Alcohol content

[Chris The Fish]

I have recently made my first kit and would like to ask a few questions in relation to alcohol content, and how its worked out.

I took a reading of 1042 at the start of the process, and this then went all the way down to 1000. Does this mean that all of the sugar has fermented out? when i look at others who write about kits on here they seem to be taking readings a lot higher than this, 1012 or so. Is getting the kit to 1000 good or just the norm?

If my kit is 1042 at the start, and 1000 at the end of fermentation, ive read that if you minus one from the other, then x.129, you get the alcohol content in this case 5.4%, can anyone quantify this as i had a little taster yesterday and it tasted a tad stronger than the 5.4, more like 6.4

if anyone can a, understand what im babbling on about and b, give me some idiot proof answers id be most greatful!

regards

Chris

[davidson]

I have found this site which will do all the calculations for you.

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

[Immy's Dad]

This will do the same:

Clickity Click

[BarryNL]

this explains how to calculate abv%

http://www.18000feet.com/how/hydroreading.htm

Might want to check units - water weighs ~1,000kg per cubic metre, or 1 metric tonne. I assume specific gravity is actually grams per cubic centimetre.

[Chris The Fish]

cheers for the links, they all give slightly different results but it gives a good average overall.

5.8