ABV Calculation - Have We Been Doing it WRONG?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Of course we know that alcohol will sometimes take the final gravity below 1.000 and we know that counts as part of the alcohol production. Was more a question of ... what if your numbers show a much higher ABV than possible?

[@stevenlord5730]

I’d like to be your neighbour and have bbqs. I like how you rant 😉

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

First off: thank you for your videos. I’ve already mentioned in other posts that my daughter is doing a mead project for school (high school junior, or rather: the local equivalent as our school system is different from the one in the USA), First question: would it be all right if she mentions your channel and a few of your videos in the bibliography of her research paper? She’s been watching several ones to check her methods. Second question: could some of the gravity be caused by other substances produced during fermentation and that have a lower gravity than water? That might account for the “impossible” higher alcohol content if referring solely to the gravity readings as opposed to the scientifically proven possible ABV for sugar, no? Just a wild thought that sprouted in an ordinary Mom’s brain (said Mom being hopeless at maths and chemistry; I rock in the language department though).

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

@@DavidMBebber - Thanks. As she made a mead, I was wondering if the honey could contain sufficient other elements (let’s call them contaminants although the term isn’t exactly the right one) that would significantly impact her readings. Given the evolution of the pandemic it looks like distilling in the school lab under the supervision of a teacher won’t be a possibility so we’ve looked at other things she could do with the traditional mead she brewed... and at how she could determine the alcohol content of all of them. For a traditional mead that’s completely fermented out the ‘contaminants’ are apparently rather insignificant if the accepted margin of error stays around 1%. There was no way EVER that I was going to allow the setting up of glass distilling apparatus in my kitchen. There was however an alternative: allowing the alcohol to evaporate and measure what was left... Using the boiling off method, we’ve established controls by determining the alcohol content of various wines and strong liquors (everclear, wine, vodka, whiskey, cognac, kirschwasser, and port) of which the alcohol content was known by using the label as a verification. Then we determined the alcohol content of her mead by using a hydrometer (starting gravity and final gravity, using the table provided by the hydrometer to determine the alcohol content as that table is supposed to be correctly made by the manufacturer using scientific equipment and good practices) and cross-referenced it using the boiling off method. Finally came freeze concentration, again using the boiling off method to determine alcohol content. Just to clarify: the freeze concentrated mead was NOT consumed (health concerns). Given the vast amount of times the boiling off method was used, it could be reasonably argued that there were plenty of ‘controls’ to assure her estimation of the alcohol content of her freeze concentrate was pretty accurate. All in all, an interesting ride or, as we call it: “How to come up with plans B, C and D to safely conduct science experiments in your home during a pandemic”, aka “never give up”. 🤣 My kitchen was the scene of the weirdest experiments, including attempts to make anhydrous alcohol using various salts. The smell of alcohol boiling off when it’s not used to make a yummy sauce definitely was a surreal experience and there was a lot of head scratching but also poofs of laughter. Further clarification: when I say ‘we’ that means my daughter did the work and I acted as an assistant by holding stopwatches, handing her equipment, taking pictures. It was her assignment after all. I’ve got a bit of a thing about parents doing their kid’s projects. Perhaps interesting bit of trivia: we figured out that there is another alternative to estimate/check the accuracy of the ABV of liquids that have an alcohol content higher than the hydrometer is calibrated for: simply add an equal volume of distilled water to the test tube and measure again. As the gravity and volume of the distilled water are known, you can then extrapolate the ABV of the initial liquid using the chart that comes with the hydrometer... not 100% accurate but it works in a pinch. Don’t remember if my daughter mentioned it in her paper but we jotted down the results and calculations.

[@pharquart]

I'm a fan of your videos! Thanks so much for the helpful information and entertaining style! I'm not a chemist, but I am something of a geeky engineer. I'll take a swing at your challenge to explain gravities and ABV. Some previous commenters already touched on some of these points. The actual math can get deep enough to make people turn away, so I'll avoid most formulas and jut talk about the basics of it. Sorry it's going to run long! You talked about it for 20 minutes, I get a few paragraphs. I think we all agree that the density of alcohol (about 0.791) is less than water (1.000). Mix alcohol and water together and you will ALWAYS get something with a density (aka specific gravity) less than 1.000 if there's nothing else in the mixture. The higher the alcohol, the lower the SG. However, the ratio isn't nicely linear. It's also not as simple as a straight ratio of alcohol density times alcohol percent since densities are by WEIGHT and we report alcohol by VOLUME in our liquids. And if you mix 100ml of alcohol with 100ml of water, you actually get something less than 200ml because the molecules can kind of "nest" with each other. That increases the density of the mixture from basic math predictions. This is why any math equation to calculate the ABV is going to be either an estimate or wildly complicated. And you also need to involve temperature in an "accurate" equation. Alcohol expands about 5x more than water with temperature. Next, 100 "points" of SG lost means a different amount of sugar consumed when you go from 1.100 to 1.000 than when you go from 1.150 to 1.050. There's actually more sugar involved in the 1.150 to 1.050 movement. It's in part because you're not mixing 1 pound of sugar into 1 gallon of water. You're mixing 1 pound of sugar with enough water to make a gallon. As you add more sugar to the must, you also have less water involved. So the higher the original gravity, the more alcohol you'll get from the same change in gravity. Another confounding factor to screw up the math: there's other stuff in the final product than just alcohol and water. If you just fermented straight pure sucrose in distilled water, you might end with with pure alcohol and water that matches the chemistry tables and formulas. But we make cider, mead, beer, or wine, not rubbing alcohol. The flavors, colors, aromas, acids, tannins, and everything else are still there, adding to the density of the final product. There is no other way to have a 13% ABV final product with a density near 1.000. Just that amount of alcohol mixed in water would be about 0.983 SG. The other stuff (with its own gravity above 1.000) is pulling the final solution's gravity upward, offsetting the alcohol's downward pull. I'm not going to try to provide a more accurate formula. All of the real-world things that make the "accurate" math exceptionally difficult aren't really worth trying to include for home brewers. Even the commercial places don't use math to figure out their resulting ABV; they use expensive chemical analysis equipment. So we use the simple formula of (OG - FG) x 131.25. That's an approximation that's generally good for dry or semi-sweet stuff in the 5-15% ABV range.

[@PaulBrake]

Speaking as a licensed professional mechanical process engineer, Brian, you are absolutely correct. So tell those 15sih people who did the thumbs down to go take a long walk on a short pier. The calculation can NEVER be more accurate than the data collected, and since the data is a visual recording of the hydrometer, good luck getting readings better than 1%, and for most of us, we dream of reading the hydrometer to a 1% accuracy. We must remember, there are more things in the must than water, alcohol and sugar, and every constituent plays a role in specific gravity, including dissolved gases. Plus there is the coefficient of thermal expansion which you covered in another video, but could also be mentioned here.

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

There is an expression I absolutely love and have slightly tweaked to my own tastes and.. shall we say snarkiness? The original is as follows: “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” Being a tas less charitable towards a certain brand of people I tend to use the following variation when applicable and not likely to cause violent conflict: “... and please DO let the door hit you on the way out.” (Because we would love the entertainment of you taking a face-plant on the walkway outside. No permanent damage of course.) Not saying by any means this variation would be applicable to the haters who find it necessary to give a thumbs down... that’s up to everyone individually. But your comment reminded me of my own adaptation to a rather commonplace response given when someone is being childish, silly, unpleasant and definitely not worth anyone’s time... like idiots who find it necessary to give a thumbs down to Brian and Derica’s videos. Sorry... couldn’t resist!

[@LevidelValle]

Saw a video of watermelon wine and watermelon melomel. Would love to see y'all make some.

[@FunkyFyreMunky]

I always sit down with an ABV calculator when I get to writing my notes just for precision's sake, but if I'm just making a wine on the fly and eyeballing the sugar content with a hydrometer I usually just take the starting S.G. (e.g. 1.110), assume it'll ferment down to 1.000. Minus the final gravity from the starting gravity (giving me 110 points of gravity) and divide by 7.5. Is it precise? No. But it'll get me within a fraction of a percentage point (usually about +/- 0.25%) of the desired ABV. I find that "How many times will 7.5 go into this number?" much simpler for on-the-fly brewing calculations.

