Increasing Alcohol volume

Add more sugar to your recipe. Additional sugar will ferment to produce more alcohol.

I used to do that as the kits here yield about 4% alcohol. However, too much sugar was giving me a cidery taste. The solution was to buy an additional sugar mixed with malt. So I was adding 1KG of sugar and 1KG of sugar/malt. Quite a difference, my desire was to bring the alcohol up to about 5.5% which is normal for the store bought beer I used to drink.

RT

On Sun, 06 Feb 2005 01:56:03 GMT, DragonTail said in alt.beer.home-brewing:

Unless the original recipe was for a darker ale. :)

Adding plain sugar, as Dave Taylor suggested, results in a higher alcohol, very "thin" ale. Ferment some sugar - with no malt - to see what it actually adds to the ale. Sparkling water with a dash of vodka is easier.

FYI.... I use the term sugar loosely here..... you can use any kind of sugar you like, whether it be regular table sugar, candy sugar, corn sugar, malt extract, honey, maple syrup, corn syrup..... whatever you like. Except for lactose (which is unfermentable), sugar is sugar is sugar.

On Sun, 6 Feb 2005 07:01:24 -0600, "David M. Taylor" said in alt.beer.home-brewing:

Ferment some malt extract. Ferment some table sugar. Taste each.

Sugar is not sugar when it comes to brewing.

And Mr Wizard says: Sugar is sugar even at its molecular level. I doth quote again....

The added body and flavor that DME gives is from UNFERMENTABLE sugars. Sorry I have to side with Dave on this one...

Kent

Here's a real question to to wax intellectually on, whats the difference between brewing coffee and brewing beer!!???

If you've already got a good recipe and you're just trying to kick up the alcohol a few notches, sugar is sugar. Add more sugar of whatever kind, and you end up with more alcohol (and more CO2). Sure, malt extract might taste slightly better or give you better mouthfeel or whatever, but for producing alcohol, ounce for ounce, table sugar or corn sugar would be more efficient if you're just adding it to an already decent recipe. CxHxOx --> H5C2OH + CO2 + H2O

Not sure if you like fruit flavors. I once did a Pale Ale Strawberry and a Pale Ale Rasberry. With each I put in a jar of Polanar All Fruit in the appropriate flavor. Adds suggars bringing up the alcohol and bringing up the flavor. The fruit was in addition to all the called for ingredients including flavored syrup from the beer supply store.

Bchbound