BitterSweetBrews
Tim Trabold
I had 6 gallons of beer (Amber Ale) cold crashing after dry hopping in my lager fridge, which was set at about 37 degrees. When I brought it out to bottle (all my Kegs are in use) I was surprised to find a big chunk of ice on the top of the liquid. The bucket was high up, on the compressor hump and I guess the circulating fan I had by the cooling coils in what use to be the Freezer section super cooled the top of the fermenter (I removed what used to be a shelf between the Coils/freezer section and the fridge section).
So I had a dilemma. Do I leave the beer out to thaw or do I take advantage of this and make an EisBier. I was a little concerned about oxidization after melting, so that was one factor. I tasted the unfrozen liquid and it was pretty good, so I decided to bottle it as is. It wasn't a hard decision. So, now I need to figure out what the ABV is.
Here is what I came up with. Please let me know if I am correct.
After the ice melted I was pretty surprised how light/clear it was compared to the rest of the beer.
Before I crashed it and the big freeze the ABV was at 5.6% for about 5.5 gallons of liquid (6 gallons in the fermenter, less about 1/2 gallon of trub or 726 ounces).
So, 5.6% of 5.5 gallons is 40.65 ounces of alcohol.
I now have 4 gallons of liquid or 528 ounces.
Since the same alcohol volume is still in this liquid, I just need to find out what percentage 40.65 ounces of alcohol is of 528 ounces.
40.65/528 = .076989
So my new AVB works out to be 7.7%.
Right?
So I had a dilemma. Do I leave the beer out to thaw or do I take advantage of this and make an EisBier. I was a little concerned about oxidization after melting, so that was one factor. I tasted the unfrozen liquid and it was pretty good, so I decided to bottle it as is. It wasn't a hard decision. So, now I need to figure out what the ABV is.
Here is what I came up with. Please let me know if I am correct.
After the ice melted I was pretty surprised how light/clear it was compared to the rest of the beer.
Before I crashed it and the big freeze the ABV was at 5.6% for about 5.5 gallons of liquid (6 gallons in the fermenter, less about 1/2 gallon of trub or 726 ounces).
So, 5.6% of 5.5 gallons is 40.65 ounces of alcohol.
I now have 4 gallons of liquid or 528 ounces.
Since the same alcohol volume is still in this liquid, I just need to find out what percentage 40.65 ounces of alcohol is of 528 ounces.
40.65/528 = .076989
So my new AVB works out to be 7.7%.
Right?