Raspberries soaking up alcohol?

[thaefathan]

I mixed 5 gal treetop juice (OG 1.052) with nottingham yeast, let it go 10 days at 68F. Then racked onto 5lbs fresh frozen raspberries, and 9 days after that I racked to another container. I let that sit in a carboy for 6 months, then kegged. Now I'm drinking it, and after 3 pints I'm not even buzzed. The juice alone should be at 8% ABV, and the raspberries should have added even more sugar. Is is possible the alcohol stuck to the raspberries?
thanks

 

[stella_tigre]

fg?

 

[thaefathan]

gravity now is 1.020 with a refractometer.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Unless you want to convert the reading, you can't use a refractometer for FG.

Yes, the fruit should have added extra alcohol. As for why you're not drunk, who know?

 

[thaefathan]

Unless you want to convert the reading, you can't use a refractometer for FG.

Yes, the fruit should have added extra alcohol. As for why you're not drunk, who know?

I know a refractometer or hydrometer are not accurate in an alcoholic solution. The question was whether or not fruit can some how bind alcohol.

thanks

 

[afro_lou]

Well actually, a refractometer, like Qhrumphf said, can not be used without correction, a hydrometer is in fact accurate in an alcohol solution. Check again with a hydrometer. If your 1.020 reading is correct with a hydrometer, your abv would only be about 4.25%.

The short answer to your question is no.

 

[thaefathan]

well, the FG with a hydrometer reads 1.010ish, and brewersfriend.com puts the ABV at 5.51 from a 1.052 'wort'.
where did you get the 4.25 ABV reading from?

 

[Quaker]

Unless the raspberries were dried, they also added extra water. I check th juice of my fresh fruit with a refractometer. From memory, my raspberries have always been in the 1.042 - 1.052 range. Assuming yours were similar, they wouldn't actually increase the ABV and could lower it.

They also wouldn't bind up alcohol.

 

[JonM]

The question was whether or not fruit can some how bind alcohol.

No.

 

[Yooper]

I know a refractometer or hydrometer are not accurate in an alcoholic solution. The question was whether or not fruit can some how bind alcohol.

thanks

Of course not.

1.052 for the OG? 1.010 for the FG? That's about 5.5% ABV. It's nowhere near 8%, so I'm not sure where you got that figure from. A juice of 1.052, if fermented totally and completely dry with wine yeast would give you 8%, but this one isn't fermented dry as far as I can tell.

 

[afro_lou]

well, the FG with a hydrometer reads 1.010ish, and brewersfriend.com puts the ABV at 5.51 from a 1.052 'wort'.

where did you get the 4.25 ABV reading from?

Cool, so if there was no gravity change from adding raspberries (at least of no significance), then your abv would be 5.57%
I got the 4.25% abv from the numbers you originally posted, 1.052 og and 1.020 fg, even though the 1.020 was incorrect. Just illustrating that you probably weren't going to hit 8% abv.

Still, sounds pretty tasty!

 

[podz]

Apple juice, without added sugar, if left to ferment down to 0.990, will achieve about 6% ABV. The raspberries would have added about another 2%, again, if left to ferment dry.

Your fermentation did not complete and you were left with about 4% or less ABV. Why that happened is because you shocked your yeast into dormancy when you poured them on top of a huge mass of frozen solids and then left nearly all the yeast behind when you re-racked. Had you stored the wine in a warm enough location, the remaining few yeast cells would have eventually multiplied enough to complete fermentation.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Apple juice, without added sugar, if left to ferment down to 0.990, will achieve about 6% ABV. The raspberries would have added about another 2%, again, if left to ferment dry.

Your fermentation did not complete and you were left with about 4% or less ABV. Why that happened is because you shocked your yeast into dormancy when you poured them on top of a huge mass of frozen solids and then left nearly all the yeast behind when you re-racked. Had you stored the wine in a warm enough location, the remaining few yeast cells would have eventually multiplied enough to complete fermentation.

Probably depends on the juice. Yours may be different. Most juice I see if fermented to dryness ends up 7-7.5%.

But we're all in agreement that the 8% the OP thought he had is nowhere near what he thought he had as its definitely not fully dried.

 

[bembel]

your 5 LBS of raspberries contributed just under 3.5 oz of total sugar to your juice. Your 1052 juice even if it fermented to .998 would have been barely 7%. So drink more and math less[emoji12]

 

[thaefathan]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.
My thoughts were that the juice fermented to completion, and http://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/ puts a 1.052 down to a 0.990 change at 8.14% ABV. Then I assumed that the raspberries would have only added to that amount, I didn't consider that they would be adding water.

The berries were thawed before I racked, and there was good airlock activity for a couple days, so I don't think I shocked them. After 9 days on the berries I was able to rack a really clear cider to the carboy, and after 6 months there was hardly any sediment. FWIW

But anyways, its a pretty good cider, its the first one I fermented in my chest freezer, and the first one I made with yeast nutrient, both things certainly made a huge difference.

 

[thaefathan]

2. Real Extract
Ethanol has a density of 0.79 g/ml at 20 °C, so its presence in beer, along with the loss of sugars due to fermentation, also reduces the specific gravity of beer relative to wort. The "Real Extract" (RE, in °P) is a measure of the sugars which are fermented and accounts for the density lowering effects of alcohol. The Real Extract is calculated from the initial and final densities (in °P) and an old empirically derived formula from Karl Balling [see Homebrew Digest 880-9]:

(2) RE = (0.1808 × °Pi) + (0.8192 × °Pf)


This is what I was thinking of (trying to remember stuff from analytical chemistry lab). The hydrometer is giving you an accurate density, but it's calibrated for an aqueous solution...... blah.. who cares.

 

[Qhrumphf]

2. Real Extract
Ethanol has a density of 0.79 g/ml at 20 °C, so its presence in beer, along with the loss of sugars due to fermentation, also reduces the specific gravity of beer relative to wort. The "Real Extract" (RE, in °P) is a measure of the sugars which are fermented and accounts for the density lowering effects of alcohol. The Real Extract is calculated from the initial and final densities (in °P) and an old empirically derived formula from Karl Balling [see Homebrew Digest 880-9]:

(2) RE = (0.1808 × °Pi) + (0.8192 × °Pf)


This is what I was thinking of (trying to remember stuff from analytical chemistry lab). The hydrometer is giving you an accurate density, but it's calibrated for an aqueous solution...... blah.. who cares.

Yes, it's giving you apparent extract and not real extract. But that's not particularly relevant for most homebrewers unless you want it to be.