Higher alcahol Xmas brew

[Lister]

i am thinking of doing a higher alc content Xmas brew being fairly new to this i would like to ask is it just as simple as adding more sugar/malt or what??

what i was thinking was a geordie lager and adding 1 kg brewing sugar and 1 kg light spray malt would this have the desired effect ??? or would i need to do something like beefing up the yeast?

[MightyMouth]

You need to keep the hops malt ratio so adding more spray malt would possibly make an overly malty beer. Your best bet to make a stronger beer from a kit is to reduce the brew length. if its a 23 litre kit then try brewing to 16 litres instead or get 2 kits and do 30 or 32 litres.

[Lister]

ok that makes sense but would adding more sugar or getting a turbo yeast help

[MightyMouth]

more sugar will make a stronger beer but also a dryer, thinner beer and I don't think the results would be good unless you don't care what your beer tastes like and just want strength. Changing yeast won't have much effect as you have only so many fermentables.

[Lister]

ok thank you for the advise looks like im looking at 2 tins 2kg sugar and same amount water right?

i mean 23-30 litres water

[6470zzy]

Adding too much sugar is only going to thin your beer out and you run the risk of getting a "hot" alcohol taste, something that isn't altogether a pleasant thing in a beer.

Cheers

[Lister]

ok so 2 tins and 1 kg sugar then? i am confused

[sonicated]

I made a Munton's Santa's Winter Warmer last night to the recommended 36 pints and the OG came to 1055 so it will hopefully end up about 6%. The kit comes with 3.6kg of concentrated wort (3 litres) so it's quite heavy. I've not made this kit before so I don't know what it tastes like but if you want it stronger just add less water.

Just adding more more sugar to a kit is akin to buying a low alcohol beer and pouring vodka/pure alcohol in it. It needs to be balanced to be tasty.

[MightyMouth]

ok so 2 tins and 1 kg sugar then? i am confused

No I would use 2 kits and 2 kg sugar or better yet 2 kg of dme and make 32 or 34 litres

[cbucket]

Have you got a fermentation bin that big ? Mine is 23ltrs. Can you get larger fermentation bins ?
Why not just make 2 batches ? Make say 16ltrs in one FV (with 1 kit and 1kg of sugar/DSM) and another 16ltrs in the second (with another kit and 1kg of sugar/DSM) ?
That way you could use different kits in each batch. You end up with 2 different strong beers.

[kfm]

I've had good results using golden syrup to increase alcohol in lighter beers: I've currently a Gt Eastern conditioning which is 6% having used only 1 x can of the 2 that came with the kit and 2kg of syrup. I've hopped it as well and it is a good tasing pint, no massive difference from the standard version in terms of overall flavour. Beersmith says of golden syrup: "Used to increase alcohol and lighten the beer without alterning flavor. Used in Belgian ales and some English ales."