What's my alcohol content?

[chadm817]

If I have not taken an OG or FG and my beer is "done"

Is there any way to tell the alcohol content?

Can I buy something to help me figure it out?

 

[Hello]

How come you don't know the OG or FG?
A hydrometer, next time.

 

[Winters49441]

What's your grain bill or recipe say the projected OG? Then what yeast did you use. We can give you a rough idea what your ABV should be around.

 

[NewWestBrewer]

If I have not taken an OG or FG and my beer is "done"

Is there any way to tell the alcohol content?

Can I buy something to help me figure it out?

Also...how do you know it is "done" without taking a reading?

 

[Trox]

You can always get a brewing software like Beersmith, input your recipe, and it will tell you what your OG, FG, and ABV should be.

 

[passedpawn]

You can still measure the FG. Do you have a hydrometer?

If you measure the FG, just multiply the fractional part by 4 to get the rough ABV. E.g., if the FG is 1.015, multiply 15 times 4 = 60. The beer is 6.0% ABV.

(for those who care, as long as the yeast attenuation was 76%, which is a good guess, this always works).

 

[ScottG58]

White Labs offers a service where they will analyze your beer for alcohol content. You could buy several hydrometers for the price.

 

[benco]

You just wasted my time! But I'm already here! Wtf were you thinking? Don't you care about your beer? Buy some equipment!!! A hydrometer, refractometer! That stuff is precious, you have to take care of it! Don't you take of your family! Drunk

 

[Trox]

Also...how do you know it is "done" without taking a reading?

I would say if he has already bottled that the odds are 50/50 that in a weeks time we will be reading a post from him asking why he got bottle bombs even though the instructions said his beer is done.

 

[beertroll]

Is there any way to tell the alcohol content?

Start drinking and see how long it takes to get plastered?

 

[osoling]

Start drinking and see how long it takes to get plastered?

<-- best answer ever!!!