Alco Calc. Home Or Away?

[JayBee]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but it would appear that the brew I`ve just bottled is stronger in Australia than it is here.
If the links work try it for yourselves, any ideas why my beer is 4.7 abv in one continent and 5.3 in another?

http://www.stonehelm.co.uk/browser.php? ... verter.php

http://www.brewcraft.com.au/wa.asp?idWe ... etails=173

[5thelement]

I dont think there's any definite formula to calculate alcohol percentage, at best all we really work out is an estimate.

Some take the difference between the SG and FG and divide by 7.36, others by 7.5 etc

[steve_flack]

...and then HMRC spoke 'There is only one ABV formula. Ours'

[JayBee]

Ah well. I guess if you drink enough of anything it eventually has the same effect.
When does home brewing become an addiction by the way? I made my first brew in March and have just bottled my third and can hardly wait to start the next once I decide which one, Milestone`s any good?

[vacant]

...and then HMRC spoke 'There is only one ABV formula. Ours'

Although I use those calculations/tables myself, I wonder if they are likely to underestimate just so they don't get challenged in court?

[Aleman]

When does home brewing become an addiction by the way?

When you have your original 5 gallon Grain Bag / Ritchie Boiler brewery in the loft
When you have your 10 Gallon H&G brewery in the loft
When you have your 10 Gallon Stainless brewery in the loft
When you have you next 20L Stainless brewery in the loft
When you have your current 18 Gallon brewery in the shed

When you have 6 Cornny Kegs in the Kegereezer,
with 6 More on top
and 9 1/2 more in the loft
and there are 2 rotokegs and a king keg . . . in the loft

The freezer has 5 Kg of hops in it
and there is 50Kg of grain in the loft

My name is Aleman and I have a problem

[MartialAnt]

When does home brewing become an addiction by the way?

It starts when you open that 2nd kit. You just cant stop from then on.

Could be worse. you could be addicted to Crack. Thats what SWO said.

[eddnix]

My name is Aleman and I have a problem

And a heaving loft

[Graham]

...and then HMRC spoke 'There is only one ABV formula. Ours'

Although I use those calculations/tables myself, I wonder if they are likely to underestimate

As a coincidence, I spent all day yesterday buggering about with molecular weights, reams of paper, lots of head scratching, and a complicated spreadsheet trying to verify Her Majesties Government's alcohol table, and it does seem certain that from about half way up the table the government gets more alcohol from a given weight of sugar than the physics of the thing allows. As they claim to compensate for substrate used up in yeast growth, it probably means that the whole table overestimates alcohol content.

So in my view they overestimate alcohol content, by quite a lot, which I have always suspected.

just so they don't get challenged in court?

They've already thought of that one:

"Laboratory Alcohol Table" means a table of which a copy, signed by the Chairman of the Commissioners and identifying it as relating to the Spirits Regulations 1991, has been deposited in the office of the Queens Remembrancer at the Royal Courts of Justice.

You can't challenge The Queen.

[Bru4u]

That's a problem I would'nt mind having Aleman,
Never mind, your in the right place to discuss such problems and you know what they say, a problem shared will make everyone jealous.

[JayBee]

Crikey, if I get to Alemans level then I will seek either profesional help or a bigger house.
I`m not so sure if its a question of being addicted so much as a realisation that you really can make a beer that tastes as good as, or even better than, some of the stuff thats served up in pubs, at a fraction of the price.

[macleanb]

I agreee with MartialAnt - if you start your secod kit - then your hooked. My main excuse for becoming a BA member (brewers anon) is that beer making has just ticked all my boxes - it's a complex addiction:

1. Good Beer
2. Cheap Beer
3. Part Science, part Art.
4. Lots of (shiny) equipment
5. Both physical & mental
6. Bonding (whats life without a brew-buddy?)
7. Boastful - I love it when people get that scared "oh, OK then" look when you offer them homebrew, and the way it disolves when they get their laughing gear round it.
8. Challenging - my sink has seen too many pints!
9. Long term, waiting for that batch to be ready.
10. More beer!

[steve_flack]

So in my view they overestimate alcohol content, by quite a lot, which I have always suspected.

Are you in any way surprised?

Aleman: is your loft reinforced? If I had all that in mine it would have fallen through to the lounge ages ago.