[@Robert-Herman]

Thank you for this video. i will go back to the simple/original calculation. I, however, do not worry too much over the ABV. I follow your recipes and the end product tastes great. The important calculation is: TASTE + "I made this myself"= Enjoyment.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

You misunderstand... the actual ABV isn't crucial, no, of course not. But... what if you wanted to backsweeten a brew and you used a 14% yeast. Using the inaccurate equation, it might say you are at or past tolerance, while the simpler (and more accurate) calculation says you're not. That could be the difference between making a bomb and knowing it won't.

[@mycrazylifewfawnlisette3582]

(Taste + Selfmade) x 131.25 = enjoyment Or (Taste + I Made This Myself) x 131.25 = enjoyment [Either version with formula under] (OG - FG) x 131.25 =abv Sounds like I tee I would buy Though City Steading Brews should be on there too!

[@mycrazylifewfawnlisette3582]

@@CitySteadingBrews your warning about bottle bombs r very true....However you promote letting primary sit for at least a few weeks n makes sure gravity isn't actively changing a few WEEKS later. Then move to racking/conditioning/secondary. So worth waiting for!!

[@goodcitizen3780]

Alton Brown, Adam Conover and Brian Brushwood all got together and had a baby who loved to drink and brew. The baby's name was Brian! So much information, wit and upbeat attitude packed into a brewing show. We just watch and watch and watch. PS we love you too miss Derica.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

You forgot Adam Savage!

[@goodcitizen3780]

@@CitySteadingBrews Nice! I sure did

[@MarkTheNewf]

Nice job. I'm an marine engineering feller who deals with weights and densities day in and day out. My method was error prone and convoluted enough for me to disappear up my own arse from time to time. Your simplified method is perfectly logical through the use of the point deltas and I think I'll be using it from now on. FWIW, I take the average of two ABV calcs: (OG-FG)x131.25 and (OG-FG)/0.789. I can't recall where I located these but the results of them are within a half a percent of each other. I figure the average of the two is a happy medium. Thanks for the vid.

[@AwakeAtTheWheel]

It’s great that you were able to admit the mistake. Very admirable.

[@tygarren1473]

I know this video/comments have been posted for a while, but have a possible curveball question: Applejack (or any other jack...aka freeze distilling)... Understand how to use gravity to get ABV before distillation starts, and while a spirits hydrometer works for heat distillation, how do you measure ABV when it runs off the gravity scale but the sugars make the spirit hydrometer unreliable?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Whole different thing and beyond what our channel does :)

[@gavesbuds5934]

Perhaps the difference would be due to ambient temperatures between readings?

[@rogerschulz8721]

The whiskey was for the numbers involved. "NOT BLOODY LIKELY" Eating Crow sucks! That being said. Putting out a "So I was totally wrong, here is why..." Is a huge boost in your credibility! Thank you for your hard work and honesty.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Funny thing about science. You form a theory, either based on common knowledge or your own experience. Then you test that theory. If it's wrong, form a new theory. Test that one. Wash, rinse repeat. Eventually, you find facts :)

[@rogerschulz8721]

@@CitySteadingBrews Almost sounds like the scientific method... 😉

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Almost :)

[@jackking4574]

Hi Derica and Brian. From the start I've used your calculation of OG minus FG × 131.25. Its easy and so perfect for me! Thank you.

[@joetyranski4038]

First off thanks for the video's and the information on making mead. I just started making mead thanks to you guy's. I have 3 1 gallon jugs going right now. One is a normal base mead the second one is a strawberry and the last one is a jalapeno one. Thanks for everything and keep up the amazing video's!

[@robinmccoy587]

About 40 years ago I worked at a juice factory I blended the juice. If we put to much sugar in it we added citric acids and it lowered the gravity reading. Don’t know if that works the same way with wine but might be something to ask about

[@CitySteadingBrews]

That's interesting. I'll have to look into that.

[@PaulSmith-jr1qe]

Hi Brian & Derica, I have been brewing for more than a few years here in the UK and just to throw a spanner in the works the calculation I was taught many years ago is OG minus FG divided by 7.362 regardless of whether or not the FG is below 1.000 this works out slightly higher than your simple method and I'm not sure how much of the change in density is built in to this calc to allow for the odd brew which might get down to.992 say.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Multiplying by 131.25 or dividing by 7.362 are essentially the same idea. It's more like multiplying by 135.83 but, close.

[@peterbrown4229]

Hi, loving CS, could it be possible to show some sort of visual hydrometer in these types of videos as Bryan tends to race through the hydrometer readings and would like to understand it a bit more. Cheers guys

[@CitySteadingBrews]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2OtoJZugZusjLM

[@raymaas4945]

Hi Brian and Derika I love your videos and will start first mead in about a week or to, my question is on the back sweetening calculation you went through it pretty quick can you or someone else give me a breakdown of what you meant. Thanks Raymon

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Back sweetening calculation? What do you mean?

[@falconsfortressbrewworx5972]

Did I just see the Star Wars text effect used with the Star Trek theme music? Woah! That's bold.

[@matthewhoward5246]

This video is perfect timing. Just got home from 5 months of deployment and I was gonna use your excel calculator to figure out my desired starting gravity to get a ABV of 14. Looking like my calculation will be easier. Funny enough I am also about to bottle a cherry chocolate melomel that I added vanilla beans to in the conditioning phase. Very timeline with your videos.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Awesome, all those cameras and microphones we installed are working :)

[@gwa752]

Hey! I’m on my 2nd batch now. The first was great, so I tried again. Just basic, no equip, but after 10 days in, still bubbling, cloudy, stringent taste and musty aftertaste. Ok, just got my hydrometer and 9 day ready was 1.010, but didnt factor 10 degrees warmer. Oh yeah, the hydrometer came with a formula : OG minus FG / 0.776 = ABV% See if that works… Thanks for making this so much fun. Siphon in mailbox, gal jug and airlock is on the way. Thanks again!

[@GodBroly]

Love you guys I have watched alot of "brewers" on youtube and none of them have the aire that you guys do you are knowledgeable but down to earth and dont act like you are the end all be all. I have been wanting to get into home brewing for awhile and have just been trying to figure out the best way to go about it I finally found somewhere around me that sells mead so I got to try it but $11 a bottle is alot when you can go through it super fast. what would you recommend for the best starter mead? like what yeast and all that?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

www.newbrew.city-steading.com We have a list of new to brewing videos there, but, our Traditional Mead, though a long and now aging video is a great start: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n53Hg4aLiLygmZo

[@mycrazylifewfawnlisette3582]

$11/bottle you lucky %$*-; It's more like $30/bottle for me! I started with the most simple recipe, although Brian and Derica's traditional is pretty good (as soon as I get home I'll be tasting mine) my first recipe was in a gallon jug.. 3 lbs honey, handful chopped raisins (golden), champagne (or any wine) yeast, and nearly top w water. The recipes I used from CS Brews came out wayyy better and I started CS traditional a few weeks ago (maybe 6?) I'm out of state rtm but when I get home I'm pretty sure I'll be tasting my CS Brews Inspired Traditional.

[@namelessjoe11]

Are there any tools that can estimate the abv? Last year we made a super heavy banana wine (5gal batch 21lbs of bananas and 20lbs of sugar shooting for max alcohol and not needing to backsweeten) it worked but it spent about 3 weeks fermenting on the banana slices I guess it stopped around the % ec1118 stops at and tasted like 15% on the tongue but super sweet and felt stronger

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Alcohol meters can work or vinometers, but they generally require higher than 20% ABV to be accurate.

[@namelessjoe11]

@@CitySteadingBrews cool I wonder if my local microbreweries would let me test it?

