new to brewing

[gurnstar]

hi, I'm Carl after a recent visit to York brewery, I have purchased a youngs brew buddy.

I have really enjoyed, and been fascinated brewing my first batch of bitter, which is at this moment in time on its second ferment.

question: worried about alcohol content, the direction said 1kg of sugar, I only had 800g of white sugar, so used brown sugar to make up the difference I also chucked about two tables spoons of honey in just to use it up. before fermentation, the hydro reading was 1.200, at the end it was 1.000. the ale smells great, but on a online alcohol calculator it said the ABV was 26%, can this be right, after only 5 and half day fermenting?

thanks, Carl

 

[darrenwest1]

where you deff reading the hydrometer right on the first go and what was the temp when you used it
different temp will give you a different reading
up the top left on this site there is a calculator link , in there is a calc to correct the hydro reading

oh and welcome along

 

[Moley]

Sorry Carl, but your hydrometer readings are totally bolloxed.

Your OG would probably have been somewhere around 1.040, with an FG for a basic kit bitter somewhere between 1.005-1.010



Oops, just realised, brand new member, first post, probably not the tone of reply he might expect

Seriously though, if you've got a can of wort and a kilo of sugars, made up to about 5 gallons, it's simply not possible to get a hydrometer reading like 1.200

There's a useful guide to hydrometers here.


Welcome to the forum :

 

[Springer]

Welcome to the forum Carl great place lots of very good advice and :lol:

As Mole said, he knows his stuff

 

[prolix]

Moley that posts needs to be moved to the how to's, how to welcome a new member :rofl:

Carl welcome mate, don't worry about the brew you will need to have added 11kg of sugar to get 1.200 on the hydrometer.

You might want to check the hydrometer, (100 ml measuring cylinders are great for this) in tap water it should read 1.000 you will have to let the water get to room temp first.

Then you can try it with a sugar solution 50g of sugar in 500ml of water will give a reading of 1.036.

pyrex jug on the scales tare it, add the sugar then the water, a little hot water first to disolve the sugar then cold water to cool it back to 20c

 

[Mark1964]

Hi Carl welcome to the HBF :thumb:

 

[gurnstar]

thanks everyone, yes ive got it wrong the first reading is 1.020, and its bluddy lager im brewing wanted bitter, never mind it will do to practice, then i start with some real ale. thankyou again

 

[Mark1964]

still sounds low for a first reading we get that reading when our beer has been fermenting for about 3-4 days

 

[gurnstar]

dont think it had time to change to room temp, ill make notes next time.

i really want to be brewing dark ruby ales, is this possible with my simple set up?

 

[Mark1964]

Cant see why not you can get kits and all grain :

 

[gurnstar]

Great, thanks for help people.