Sugar and ABV

[jimjohson]

I have been told by a respected member of the collective that priming sugar don't raise the ABV by any noticeable amount. Now he's a more knowledgeable brewer than I, so I won't say he's absolutely stuffed full of wild blueberries but. I fail to see why it would be any different than adding 5 oz. to the secondary. Some say it's just not that much sugar per bottle. Well the sugar to wort ratio remains the same in the bottle or in the bucket. Why would it show a very noticeable increase in the secondary (according to BeerSmith) but not in the bottle? Learn me somethin'

[Foothiller]

I have thought the same thing, but have been happy to enjoy the bit of added ABV without having to admit it's there.

[BlackDuck]

Good question Jim. I've never thought about it until now. So for funsies, I grabbed a recipe saved in my BeerSmith to see what it would do. That particular recipe used 4.5 ounces of corn sugar to carb, so I added 4.5 ounces of corn sugar to the recipe and clicked on "add after boil". It raised the abv from 5.1% to 5.5%. But that increase is for the entire batch. Would you get that same increase in each bottle, or would the .4% increase need to be spread among the total amount of bottles used? Looks like I need some learnin too!!!

[DaYooper]

The same increase should be per bottle. I mean, when you batch prime you are in effect adding "after the boil" so I can not see why there would be any difference. For everything that I do not force keg I add the priming sugar in Beersmith.

[philm00x]

Good question Jim. I've never thought about it until now. So for funsies, I grabbed a recipe saved in my BeerSmith to see what it would do. That particular recipe used 4.5 ounces of corn sugar to carb, so I added 4.5 ounces of corn sugar to the recipe and clicked on "add after boil". It raised the abv from 5.1% to 5.5%. But that increase is for the entire batch. Would you get that same increase in each bottle, or would the .4% increase need to be spread among the total amount of bottles used? Looks like I need some learnin too!!!

It's the same for each bottle. Remember ABV is per 12 oz, so the total amount of alcohol is greater in a bigger volume, but the ratio is constant. If the ABV is 5.5% in the whole batch, it's 5.5% in each bottle as well. 5.5% of a gallon is greater quantity than 5.5% of 12 oz, but it is the same ratio.

[duff]

I just tested quickly in qBrew and Brewtoad and they seem to indicate about a .2% increase in a batch based on 4.1 oz of cane sugar for a 5 gallon batch of American Pale Ale. But I wonder if that is using the .75% conversion rate of sugars to alcohol making it closer to a .3% increase if they convert fully.

But for me I am not really worried about that small of an increase in my batches. A lot of my previous batches have been between 6 and 7 percent to start with so a .3% increase is about a 4% change overall.

But that got me thinking I helped somebody else make a Bavarian Weizen that was around 5% abv but they carbed it to the high end of the style at about 4.5 volumes of CO2. That would add .6% abv to the batch or about 12%.

So I guess it really depends on what you are doing but for the most part it seems like the change is pretty small overall.

[BlackDuck]

So I guess it really depends on what you are doing but for the most part it seems like the change is pretty small overall.

My thoughts too!!!

[mashani]

All depends on priming amount of course, but it raises your effective OG by around .002 or a little more or less depending... which since it ferments out completely being sugar would raise your abv somewhere between 0.2% to 0.3% or there about depending...

Is that significant? Not really unless you are having to obey some law above ABV...

[RickBeer]

I always figured it was a quarter point, but I didn't include it on the ABV% on my label. I remember this discussion from the Mr. Beer forum, one of the more experienced contributors at the time (forget who) pointed it out to me - I think I asked.

[FedoraDave]

I remember crunching some numbers back in the Mr. Beer days to prove a different point. Of course, I've lost the numbers now, but the issue at the time wasn't ABV; it was flavor. There are some who will tell you that they can tell the difference between a beer primed with corn sugar, or one using cane sugar, or one using DME, or what have you.

Essentially, I came up with some ridiculously small amount percentage-wise, compared with the total volume/fermentable sugars, and concluded that it was all caca de toro, and that anyone who claimed they could tell the difference was either trying to impress you with their pseudo-beer-sophistication or else was trying to sell you something (such as Special Magic Priming Sugar).

I would think the ABV would be pretty insignificant, as well. I agree with mashani that, unless you're strictly obeying some ABV law, you're not gonna get buzzed any quicker.