[@MultiTankAddiction]

Hey Brian and Derica you guys have inspired me to try my hand at brewing a cider. I went all out and bought a starter kit and 48 brown bottles, with a Mangrove Jack Strawberry Pear kit. The brew shop said i could use corn syrup to sweeten it instead of sugar because i had alot so i did, 2lbs of it. Since im new to this i dont know what to expect, and i forgot to get initial gravity.I mixed this on Wednesday and today is the following Sunday. The yeast is supposed to be a 4%. The brew has an unpleasant rotten fruit smell, however it actually tastes alot like a white zinfandel. I did get SpGr this time at 1.020 i racked it put a bung and air lock on it, and plan on checking it again Wednesday, unless you advise otherwise. I just want to know how long i should let it go to get rid of the rotten fruit smell, because it tastes quite nice. Thanks in advance, sorry for lack of info!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

If you bought a kit then I would have suggested following their directions including what sugar type to add. If you have a brew shop that is friendly and helpful, then follow their directions. If you are looking to use one of our recipes, then follow that. As a new brewer it is very easy to get confused, particularly when taking information from various sources and trying to use all that for a new brew. That said, you may have racked too early as fermentation may not have been completed. Here is a video explaining that further. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqSylWyojLeWibc Since you have done it, your best bet is to let it sit and hope that if fermentation wasn't finished, there is still enough of your yeast colony to complete it after racking. The smell should go away with time. As you said it tastes good, then it sounds like you don't have anything to truly worry about. I wish I could be more helpful, but as I don't know your recipe or your original OG, then this is my best advice.

[@sebastianfletcher3910]

The new ABV calc constant value ive seen you guys use recently has been 135 as opposed to 131.25. I cant find an explanation on the reason for the change. Can you shed some light on the reason for the change?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Okay. For beer level ABV, the difference is negligible, and that's where 131.25 is based on. However, as you go higher in alcohol content, the accuracy diminishes since ethanol is less dense than water, so it's not a linear progression, it's more of a curve. By 15%, 131.25 is off by about 2 percentage points, and 135 is really close. The true accurate equation is just more complicated than I care to use. So, we went with 135. It's within 1 percentage point across the board, so, more accurate for every brew IMHO.

[@UtahSustainGardening]

I love how you folks are willing to say you were wrong! It shows an unusual level of maturity these days.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

If we cannot admit fault, how good are we at showing anyone how to do anything?

[@erikhartwig6366]

for making beer and hard cider i have found that using 131 has been ball park for what ive done. But there have been a couple of instances where i will calculate at ABV and when i actually try the sample, it tastes "hotter" than what ive calculated.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

If you can taste 1% difference in a brew, you have some really good taste buds. Honestly, the exact accuracy is a moot point in homebrew. I'm betting with all the factors combined we're lucky to be +/- 1-2%

[@erikhartwig6366]

@@CitySteadingBrews dont think of it as being able to detect the difference between 1-2%. Its more like I calc 7-8% and it tastes like 12-13%, hence the "it tastes hotter" comment. Obviously if im off by 5% in my ABV calc, i have some serious error in my gravity readings.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Ahh yeah, definitely. Though sweetness can mask alcohol and dryness can bring it out as harsher too.

[@erikhartwig6366]

@@CitySteadingBrews truth be told, ive only ever had problems low balling ABVs with making Honey Wheats and Cysers. Hence the extreme curiosity over your use of 135 as a conversion factor. My experience has been that honey is a slow fermenter and the yeast i use tend to languish fermenting it. Im cloning your spiced meglethin right now using the 71b. Its seems to be fermenting better than past brews and im really excited. In the past i have used EC1118 with my cysers to ensure dryness and effervescence.

[@videodima]

Saw your note that you read all the comments so I just wanted to say thank you so much for all these videos! I've made a decent amount of mead and it's in huge thanks to you guys giving me the confidence to do so, keep up the great vids! cheers!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Thank you! We love hearing things like this and yep, we read and respond to comments!

[@DukeTrout]

I checked on your question regarding specific gravity and whether it can drop below 1.000 due to alcohol content. I asked a friend who is a PhD chemist - she said, yes, gravity can drop below 1.000 with enough alcohol, but it isn’t just sugar that can increase gravity. Other dissolved compounds can increase gravity, so the more complex your brew, the higher your gravity may be, despite the same sugar and alcohol content. The second thing I did to check is to take a specific gravity of Tito’s vodka. The gravity reading was WAY below 1. It was unreadably low on my hydrometer. So, yeah, gravity can legitimately go well below 1.000 with high enough alcohol content.

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

That makes sense: vodka is quite a pure distillate. It’s water, alcohol and VERY few other elements that would contribute to flavour, scent etc. There isn’t much in it that can influence the gravity. Another element is that the alcohol content of the vodka will be a lot higher than the range of your hydrometer. Most will only measure up to 21-22% ABV because there are hardly any yeasts that have a tolerance beyond 21-22% anyways so why waste resources calibrating a hydrometer beyond that point? It could be economically unsound. There is a commercially available yeast strain that is reported to go extremely high (can’t remember its name), I think it was a saccharomyces cerevisiae bayanus strain, and that it could go somewhere close to 24% ABV but that was under ideal circumstances and with a specific protocol of adding yeast nutrients. Not exactly what a home brewer would do on a regular basis. I think most vodkas are around 35-40% ABV so you’d need to dilute it by half with a non-alcoholic liquid that contains no sugars (like distilled water) to get a reading... I’d rather not dilute that vodka!

[@mjbine]

If you step feed to bump up the ABV, should you aerate your mead or just pour in the honey in without aerating? I guess i am asking when is it bad to add more oxygen?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It’s bad to add more oxygen once there is alcohol, yes.

[@Backroad_Junkie]

Hopefully, you're still looking at questions on ABV here. If not, I'll try posting in one of your newer videos... Question. I've been looking into a lot of this. Searching for Wine ABV, I come across a formula from CJJ Berry. ABV = ((OG - FG) *1000)/7.36. This simplifies to: ABV = (OG - FG) * 136 For _beer_, there seems to be two different formulas. The first is the one you use: ABV = (OG - FG) * 131.25 The second, for beers more than 6 or 7%: ABV = (1.05/0.79) * ((OG - FG)/FG) * 100, which simplifies to: ABV = ((OG - FG)/FG) * 133 If I use real world numbers (OG=1.092, FG=0.999, which is one of my brews right now): Wine ABV = 12.6% Low Beer ABV = 12.21% High Beer ABV = 12.38% Close. But how did you arrive at using the low ABV Beer constant of 131.25? Are you low-balling your wine/mead ABV's?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

131.25 is the commonly accepted number... but your comment makes me think about using a different number at different perceived gravity levels.... interesting.

[@wfqsfg]

I have been thinking about this since I viewed it. I am a retired accountant and solving problems like this is interesting to me. 1) Does the gravity reading only go below 1 for a high ABV batch or any batch even low ABV like 8%. 2) If it only happens with high ABV batches then that explains why it goes below 1. It takes more alcohol to significantly change the specific gravity of the mix enough to show up on the hydrometer. 3) If thats the case then you really can't go below 1 to calculate the ABV. The sugar is gone at 1 and the alcohol content is high enough to change the specific gravity of the whole must.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

No, I asked but I already knew the answer :) Ethanol has a spgr of 0.791, water is 1.000, if you mix water with ethanol, the spgr is lower than 1.000.

[@wfqsfg]

@@CitySteadingBrews Correct. But I thought the question really was, should you consider a reading below 1. Your channel is entertaining. Better then TV.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Yes you should and thank you!

[@georgequinn721]

You guys are the best. I'm crushing my cider game(Using the fancy not-from-concentrate juices with pulp(I just polished off an apple and elderflower cider and a white peach, mango and passionfruit cider - Both made from just juice and yeast, left to go dry and then primed and bottled(the white peach cider had way more pulp and seemed to carbonate more, perhaps more nutrient from the fibres in the pulp that survived racking??)). Love your natural, no additive approach and I can't wait to have a go at some of your mead recipes. Banana wine is also a go!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Sounds great George!

