Ways to increase your alcohol volume
- Thread starter jnattress
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sugar, sugar & more sugar. honey works great, but can be a little unpredictable if you don't it all the nutrients it needs.
Jsbeckton
Well-Known Member
Also, healthy yeast starter, highly attenuating yeast to attenuate as much of that sugar as possible.
add moar dme
increase boil time to increase OG.
increase boil time to increase OG.
If u looking for a lot of alcohol why not to buy a handel of vodka?, im sure it would be cheaper than brewing beer with the same alcohol content. But if u want higher alcohol beers look for belgian and imperial beer recipies and follow them, it just doesnt make sens to make 10% pale ale, easy to do but dosnt make much sense to me
jdopchibrew
Well-Known Member
If you just want a good buzz and can already choke down BMC-type stuff, go with the sugar.
If you want beer that tastes really good and you're proud to share with your friends and co-workers, learn to make good beer first using solid brewing/fermenting practices. Later you can work your way up to making "bigger" (higher OG/higher ABV) beers that are still yummy.
If you want beer that tastes really good and you're proud to share with your friends and co-workers, learn to make good beer first using solid brewing/fermenting practices. Later you can work your way up to making "bigger" (higher OG/higher ABV) beers that are still yummy.
+1 If you want a good beer, choose a high OG recipe. Just adding sugar will make more alcohol, but will negatively affect the beer's flavor balance.
Try a Belgian Trippel or if you like hops a Belgian Trippel IPA.
Wow did I miss beat up the new guy day again?
Easiest solution is to buy kits that are designed for higher gravity beers. They will normally be a little more expensive because they do include more fermentable sugar (could be more extract, mor steeping grain, or some quantity of corn or cane sugar). But odds are the kit is tested and the extra sugars are in balance with the hops and other ingredients. You may need to learn some techniques to get bigger bears to come out right but I've had first time brewer's kit based Belgian Triples at about 9% ABV that were very good.
Easiest solution is to buy kits that are designed for higher gravity beers. They will normally be a little more expensive because they do include more fermentable sugar (could be more extract, mor steeping grain, or some quantity of corn or cane sugar). But odds are the kit is tested and the extra sugars are in balance with the hops and other ingredients. You may need to learn some techniques to get bigger bears to come out right but I've had first time brewer's kit based Belgian Triples at about 9% ABV that were very good.
You beat me to it :cross:
So much BAD information in the first half of this thread its ridiculous.
Try to be more helpful guys
From my experience the only good way to increase ABV is to increase the grain bill.
That is the only surefire way to increase the ABV without changing the flavor profile at all. Trust me I have messed up a few before.
I suspect that the quality (or lack thereof) and tone of the answers was due to the nature of the question.
Almost everyone here would probably have given wise and useful (with zero sarcasm) advice to questions like, "what are the three main things I can do to make my brew taste better?" or even "is there anything I need to do differently if I want to brew a higher gravity beer?"
Not many of us seem to like the "boost my ABV" question from new brewers because it indicates a completely different mindset than most of us share.
Almost everyone here would probably have given wise and useful (with zero sarcasm) advice to questions like, "what are the three main things I can do to make my brew taste better?" or even "is there anything I need to do differently if I want to brew a higher gravity beer?"
Not many of us seem to like the "boost my ABV" question from new brewers because it indicates a completely different mindset than most of us share.
That's not entirely true because u'd then need to increase your hop utilization as well if your going to stay true to the style of beer ur brewing. U can't just up the 8 lb grain bill of a stout to 12 lb's and not add hops and expect it to stay the same.
Consider this...
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...13523&osCsid=5fa3d0f82ea598cb241091906960f7cc
This was just the first recipe I saw on their website, but if you check out any of the others, u'll all see they offer the 1 percent alcohol boost... Brewvint Alcohol Boost is 55% maltose/45% glucose. More fermentable sugar and at this ratio it shouldn't impart much of a flavor change.
So yes, the short answer is to add more DME or fermentable sugars. That's if u want to up the ABV to a slight degree for any particular style. Obviously if u want a beer with a higher ABV, try a different style (Say Stout, try an RIS... IPA, try a IIPA).
ChshreCat
Well-Known Member
Just dumping in sugar is the last thing you want to do if you want good beer. Depending on style, you can add some sugar as a small percentage of the fermentibles. My saison wouldn't be what it is without it. But taking a basic pale ale and throwing in 4 lbs of sugar because you want a better buzz is going to lead to you drinking crap. I'd much rather enjoy my beer.
+1 to just brewing recipes that are designed as higher ABV beers. Imperial stouts. IIPA's. There's lots of good beers that are higher in ABV if you want to brew 'em. Just be aware that they take more time to ferment and even more time to condition properly. If you're just looking for something to make quick and fry some brain cells without making hooch (at least not straightforward hooch) take a look at Apfelwein. You can find the recipe here. (Damn you Ed Wort!!! *shakes fist*)
+1 to just brewing recipes that are designed as higher ABV beers. Imperial stouts. IIPA's. There's lots of good beers that are higher in ABV if you want to brew 'em. Just be aware that they take more time to ferment and even more time to condition properly. If you're just looking for something to make quick and fry some brain cells without making hooch (at least not straightforward hooch) take a look at Apfelwein. You can find the recipe here. (Damn you Ed Wort!!! *shakes fist*)
mike_in_ak
Well-Known Member
jnattress said:
Talk dirty to them.
OP said they wanted more alcohol, not great tasting high OG beer.
Given OP was new I gave him the benefit of doubt in asking how to boost alcohol without having the proper vocabulary yet to ask the question in the "right" way. It's not like this is the cheese making forum anyway...beer brewing is at least partly about the alcohol and asking how to make a great tasting beer that will knock my friends on their collective a$$es shouldn't be off limits.
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