Gabriel Sayegh
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- Mar 2, 2024
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Hi all, I'm running into a reoccurring situation where I end up with too much wort for primary by ~1 gallon (more than could go into the carboy and account for blow off). So, I've been reserving it in a separate container during primary and after racking the partially fermented wort off the trub into a new carboy for secondary, I step feed with that additional unfermented wort and get some volume back, example below. I'm wondering how to calculate the total ABV at the end of all this:
Pre-boil volume = 7 gallons
Post-boil volume = 5.5 gallons
Since this would reach the top of my 5.5-gallon carboy, I reserved ~0.75 gallons into a second glass jug and placed it in the fridge for later.
Primary fermenter volume = 4.75 gallons @ 1.065 OG
After 2 weeks, SG = 1.012
Racked to secondary fermenter, resulted in 4.25 gallons (lost ~1/2 a gallon of trub)
Step fed with ~0.75 gallons of wort reserved from the boil (still at 1.065 since no yeast was added to this wort)
New SG at the beginning of secondary for ~5 gallons total = 1.022
After 2 additional weeks, FG = 1.014
At this point, I added dextrose and bottled, but what's the ABV?
Best I can guess is that the primary fermenter took 1.065 -> 1.012, so that's ~7% ABV, and then the secondary took 1.022 -> 1.014, so that's an additional ~1%, so do I call it 8% in this case (or 8.5% after accounting for increased ABV due to bottle conditioning & carbonation)?
Or does the fact that the first wort was a smaller size than the second wort play a factor in calculating the resulting ABV of the combined beer?
I recognize this is potentially complex. I appreciate any thoughts or insight folks might have!
Pre-boil volume = 7 gallons
Post-boil volume = 5.5 gallons
Since this would reach the top of my 5.5-gallon carboy, I reserved ~0.75 gallons into a second glass jug and placed it in the fridge for later.
Primary fermenter volume = 4.75 gallons @ 1.065 OG
After 2 weeks, SG = 1.012
Racked to secondary fermenter, resulted in 4.25 gallons (lost ~1/2 a gallon of trub)
Step fed with ~0.75 gallons of wort reserved from the boil (still at 1.065 since no yeast was added to this wort)
New SG at the beginning of secondary for ~5 gallons total = 1.022
After 2 additional weeks, FG = 1.014
At this point, I added dextrose and bottled, but what's the ABV?
Best I can guess is that the primary fermenter took 1.065 -> 1.012, so that's ~7% ABV, and then the secondary took 1.022 -> 1.014, so that's an additional ~1%, so do I call it 8% in this case (or 8.5% after accounting for increased ABV due to bottle conditioning & carbonation)?
Or does the fact that the first wort was a smaller size than the second wort play a factor in calculating the resulting ABV of the combined beer?
I recognize this is potentially complex. I appreciate any thoughts or insight folks might have!