[@johnellebergeron6603]

I started my first batch of mead, 1 gallon water 3 lbs of honey..I totally forgot to check my potential alcohol by volume before fermentation...after a month I checked and it said zero..so we panicked and added 32 oz of sugar and a tad more yeast..checked meter said potential alcohol by volume was 22..checked a week later and it said zero. .does this mean that it has 22% alcohol by volume?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

You're using the wrong scale on the hydro. Potential alcohol shows "potential" when you make a brew. If it's already fermented it should show a very low number since hydrometers read density of a fluid not alcohol. Try this video for more understanding: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2OtoJZugZusjLM&ab_channel=CSMeadandMore

[@theflyingdutchmen7749]

PLZ HELP A INEXPERIENCED MEAD ENTHOUSIAST. Could someone plz give me some advice on why to heat or not to heat your honey im currently reading The complete meadmaker by ken Schramm and from what i have gathered is that he had quite a lot of experience in the making of mead. But in his book he says to heat honey up to 65C or 140F. But what i have gathered from other sources here including is that heating honey to that temperature is really bad for the honey. Thx

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It’s your choice but there is nothing to gain and flavor to lose by heating your honey. I NEVER do and it’s not ever caused a problem.

[@theflyingdutchmen7749]

@@CitySteadingBrews Thanks for the quick and informative reply. I also wanna say that i love the channel and yesterday i made my first batch of mead (10L) with the help of your video. Im stil a little bit anxious on how it will turn out. But from the moment i finished the first batch ive also been really enthusiastic about it and almost the same day i bought a book and more equipment to help me make more. Thanks for the video content from a 21 year old starting mead maker XD

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Careful what book... many will say I am wrong!

[@dabenner6]

I've really enjoyed your content and have been brewing for a year or so myself. Ever since using the 131.25 factor I wondered where it came from so I tried to recreate the calculation using the SG of ethanol, 0.787, which gives you a formula of [(OG-FG)/0.787] * 100% = ABV. So in doing this I realized that the 131.25 factor is the same as this portion of the formula (1/SG * 100), so if you're using the SG of ethanol it would give you a factor of 1/0.787 * 100 = 127.07. So the 131.25 factor is assuming a SG of 0.762 for the alcohol, where that came from I am not sure.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

131.25 works great for under 8% ABV, after that it gets less accurate due to ethanol being lower SG.

[@Badger4269]

Just letting you two know I love watching your videos. Thank you for all you do and providing such great content.

[@rileygoddard7181]

I've decided something about the hydrometer: I'll probably never use it to actually calculate final ABV. I'm going to use it to figure out if my primary is ready for racking, and the potential alcohol. If I ever need to know the exact ABV, I think I have a problem. I just need to know if it's closer to 5, 10, 15, or 20.

[@Nagap08]

. Hello ! Are this new coordinates for navigation into the sea of love between sugar,yeast and juices exclusively for Mead or also for wine. I'm six days into my first "Fancyfied" store bought juice to wine. Thanks 🙏

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Same.

[@bmartin852070]

Thanks for the information. I love your channel. Started a blueberry melomel, going by you instruction I added 15 lbs of blueberrys and 10lbs of honey to make a 5 gal batch. I ruff racked off the fruit today, and it turned into a mess. I hope I don’t end up with vinegar. It started out with a 1.1 og and dropped just below a 1.0 in 18 days. I added another 5 lbs of honey, it was too dry for my taste. I used lalvin k1-v1116 so it has more potential to create more alcohol. My biggest worry is with all the splashing, I introduced oxygen. I added another package of the yeast as a just in case, is there anything else I can do or should I just leave it to the Viking gods.

[@fuckinzell]

Just curious, how did it turn out?

[@bmartin852070]

fuckinzell after another couple of weeks it dropped to 1.01 gravity. I added another 2.5 lbs of honey to get it to 1.02, and it’s been sitting in secondary bulk aging for the last 2 months. It’s still bubbling with off gasses. It should be around 18% to 19%.

[@dredd5133]

Hello Brian & Derica . I have a question on original gravity reading. First Time trying. My must? wort? Is as follows. Two fresh chopped mangos, 400g dried mangos in brew bag. 1362g of honey, 5lts springwater . half a pack of 71 b yeast. in a 10ltr wide neck fermentation jar. I think my hydrometer reads 1.072 OG. does this seem about right to you...? Many thanks J.Dredd

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Sounds about right, maybe a little low, but that could be from using 5 liters of water AND adding all the honey.

[@dredd5133]

@@CitySteadingBrews . Thank you. I will leave it as is. I will take another reading when I remove the mango & rack it. Thank you for all your work on great videos, entertaining & informative... Keep it up... J.Dredd.

[@rudagray]

I've always wondered how can I measure the OG when fruits are added and will likely release or have more sugars "eaten" out of the fruit? Any thoughts, have seen another online calculator that estimates the sugar content of different items by weight.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It's just going by sugar content in the fruit. I search for the sugars in a specific fruit and use the measurements of how much I added to get the amount of sugar I put in.

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

Diet websites can be useful to find out the sugar content of various kinds of fresh fruit. I’d assume as people living with diabetes need to monitor their sugar/carb intake (and sugars ARE carbs), websites, books and apps aimed at people with diabetes would be quite reliable sources. For store bought frozen fruit, I’d go with the information on the package. Do note however that the bigger your pieces of fruit, the harder it will be for the sugars to dissolve into the liquid and for you to get an accurate reading (and for the yeast to get to the sugar in the fruit). There are a few tricks to ensure as many of the sugars as possible (and as much of the flavour as possible!) ends up in your brew: Freezing the fruit even if/when you buy/pick it fresh: the ice crystals formed during freezing will pierce the cell walls. It also softens the fruit which is nice if you plan to mash it as well: less elbow grease for the same result (see below). Chopping/mashing the fruit (even when you froze, then thawed your fruit) Macerating your fruit with pure sugar/honey for a while before adding your water and (after stirring) your yeast: through a process called osmosis, the liquid contained inside the cells will leach out... and take a lot of the sugars, flavour and colour from the fruit along with it (a little trick that comes from making jams and jellies). The added advantage is the antibacterial effect high concentrations of sugars have. Bacteria are, after all, also cells filled with liquid. Being brutally drained of their fluids will kill off a lot of nasties (not perfect but close). Maceration also tends to soften the fruit which is a plus for a lazy bum like me who would rather let time do a bit of the work for me instead of purely relying on elbow grease. I tend to combine all three methods to get the biggest possible bang for my buck. It takes longer but I don’t have to spend as much time mashing and, therefore, sweating. Get fruit when on offer or available for free. Prep for freezing. Plop fruit in freezer until I feel like brewing. Take fruit out of freezer and plop i to a sanitised bowl/bucket, add sugar/honey and mosey along to do something else. Give a lazy stir every once in a while until fruit is thawed/room temp (depending on mood/schedule). Mash fruit. Add water (temp of water depends on temp of fruit). Take a reading and add sugar/honey until desired gravity. Add yeast. Mosey on off as fermentation has started... (depending on wether the mashing is done in a brewing bucket or not there might be an extra step and that is to transfer the mashed fruit to a brewing bag and then to a wide mouth fermenter, or to add the mashed fruit straight into a wide mouth fermenter). Last but not least, you could boil your fruit, wether combined with the methods I described above or not. Boiling will however affect the flavour but some times that might exactly be what you want as a flavour in your finished brew. I hope my ramblings make sense. Happy brewing!

[@Nathan-hl3bp]

Great job guys. I feel like I've done something productive after watching any of your videos simply for having learned something. Keep up the good work!

[@flyingmollywhop4228]

I would assume temperatures would affect them as well. If you're brew is 90° when you take the first reading and 80° when you take the second reading I would assume this could be youre micro change in the reading. Higher temperatures means particles are further apart, affecting the water line of a floating object.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It's not that different. A swing of 30-40 degrees might amount to a few points. Also, we try to use room temperature ingredients when possible. But you're right, temp does affect spgr readings. EG: 1.100 reading at 120f = 1.108 1.100 reading at 60f = 1.099 1.100 reading at 80f = 1.101 1.100 reading at 70f = 1.100 So a sixty degree swing and a temp that you should NEVER pitch yeast at gives 9 points difference.

[@denismorgan9742]

How do we know the ABV is correct on labelled products? These could be wrong if it is so awkward to work out and how close is it to the ways of working it out that you have described?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

They are legally obligated to be more accurate.

