Making a stronger lager kit

[stvchrry]

Greetings brewers.
I’ve now got my 4th brew underway in the makeshift warming cupboard of the shed. See thread http://jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopi ... 24&t=17198
The Coopers Australian lager is (was) fantastic. It’s been 3 weeks bottled and I’ve drunk it already. Oh the shame .
My question is. How do you make a lager with a stronger alcohol content without getting bad fermentation and exploding bottles.
I’ve read a couple of posts recommending adding an 1250 grams of sugar to the FV instead of the usual 1KG. I tried this on a Geordie lager kit that’s conditioning in the shed as I write. When bottling it got very frothy and i do not think it will ever see the pint glass .
Regards
Steve.

[stubru23]

You could always try the Brewferm Pils which is about the 5.5% and and be made up to 12 or 20 litres

[wetdog]

Alcohol itself doesn't explode bottles whether there's 3% or 20% in the bottle. it all comes down to how much sugar is left in the beer for the yeast to work on. A by-product of the yeast action is carbon dioxide which is what gives our beer its 'fizz'. so the more sugar in the beer when you bottle it, then the more pressure will be built up once capped.

the more sugar you add to the wort, the more alchohol is likely to be produced but bare in mind it will throw the balance of the beer off. you need to make sure the beer is totally fermented out by checking your hydrometer reading hasn't fallen for 2 or 3 days in a row and there are no bubbles rising to the surface. once fermentation has stopped then you can bottle with half a teaspoon of sugar.

years ago I was sugar crazy and routinely made all my kit beers up to 9%. I look back now and shudder at the crap I was drinking

[stvchrry]

Crikey Wetdog. 9% bimmin ell that is strong. What the hell did it taste like. If it's along the lines of Tenants Super's then i'll stay well away.
I was looking for somthing around 5 - 6%. I do like the the less is more approach i.e 4 bottles instead of 10. It's less to clear up and the beer goes a lot further.

[wetdog]

is was more along the lines of super without the Tennants. just a cheap lager kit bumped up with spray malt and loads of white sugar. I were nobbutalad at the time and thought a good beer was a strong beer. ah the wisdom age brings eh.
I read an article on the internet about a feller who made a batch of beer at 23%..!
if you're looking for a beer of around 5-6% then you should be aiming for a starting gravity of around 1.050 - 1.055 assuming a final gravity of around 1.010. so just keep adding sugar/malt solution to your wort until it reaches that sort of figure

[stvchrry]

Cheers for that WetDog.
It's just dawned on me how the calculation works using the hydrometer .
23% eh.............. now where's that extra bag of spraymalt .