making a kit a little stronger

[silkyuk9]

i only make those kits using the tin of sticky stuff along with the sache of yeast as im only a newbie and they always work.

What im asking is how can you make the beer stronger, in terms of alcohol, using the same tin of mix and the yeast and 1kg of sugar.

obviously using the required ammount is only going to give the beer a certain streangth, but can i add a little extra sugar, yeast etc to amke the beer a little more, say potant.

any ideas please.

[MightyMouth]

You could use less water.

[PMH0810]

Brewing 30 pints where the kit states 40 should result in a stronger brew; as could adding extra sugar.

Check some of the threads on this forum or try a search.

[silkyuk9]

so if i add an extra say half kilo of sugar the yeast will not be killed and it will act as if i only added the 1 kg ammount.

all in all by adding extra sugar and no extra yeast the beer will become stronger, is that correct

[MightyMouth]

Adding sugar will make the kit stronger but if you are adding table sugar or brewers sugar it will also make the kit dryer and thinner, if you are using DME then it will make it stronger but as DME is not 100% fermentable it won't make it dryer but will effect the profile of the beer somewhat. I think you would get a more balanced beer by just brewing it with less water.

The yeast won't have a problem with another half kilo of sugar.

[stevezx7r]

A friend of mine uses 1 1/2 to 2kg of table sugar in his brews which usually end up around the 4 - 6% mark - no one is sure as he doesn't use a hydromenter - and it doesn't get a secondary fermentation.

But, as for making it stronger, if your not too bothered about subtle changes in your beer but want a lot of it simply add more sugar up to around 3kg (~ 7+%) and make the full 5 gallons. I doubt you would notice any slight changes once your at that level of alcohol. Any more than say 4kg and I doubt the yeast would be able to ferment it all and you would be left with a sticky, sweet, strong tasting liquor.

The easiest way is to use less water as Mightymouth and PMH0810 say but if that was what you intend to brew every time you might find yourself doing it more often...

Steve.

[silkyuk9]

thanks for all that, what im am going to do is buy a youngs bitter and add double ammount of sugar and see how it goes.

[Martin the fish]

I've added twice the amount of 'sugars' to a muntons old english bitter kit. It's strong but bloody nasty to drink. In fact so bad i can't manage a pint! It's very bitter.
I'd reduce the amount of water by 20% rather than bunging in loads of dextrose.

[silkyuk9]

ive bought a Geordie Export kit, and ive added a 1kg bag of sugar and one of those bags of beer kit enhancers.

lets see how it goes.

[Buzz]

I'd reduce the amount of water by 20% rather than bunging in loads of dextrose.

Agreed, I would have ignored extra sugars and reduced the water.