[@coltongaby199]

I finished my first 5gal batch of braggot not too long ago. Just wanted to thank you two for the incredibly helpful videos. They made the process much easier.

[@chrismurphy5564]

is there any useful info in taking a sg reading of the juice before adding sugar? i have been taking readings before adding sugar, after adding sugar and then throughout the process.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Only to know how much gravity your juice has.

[@davidbeck9045]

My question is why take a reading after adding the yeast why not before. Not sure if the yeast adds any numbers to the hydrometer. The reason I ask is because when you take the final reading the yeast has been used and settled to the bottom.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I used to add water to the yeast first, and taking a reading after adding that would alter the reading, so now it might just be habit. Though honestly the yeast themselves won't change the reading.

[@aliceorwell7541]

Interesting. Although hearing all the numbers being read off eventually made it bit of a blur for me, especially when you change how you were saying them. One moment you'd use a format like "Ten Twenty" next you'd use "One point Zero Three Zero". Would have been nice to have the numbers being compared appear on the screen in a basic table. Great videos though. Love em

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It’s habit... I will work on it though.

[@mycrazylifewfawnlisette3582]

I get science and numbers but sooo many without seeing EVERY formula at the bottom of the screen meant that I blurred from over info too. I got the gist of what was said but it made more sense the second time I watched. This video is overloaded in the most simple all inclusive way. My second time watching it made more sense

[@the-first-joe]

@@CitySteadingBrews This is just a brewer shorthand that I have heard all over the place. I guess I just have not done enough brewing to have made the less than universal translator translate it in my melon yet. 'Ten' is one syllable and 'one point' is two- I get it, it is the same reason we have acronyms. Maybe, just for we newbs, you keep up with saying ten seventy then follow it up with a 'one point seven zero' as I have seen you do in a few videos from time to time. IDK, now I feel bad for my analogy. You are doing great, I love you. ok, bye

[@CitySteadingBrews]

That is the nicest comment you have given. :)

[@ianprescott1420]

Hi Brian, not exactly a mead question, but it is a question about something in the video. What is that medallion you are wearing????

[@s1kainer]

Sooo, do you have an opine about what is sweet with regard to SG or dry with regard to SG? Does the SG versus sweet or dry vary with the type of juice used to make the wine?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It's all opinion, but sweet is 1.020-1.030 for me. Semi sweet is 1.005 - 1.020 and dry is below that.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Different beverages will vary in perceived sweetness though, yes.

[@thenotsurechannel7630]

What would you call the end result... if you were to take sugar saturated water, ferment it until it's "dry" and then (once it's clear) "back sweeten" it with a proper honey to water ratio?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Wine.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

See this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGW2npSpn9KqrbM

[@granrey]

Question if I already know the sugar in the juice based on the product label and I add couple cups of sugar. There should be a formula that gives me the potential % of alcohol. why this calculation is not done this way?

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

You can calculate your potential alcohol percentage based on the original gravity (that’s one way) or you can calculate it based in how much sugar you add per gallon/litres of liquid plus the amount of sugar already in the juice. As I’m from Europe I looked up several sources and found they didn’t really agree but that 17-18 grams of sugar added to one liter of water should yield around 1% of alcohol. I haven’t got the foggiest idea how that would translate into ounces per gallon but I’m sure you can find that somewhere on the internet. Anyways, either I totally suck at maths (I do!) or the juices I tend to use are mislabelled. When I calculate how much sugar/honey I need to add in order to get the ABV I’m shooting for, somehow my calculations are off more often than I’m comfortable with. So I do often do the math but I err in the side of caution, take a reading after mixing everything VERY thoroughly, and adjust with careful addition(s) until I’m where I want the gravity to be. It works for me but everyone is free to do it another way if they think another method suits them better or is more efficient. I take another reading when I think fermentation is done and check what the ABV is by using the formula. If the ABV is way off what I was shooting for, that gives me a vital clue: something went wrong (ABV very low, not in any way near the yeast’s alcohol tolerance and gravity significantly over 1.000 for example could mean fermentation has stuck or is stalled) and I can intervene. I will take at least one third reading a few days later to check if fermentation has truly stopped. If it has, I will act accordingly: try to re-start fermentation, bottle, allow to bulk age, step feed... depending on wether the gravity is where I want it to be, needs to drop further, indicates the brew has fermented out (i.e. all the sugars are gone)... and depending on what my final goal is for that one specific brew. I hope my mumbo-jumbo makes sense. All I basically mean is that gravity readings are a very useful tool of diagnosis: what to expect before starting, what’s happening during fermentation, and is the brew done fermenting. Taking an initial reading has also saved a lot of brews from being over-dosed with sugars and fermentation not starting at all. Too much sugar, fruit concentrate or honey and your yeast won’t even be able to start fermenting or will have a very hard time doing so, especially if you use a sensitive strain of yeast (which can be highly desirable some times for the flavour profile it yields). My motto often is, especially when developing my own recipe or when changing up an existing recipe is to use both calculation AND gravity to double check before I add my yeast. But that’s me. Happy brewing!

[@hnic1785]

after watching this I found I calculated wrong. I got 17.1 first and second was 17.7 % by volume. making my vikings blood mead 17% average ABV. taste test was mind blowing. very very good mead thanks for all your videos.

[@thomassnorf84]

I believe you said the sweet spot for Original Gravity is 1.110 to 1.120, is there a sweet spot for Final Gravity for various brews, i.e. mead, wine, cider etc.?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

There's no one FG fits all. We normally try for 1.000 for finished brews. Most times, with that OG, we get there. Makes it repeatable.

[@pursuer5715]

what if the lower gravity is a product of not yet released gasses still in the must or wort?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Could be but most times when we get to that reading it’s been offgassed.

[@jgar538]

I saw ABV Calculation... and hey, I'm interested in that. So now I'm wondering, what is this other smart guy complicated calculation? I came across the Hall Equation not too long ago that was published in Zymurgy Summer 1995. It's deep stuff so I need to look at it more closely before I start drinking (I know tuff to do). Hall says alcohol is SG = .794. His calculations starts by figuring ABW and then dividing by .794 to get ABV. I've also seen another published calculation (Zymurgy too, I think) that was very in depth and was then distilled down to, we should be calculating with factor "132" not 131(.25). The Hall Equation does slowly deviate from our easier math as we move away from the OG of yellow fizzy stuff and I played with it up into the 15-16% ABV range and it stayed within .9% at that level. Are you familiar with the Hall Equation and is it hogwash, to be spurned to all? Or something to consider as solid? Cheerz.

[@vaughngriffiths3148]

Question, I don't have a hydrometer (awaiting delivery) but in the mean time I still need to measure my brews. For example If I had to measure the bulk density (even though bulk density and SG are at opposite ends of the scale to each other) of the liquid against a known volume eg, 100ml? I know it won't be as accurate as the hydrometer reading but it should be better than no test. I did a test on the tea wine recipe this last weekend and after adding 2 pounds of sugar got a reading of 1,090. Any thoughts?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

A hydrometer is far better.

[@vernonialiving9087]

All right, this has little to do with this video main topic, and I am a beginner, but you mentioned pasteurization on your Q&A.... I have watched videos on this topic and think I understand the reasons and risks, and while it will probably be a while before I try, my mother uses a kitchen gadget for cooking called a Sous vide. It is a small heater that circulates and heats the water with thermostatic control. It struck me that this may be a safe way to pasteurize a brew.... if you had any thoughts on this or it may be something you'd may want to experiment with....

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Yup, can use that.

[@tface58]

Great episode i was wondering how the industry figures ABV , since i would think they would have to be pretty accurate with the taxation and labeling of the bottles

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Laboratory and chemists.

[@Frozlix]

Gas chromatography

[@tracywalker9634]

Just started my 1st wine brew 128oz of grape juice 100% just under 5 gallons of water added 4 cups of table sugar finishing out at just over 6 gallons starting gravity was 1.020 was going to wait 5 days check gravity again to see where I am wanting a 6% apv wine used the same bread yeast as you and watching videos on what to do using a 7.9 gal fast ferminter in no hurry

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It’s going to be very dry and more like 2.5% abv.

