StillSmart

Ive put a sugar and water wash on 2 weeks ago i used 10g of youngs desert/high alcohol yeast 21 litres of water some yeast nutrients and 21 litres of water im going to add some soda stream syrup later my start sg was 70 and its gone down to 50 could any one tell me the alcohol content please thanks for any help its the first wash ive done other than turbo washes thanks again for any help

To calulate the strength of the Alcohol the formula you need is:

(Original Specific Gravity - Final Specific Gravity) x 1.29

A typical set of numbers would be (1.085 - 0.990) x 1.29 = 12.2% ABV

There is something not quite right with the values you give, have a closer look a your hydrometer and try and get the corrected values.

DONT ADD SODASTREAM SYRUP TO THE FINAL PRODUCT WITHOUT USING FERMENTAION STOPPER.

You need to stop the yeast working or youll be creating explosives in your pantry.

the sugar in the syrup will be eaten by the yeast and turned into CO2, thus pressurising your bottles. Unless you are priming your bottles to carbonate your brew, be careful and use bottles that are used for soda/cola and not wine/juice.

MM

thanks for your quick replys am not very good with a hydrometer but on the hydromter when a first started it it was on 70 an now its on 50 on the blue bit lol oh ye am using sugar free soda stream syrup thanks agian for the quick reply

Did's if that's 1.070 to 1.050 then its only about 2.5%, doesn't sound like the yeast is doing much I normally see a drop like that in the first 24 hours.

Did you re-hydrate the yeast before pitching, or straight onto the wash?

no a put it in a cup with a bit of sugar for an hour or 2 before a put it in thanks for your reply

Perhaps his readings are on the Oëchsle Scale. That would explain the anomaly.

AM

heres a pic of a hydometer http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=hydrom ... x=48&ty=73 when a started it was on 70 now its just under 40 it seems to be gettin better a added some more yeast nutrients an give it a good stir. A want it about 6% what will the hydrometer read when it is 6% thanks for all your replys.

With a starting gravity of 1.070 (or 70 as you are reading it)

1.030 ( or 30 as you are reading it) will give you 6.45% ABV
1.035 ( or 35 as you are reading it) will give you 5.80% ABV
1.040 ( or 40 as you are reading it) will give you 5.16% ABV

When you say that you want 6% are you going to distill it or do you intend drinking it as is?

The amount of alcohol is only one part of the picture and a lot depends on how much sugar you added at the start. When you get to 6% there could be a large amount of unfermented sugar still remaining in the batch. This unused sugar could make the wash sickly sweet or, even worse, give the drink the potential to start fermenting again and make explosive bottles a possibility.

How much sugar did you use?

thanks for the quick reply a now how to read a a hydrometer properly now lol i intend to drink it as is. Am going to add sugar free soda stream syrup to it and put it in a barrel and prime it and then leave it for a week. A used 4kg of sugar. Am just goin to let it ferment out a supose a could water it down if it was to strong thanks for your advice youve been rely helpfull