fully finsihed/carbed beer impact the gravity reading you would get? It has been a long time since I took a chemistry class, and I don't recall if dissolved gasses have any significant impact on density or not.

I supposed it would be easy enough to test with some seltzer water. Measure the gravity with bubbles, degass it with vigorous shaking, and then measure it without bubbles.

It seems like if it DID lower the density and therefore the FG reading, it would read like a beer that had a higher ABV than otherwise. Just a thought on one thing that may impact the ABV calculation, I could be way off though and it might not impact it at all.

gmcapone said:

The ABV is just a generalization. As you know it's really difficult making the exact same beer twice. Guidelines require they stay within a certain range of their listed ABV, but .8% does seem off. Honestly there is no true way of knowing who wins be because you don't know the OG of THAT batch. It could have been lower than what their website says.

Given all the information available to you though, I'd say you win or call it a draw.

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USing the same ingredients, procedure, and equpiment will not result in a 99% similer beer time again?
ABV is not a generalization and must be within .3% of its packaging label to be legal for sale.

Large operations tend to hit there numbers alot better than us at home because they have "dialed" there system in and know there losses and boil of rates. If they dont hit OG or over shoot it you think they just say "hey **** it"?!?

To the OP. Knowing the SG (lited on there site im assuming) and degassing a sample from the bottle. You should be within .3 (legal allowed limit to fluctuate) so with your sample @ 1.079 could be as low as .076 which would still put you as the winner to the bet.

PorterGlenn said:

what on the line for this bet? as in how bad do you want to wind?

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Not even $10, actually. I guess it's not that important. These people just got incredibly defensive and anti-experimental when I tested the beer, suggesting I was way off-base for even testing. Honestly it kind of annoyed me and pissed me off a bit.

LowNotes said:

I have a question, does the dissolved CO2 in fully finsihed/carbed beer impact the gravity reading you would get? It has been a long time since I took a chemistry class, and I don't recall if dissolved gasses have any significant impact on density or not.

I supposed it would be easy enough to test with some seltzer water. Measure the gravity with bubbles, degass it with vigorous shaking, and then measure it without bubbles.

It seems like if it DID lower the density and therefore the FG reading, it would read like a beer that had a higher ABV than otherwise. Just a thought on one thing that may impact the ABV calculation, I could be way off though and it might not impact it at all.

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I left the sample out all day to let it go flat and let the temperature stabilize to room temp. before taking the gravity reading.

some people, you just can't reach...

My advice on your bet is this...Don't make bets with unreasonable people, you willl never win and only end up frustrated and in jail.

In theory yes, I as well as most people on this forum I believe will confess to drinking the same beer on different occasions and having it taste quite different. Also, as I said 8% is quite a bit and even if it was a .1% difference limit it's still a generalization in my eyes. Just a difference in option on what "generalization" means.

"What we've got here is failure to communicate

GarageDweller said:

some people, you just can't reach...

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So, you get what we had here last week,
Which is the way he wants it!
Well, he gets it!
N' I don't like it any more than you men"


I say you double down on a real bet, see if one of you can eat 50 hard boiled eggs in an hour...