[@tracywalker9634]

@@CitySteadingBrews planning on step feeding since I did my calculations wrong would 4 lbs of sugar be able to raise it by 150 points

[@josevega4111]

Thank you for the formula, I've been using 7.3 instead of the 131.25. Was getting odd numbers, now the numbers make sense. Thanks

[@asimplelifeinthephilippine1465]

How do you determine what yeast to use, some are for higher ABV some or for lower ABV.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Each yeast has it's own alcohol tolerance. Sadly, the packets don't have this information. I use Google to find out what yeast does what.

[@RealGardenMechanics]

We were gathering Dandelions, and Idea entered my head (this is normally the starting point of a disaster) Thistles will start flowering before for too long too, surely we could use Thistle flowers before they seed....I just need 2 guinea pigs ;)

[@shanefolden4784]

Very helpful! Thank you for all of the invaluable info. I have been binge-watching your channel all week and already have two 2-gallons of your sweet red wine recipe going. I used bread yeast in 1 and 71b + black tea in the other. Sooo excited to try them both!

[@TheKrinkled1]

Here's a Q: egg white or powdered egg shell? Natural, yes, but would you recommend either over using bentonite or other, more chemically processes for clarifying?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Never used either. Try this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4TaiXWmppxgkKM

[@TheKrinkled1]

Thanks for this. I may try the eggshell on a stubbornly off-flavored mead as an experiment in the process, if nothing else.

[@Backroad_Junkie]

Here's my guess. (And it's only a guess, mind you.) Take 100ml of water and 100ml ethanol and mix them, the resulting volume is about 192ml, because the ethanol molecules are smaller than water and pack themselves between the water molecules. This is sorta referred to as "excess volume". (Google "Excess volume ethanol graph".) However, if you take 150ml water and 50ml ethanol (or 50 ml water and 150ml ethanol), the resulting volume is _more_ than 192ml, because the _excess volume_ decreases. So the result, the density of the mixture is not linear as the percentages of water and ethanol changes. The steepest part of the excess volume curve occurs at low ethanol percentages, right where your figures are the most off. Make sense?

[@deflugs101]

Used to make wine long time ago with 30 bottle kits in a large plastic vessel. And bottle up etc. Always seemed to turn out ok/drinkable. But alas lost everything along the path of life. After watching you guys for a while now have finally purchased some more brewing stuff! demijohn, hydrometer, etc. Can’t wait to make my first mead. Hopefully will be more fun not using a “pre made kit” ie juice and finings etc. Just need to find a source of honey locally and I’ll be back on to follow one of your great mead making vids. Keep up the good work 👍🏻

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Awesome!

[@lizardaquatics4986]

Sorry new here and mathematically impaired. my question is, Dose the ABV differ if tested in 250ml opposed to testing in 750ml? reason asked is, if my mead sits at 13.5% measured in 250ml tube and I bottle it into 355ml bottles, what and how can I figure out the total ABV between the two or are they still the same? long story short... does ABV change whether it is 250ml or 2.5Lt? or is that just percentage of the total alcohol of that volume per bottle?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Abv is a percentage of the volume. It doesn’t changed based on bottle size.

[@goofydudeoutdoors614]

hi i have made a brew of 3l of pineapple 1l of apple 600grams of sugar and half a cup of tea with 2tsps of bread yeast my starting sgr is 1.1 i let it foment for 16days and ended with a sgr of 1.00 so this gives me a reading of13.125 is this ok it is a bit dry , i got aprox 5 bottles that i have put in fridge do you think i should have racked it for a second time before bottling????? alb Colin fae sunny Scotland

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Ok. It's probably fine. You put it in the fridge. Had you racked it and let it sit longer, you might get less sediment in your bottles, but that's about it.

[@goofydudeoutdoors614]

@@CitySteadingBrews no i went straight into bottles with siphon should i rack into 2nd then bottle .think i may have done it earlier as it went mega dry need to find out how to make it sweeter as i prefer a sweet wine yes im a noob but getting their

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We have videos explaining that... kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJKvnX2Lgqd4hJI

[@XeeroBliss]

Love your videos and personalities! I started my first batch of two one gallon mead brews! Wish me luck!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Good luck!

[@k-entertainment]

Hey Brian and Derica. Only so recently have I taken a dive into homebrewing, mostly because of your videos which I love. I have a question though! Or rather a request for a half-hand hold. I did (well, am making) a cheap brew with blueberry and apple juices, with added white sugar to bolster gravity and eventually ABV. It smells of a solid, juicy red wine. I used Lalevin 71B-1122 yeast and a chemical nutrient. My OG (I did 2 1 gallon batches in glass carboys as I didn't have a singular fermenting vessel that could hold the right volume I wanted (seriously, nobody has 2 gallon buckets with lids or even a 2/3 gallon carboy, almost all are sold out online on multiple sources)) averaged 1.075 between both batches, off by 2 points each (A1.074/B1.076 respectively). Low for a wine, I'm aware. I wanted it higher ABV and semi-sweet, but miffed up gravity calculations and didn't want to waste any juice so I just left it. I figure I can't really do a whole lot about it now as I've racked it, and the yeast have lost most of their biomass due to this. Adding more sugar at this point would probably just stress the remaining yeast out and may make off flavors- I'll take your opinions on that of course! The OG was taken on March 27th, when the must was made. I got busy and let it ferment bone dry. The hydrometer read (on the 17th of May, which is also when I racked into 'secondary' (bad, I know, let it sit for a long time. I did do an intermediary gravity reading though, and it was definitely going strong)) ~0.997 for both batches for FG. I'm sure it's just at 1.000, but it looked to be below that on the hydrometer. They've been sitting a few days now, and I'm noticing that they actually don't have any positive pressure in their airlocks, and they're pushed down. They're certainly done fermenting, that's for sure; I want to add a clearing agent to just further prettify it. Should I do that now, wait for anything to fall out of suspension and bottle it as soon as it's clear to my liking? Or what else would you recommend doing? The headspace on both batches roughly comes up to just 1/8th of an inch under where the curve of the 1 gallon glass carboys start.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

You are rushing things a bit... I have brews from January sitting in primary, I rack when absolutely done as there is no rush. Brews can sit on lees for months without issues then months again in conditioning. As we say in many videos, we don’t add any clearing agents. When starting out, follow known recipes, that way you can learn the methods and gain experience before winging it and making lots of mistakes. That said... what you made sounds drinkable. Enjoy.

[@k-entertainment]

@@CitySteadingBrews I appreciate that you'd take some time out of your busy day to ease my newbie nerves! Thank you so much.

[@hiroyopoetker]

I have a question about your simple calculation. Something that has happened to me many times. I usually have many brews that go very dry around .090 to .080 very dry and nasty but beautiful to back sweeten to your delight. However yesterday, I racked an apple ginger brew that had an OG or 1.086 and finished at .086. So 1.086 - .086 = 1 so 131.25 x 1= just that! Is that correct? I found another calculation which is similar but works like this. 1086 - 86= 1000. 1000 divided by 7.5 = 133.3333333 so I know the brew is 13% but is this all correct? I know you addressed this in the video and said you will make a new video so, Im waiting for your new video if you still don't have an answer! What do you think about the calculation of dividing by 7.5?

[@hiroyopoetker]

For some reason when things brew under 1.000 I really get odd numbers because everything ends with 13% and that makes me mind go crazy! Because 1.108 - .092 = 1.016 x 131.25 = 133.35 But a lower OG of 1.078 - .092= 129.4125 so are both of these examples really 13% It really makes now sense. The same 2 brew divide by 7.5 comes to 135.466666 or 131.46666666 still both 13%! ahahahahhahahhahaha Sorry you don't have to answer this as you are working on a new video! But Im very confused! But keeping the 1.000 as finial gravity the numbers are way different 1.108 - 1.000= .108 x 131.25 = 14.175 hummm then 1.078 - 1.000 = .078 x 131.25= 10.2375 Ok this makes more senes to me so, if my brews go under 1.000 I think calculating with 1.000 is more correct! Hummmm?????? still Im perplexed! Sorry for the rambling question!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

There’s a very good chance you are reading your hydro wrong or using the wrong hydrometer. 0.990 is considered extememly dry and I have rarely heard of much lower readings. So your .086 makes little sense to me. Sorry just cannot be right.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

If you really are reading .086 fg from a 1.086 og that is 131.25% abv. That is higher than pur ethanol, that’s why I am saying something is wrong somewhere.

[@hiroyopoetker]

How can I be reading it wrong? Its super simple to read and Im not 90 so my eyes are good! hahahah I have had brews finish at .080 at the lowest but most commonly my brews finish at .090. Im reading it wrong, I use redstar's wine and champagne yeast usually and have been doing lots of brews with bread yeast and with all 3 kinds of yeast I have had under 1.000 brews. So Im very curious as to why your brews never finish that dry. Im using just whole fruits, white sugars, brown sugars, honeys, 100% fruit juices and a bunch of herb and teas. Obviously there is still a gap of understanding on brew below 1.000. thank you for answer but like you mentioned we need a professional to explain this! Thank you and please have a wonderful day!

[@smokeyjoe9497]

When did you switch to 135 and is there a particular reason you have abandoned the 131.25 calculation advised pretty enthusiastically in this video?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

More testing following this video prompted the change. Much more accurate for wine and mead.

[@smokeyjoe9497]

Right on, thanks for following up! Keep up the great work and stay safe.

[@ranjithkumarv1]

i made a watermelon juice then added sugar ad yeast its been 10 days its still bubbling ,i could see the watermelon flesh floating on the top is it fine to leave it or should i rackit, i am trying to make a watermelon wine, thank you

[@nathanielsizemore8594]

Good morning Derica, sorry for getting your name wrong.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

hehe, all good Nathaniel.

[@usarduinosandmore554]

Hello, what would happen to a finished brew of mead if you exposed it to sunlight? say if you wanted to stop it with 20 points gravity? would it alter the final flavor? i'm thinking sunlight vs pasteurization here? all so would this aid in flocculation? love the vids i have seen just about all of them

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It wouldn't do anything for a few hours most likely, but after that it could give really off flavors.

[@mdbissell]

What made you decide to use (OG - FG) x 135 for ABV but in this video you say the correct formula is (OG - FG) X 131.25? Which should I use? I am so confused!!! HELP!! Does 131.25 make that much more accurate ABV than the 135 formula? Does it really matter? I really hate math!! lol

[@CitySteadingBrews]

131.25 is a generally accepted number and many use it. It's close enough, and pretty accurate for beer and low ABV brews, but, as you get higher in the ABV range, due to the fact ethanol has a much lower SPGR than water, it becomes less accurate to use 131.25 to calculate ABV. In the >10% range, 135 is closer to the accurate number. Here's the truth, just use the same formula all the time and you're fine. Homebrewing is far from accurate for ABV calculation anyway. At best, we're within 1-2% accuracy. To know for sure, you'd need a lab test.

[@mdbissell]

@@CitySteadingBrews Thank you for responding. I learn so much from you guys and your videos. I want my ABV to always be between 10 and 18% so I will stick with the 135 number. I don't want to worry about my mead, wine or cider going to vinegar even if it is a tasty vinegar, lol.

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

@@mdbissell - Enjoy your brewing! Like you I tend to shoot for brews going over 10% simply because I’d rather not have them turn to vinegar. However: when brewing in winter (less chance of fruit flies) and not using raw fruit AND aiming for a brew that’s supposed to be had very young (say, a low ABV sparkling dry cyser made with store bought juice) I do shoot for something in the 5-8% range, prime with sugar after racking and allow to bottle carbonate. That’s when I do use the 131.25 coefficient. When I want to bottle carbonate a brew with an ABV higher than 10% I will use 135 in my calculations to figure out where I’m at to see if my brew isn’t uncomfortably close to my yeast strain’s maximum alcohol tolerance. I guess for me personally the use of one over the other is more dependent on wether I want to bottle-carbonate a brew or not. In other cases it’s of minor importance (to me!) except to have an idea wether fermentation is truly done and more or less how strong the hooch I made is. 12% is for drinking. 18% comes into sipping territory for me or I would be tempted to add it into a cocktail... wouldn’t want to drink it too fast and end up totally schnockered on just one drink.

[@Skulltap]

I've been wondering about this for a while too. On average I was seeing around 1% higher every time with the complex formula. Based the numbers you mentioned that sounds about right for the normal brewing values. I often run the yeast to their rated values unless I really just want it dry as dry can be (the other half likes the dry stuff better). This meant the yeast were always doing more then they were rated by at least 1% which while possible seemed odd to me. Thank you for the extra info, I'll be going back the old school. Sometimes simple is best :) Also no point in adding the spent gravity to the FG just to get an OG to subtract then multiply. Much easier at that point is to just take the total spent times 131.25 (spent+FG=OG -> (OG-FG)*131.25=spent*131.25)

[@s1kainer]

Do you have a video that explains how to determine how much fermentable sugar there is in juice or in fruit? Also, I recall seeing a video of yours where you showed the math of how you determine how much sugar you need to add to the juice in order to obtain the ABV you want along with the finished sweetness..... I think you did a backwards calculation, ie, you started the calculation with a desired finished SG (with anticipated ABV), and then calculated how much table sugar is needed to be added to anticipated useful fruit juice sugar to obtain the desired finished product, ie both SG, and ABV. I believe you showed the formula in text on the screen. I'd like to see that video again. Could you point out that video?

[@tivonoston3068]

Dear Derica and Brian, is there a list of final gravities that rate the “general” sweetness of a brew of mead and/or wine? I’m new to brewing and don’t know what exactly the numbers entail, other than the guest-imating final sweetness by yeast tolerance and sugar % and backsweeeetening to taste! 😋

[@CitySteadingBrews]

.990 is dry 1.000 is dry still 1.010 is almost dry 1.020 is getting sweeter 1.030 is considered sweet

[@tivonoston3068]

CS Brews thank you!

[@Skulltap]

The blackberry question got me looking at my blackberry.... there are white spots on the top. I fermented this for about a month. I racked and back sweetened it and it has been in conditioning for 3 weeks. I've never had an infection in a brew, but now I'm worried something happened to it. Any thoughts?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Could be yeast rafts. When I see that, I mix it in thoroughly. Since if it's mold, the batch is no good anyway, there's no harm. If after a week or two, it returns, it might be mold, if it doesn't, just yeast rafting.

[@Skulltap]

@@CitySteadingBrews Thanks for the info. I had a little freakout moment and ended up racking it. I had ended up with about 1.5 gallons that I had in 2 vessels. I was careful to avoid the top in hopes to save it, now I only have 1 gallon left. I'll keep an eye on it, hopefully I just over reacted. It will be sad if I have to pitch the brew.

[@Haustyle666]

When getting the OG readings; Should we get it before adding the yeast, or after. Or does it matter either way? Lol

[@CitySteadingBrews]

So long as you do it fairly quickly, doesn't matter. By quickly, I mean within minutes or an hour, before fermentation kicks in.

[@Haustyle666]

CS Brews ok cool thank you

[@siya.abc123]

Love you guys and thanks for helping me through lockdown. Love from 🇿🇦🇿🇦

[@paulr8308]

Does it matter what the ABV is if you like the taste?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Well, yes and no. It's good to know if you plan to backsweeten. In that case the simple equation vs the supposed more accurate one could make you think it's past tolerance, when, it might not be, and... could referment, make bottle bombs, etc.

[@LizzieWorley]

Hi, I’m Lizzie from Holiday FL. I know I’m late to the game for this video but I thought I would ask my question here since this video seems to be most relevant. I’m making a basic sack mead. It’s a 1gal must, 3lbs of honey with an initial gravity of 1.120 (7/26/2020). I took the reading a few times since then but it was 1.009 (9/20/2020). Which if my calculations are correct would be around 14.5% ABV. At that time the tasting of it was pretty dry. I made the rookie mistake of adding in 2lb more of honey and splitting it between 2 carboys. I know I put in more yeast then what was needed initially and obviously too much honey. Sorry I’m a beginner and I didn’t write down what type I used but I do know it had a 18% potential ABV. My question is, is there a possibility it will keep fermenting since I’ve racked it twice since I began. Today’s reading with the honey in it is 1.030 (10/02/2020)

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Okay, putting in too much yeast won't really affect the final outcome, just so you're aware. Yeast will build a colony thousands of times larger than what you added, so don't worry there :) Adding 2 more lbs of honey to a 14% brew with a tolerance of 18%? Yep, it very likely will referment, even though you racked it. It might take a long time is all. I'd keep an eye on it, keep it under airlock and check it every few weeks to see if it changes. Once it's stable for a couple weeks, rack again, then bottle when ready!

[@deehalahan1725]

:) went looking for the links and couldn’t find them. Thought I was going mad. Now I know it wasn’t me being incompetent again.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

What links?

[@patlawson1659]

Came up with a new Tool . When I took the lid off the 6.5 gallon fermenter to flip the BREW BAG over, I took a Reading of 0.990 from 1.090 , decided to rack into a 5 gallon plastic water bottle , because of Head Space . It filled it up , not enough room to Backsweeten , so racked into a Glass Carboy bigger than 5 gallons . After Backsweeten , I started thinking , now what am I going to stir it with , my Bamboo Back Scratcher was too short , I looked in the corner and there stood my 2 , 2 piece Pool Sticks . I got the cheaper of the 2 and unscrewed it . Took the top outside to the sink , scrubbed it with Dawn and a brush . Then Sanitized it , made sure all the blue 🔵 chalk was off the tip . Stuck it in the glass Carboy , about 6 inches stuck up above the top , gave it a Swirl 🍥 . The Best stir stick I've used , it's got the leather tip on the end , so it makes no noise , wooden shaft , that's quite to , and you can take your Hand off , and it's doesn't fall in the Jug . It's already sitting on the Bottom . I guess We'll have to give it a Name . 🤠

[@Ceare100]

No question, just a big thank you for the info and videos.

[@moniquederuiter6790]

Hi guys, love your videos! This is priceless info for a total newbie such as myself. Do you have a video (or could you please please do one) on how to calculate ABV when you are step feeding and also adding flavouring at the end of your brew? I am so confused about this!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Didn’t we talk about that right in this video?

[@docroberts4289]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I just use the hydrometer. And the K.I.S.S. method. Would love to send you a bottle of my BlackBerry wine.

[@silvamethodsouth]

Okay, back in highschool days I was quite a whiz at math, but about 45 years have gone by. You talk about start SG minus final SG times 1.3 something, something. My hydrometer came with instructions reading Start SG minus final SG divided by .776. I seem to remember something called inverse equations, that will result in the same answer. Is that what this is? So confusing. By the way I'm a northern neighbor up in Dunnellon.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Yup, that’s the same thibg vasically.

[@bbqaddict]

10 cool points for Brian for drinking my favorite budget bourbon…

[@CitySteadingBrews]

And ten for you, y'know what, let's make that 101 points.

[@CameraActionLights1]

Let's make these numbers accurate and give him 131.25 cool points.

[@mycrazylifewfawnlisette3582]

@@CameraActionLights1 hahaha

[@tattoolimbo]

budget bourbon, lol, I wish I could afford Wild Turkey!

[@screwbydoo112502]

so the excel calculation one from the other video is the good or wrong one?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It’s bad, very bad. That’s the wrong one and that video has been removed.

[@jo_rellvs..]

So I'm Confusion.. alot of the Vid's you will use 135 not 131.25 then I watched this, and well I'm Smrt, So, which is Right?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKGli5aqgMaDn9Usi=nTZH_4KfhcP3UENb

[@sispacouet]

I just want to thank you guys for admitting that a calculation was wrong and making it right. Thank you so much for helping us we really appreciate it keep up the good videos. * thumbs up *

[@stephenbracken]

Hi, I'm really enjoying watching all the interesting episodes you produce. Can you tell me why you do not use a thermometer with your hydrometer? Most hydrometers are calibrated to be accurate to 20oC and you usually use a correction table to account for temperature differences which would give a different ABV%

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We usually are checking at the same temp all the time, so it's relative. There's a minor difference, sure, but even a 20 degree swing is only about .002 gravity.

[@timmc5954]

My simple methed is add fruit water sugar yeast let ferment until it stops. Taste if dry add sugar let ferment intil it stops. Repeat until it will not ferment anymore ( always allowing enough time for process to complete). Taste and sweeten to preference.Abv is the acl. Tolerance of your yeast.

[@Sa1d1n]

You guys got me to completely wrack my brain here and go back to my varsity chemistry days. I ended up plotting a model in Excel using the basic fermentation formula of: Glucose -> 2 Ethanol + 2CO2, basically stepwise modelling the change in SG per gram of sugar fermented. In the model, the overall volume of the solution increases slightly over time - which would account for the density difference between ethanol and water. It also makes inherent sense, as mass must be conserved. Most of the drop in SG is still attributable to CO2 being burned away. Using this model, I ran a few OGs and found their theoretical FGs once all the sugar was used up. 1.05 = 0.982; 1.10 =0.963; 1.20 = 0.929. I'll admit the figures aren't great though, since I'd have to account for temperature fluctuations, plus I just use fairly inaccurate densities of material (e.g. 1560g/l for sugar). Anyone tried anything similar, or am I the only crazy one here?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

So.... what's the outcome?

[@Sa1d1n]

@@CitySteadingBrews apart from a busted brain - the numbers make sense given the underlying chemistry (though the model can't really be used for accurate predictions, I'd need real-world data for that). According to the equation, when a molecule of glucose is split into ethanol and CO2, the liquid will actually increase in volume - despite the loss of CO2. Each gram of glucose is converted into ~0.511 grams of ethanol and ~0.488 grams of CO2. The CO2 is lost, which accounts for most of the SG drop. But those 0.511 grams of ethanol left in your solution take up more volume than the 1 gram of sugar that's been fermented, which drops your SG by an extra couple of points. Hence, your SG should ALWAYS drop below 1.000 if you have a completely dry brew. This obviously assumes that you have no other soluble compounds in the mixture. Also something to consider is that dissolved CO2 could throw your readings out a little bit, while temperature will also play a factor with your hydrometer reading. Anyway, I had fun - maybe I can run some tests when I can finally order those pesky hydrometers again :).

[@Sa1d1n]

I should add that chemistry is a long time ago and I could be completely wrong - but the numbers seem to add up for now.

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

@@Sa1d1n - Makes sense... in a theoretical model, as you said. That means ideal circumstances and the absence of unfermentable sugars or other substances that influence the gravity. I know all fruits contain a small amount of unfermentable sugars and suspect honey does too. Pure honey or pure glucose would also prevent complete fermentation because of the absence of other nutrients the yeast would need to completely ferment out. Hence: you would indeed need real world data. It’s an interesting exercise though! Not that I would try my hand at it: only took High School chemistry and it’s been waaaaaaay too long since I did. Not to mention the fact that I’ve got dyscalculia. Simple maths like using the formula for ABV and plugging my hydrometer readings is about as far as I will go. Thanks to Brian’s explanations I can even manage the calculations for a step feed! Yay! (Had them checked by my maths genius daughter and they check out. Double yay!)

[@tamachan1987]

May I ask a dumb question? "I made a batch of mead and I did not take an OG reading (the hydrometer was yet to be delivered) but I have a final reading of 1.044. Am I able to check my ABV content with just final reading?"

[@CitySteadingBrews]

No, but if you know what you put in it, in what quantities, we can estimate.

[@tamachan1987]

@@CitySteadingBrews oh that would be nice... the current batch is 4.41 pound of honey to 1.04 gallon of water ... (apologies I am using metric hence the weird numbers)

[@CitySteadingBrews]

That’s a LOT of honey. I am shocked it fermented out that far.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I estimate it bear 20% abv.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Oh wait, it’s more than a gallon batch. Hmm. A bit lower, probably about 16%.