About 15 years ago I brewed my first batch, and liked it. My second batch was questionable and I didn't like my third batch. At that point I realized I didn't enjoy drinking 5 gallons of something I didn't care for. Back then, craft brewing hadn't arrived in my city and American macros were all I drank. Now, I'm older and I like to think my palate has matured. I like any style that tastes good (except krieks, can't stand them) and will be splitting the 5 gallons with my stepfather. So, it's time to break out the brewpot and upgrade some of my equipment. Over this long holiday weekend, I read the book that came with my first equipment kit. Unfortunately, I realized the book is 15 years old and I know too many things have changed. Fortunately, this place is better than any book I could read, so I come to you for a couple of questions I've come up with after doing lots of reading this weekend. First question involves raising the ABV in beer. I haven't decided whether or not to start with an ingredient kit or build my own. I'd like to go with the kit since I haven't done this in years, but most of the finished products have relatively low alcohol levels. My personal preference is something in the 7-9% range and most of what I'm seeing is 4-5%. The couple beers I'm looking at are porters and a spiced pumpkin beer. Simply adding table sugar doesn't make sense to my uneducated mind. For the porter, can I just add another pound or two of malt to bump up the ABV? For the pumpkin beer, I was thinking brown sugar, but again, not sure that makes sense. Any help would be appreciated. Second question is about yeast starters. I haven't read that much about it so I don't quite understand when to do it or even how, or what the benefit is. I see a lot of the people on here who sound like they know what they're doing seem to do it for every batch. Can someone explain the concept to me? Thanks for the help.
"but most of the finished products have relatively low alcohol levels" Choose a different kit...it will likely be more expensive as it will use more extract. Sugar will up the ABV also, but will thin the beer down at the expense of body/mouthfeel...and by all means read this: http://www.howtobrew.com/ Welcome back.
If you're brewing extract, I can't be much help w/r/t ABV. My guess would be to buy the kit and then buy more extract. If you're brewing AG, just add more grain. They sell some imperial kits, too. Yeast starters ensure that you have the proper amount of healthy, viable yeast for your batch. Especially important in higher gravity beers. Healthy yeast/proper amount decreases lag time, fights potential infection, creates a healthier fermentation --> better tasting beer (also, control your fermentation temps to keep the yeast in their happy place!). They're pretty simple once you get the hang of them...just remember to sanitize well, because if you infect your starter, you'll infect your batch. I like this illustrated tutorial: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/how-make-yeast-starter-pictorial-76101/ Edit: I link that for the process...you're going to want to be more specific in your starter size and how much DME/water you need to make the proper amount of 1.040 starter wort. I also go with sanitized foil for better gas exchange instead of an airlock, and I shake the jug about 100 times whenever I walk past it (stir plate on the way, hooray!) And this is super handy in figuring out how many billion yeast cells you need and what size starter you need to make to achieve that number. http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
While I am new my self to boil methods... Seems like you could just add less water in the primary. So boil up 2.5 gallons or so but dont fill up to 5 only do like 4. This would give a higher ABV also I think the beer might have a stronger flover also-but not suer if it would "taste" bad. Have anyone tried this method?
I've wondered about this also. Mathematically it would seem to make sense that adding less water would bump up the specific gravity, resulting in a higher ABV, and would make for a stronger flavor...and maybe that's the drawback...getting the flavor just right by 'winging it' on the amount of stuff you add to the water.
It would toss the recipe out of whack if you did that. Your hop utilization will be off if you go too far in one direction or the other, for just the sake of ABV. Buy a bigger kit, which will cost more, if you want a bigger beer. Some recipes are easy to ramp up, but you have to ramp it all up in equal parts to keep it balanced. I have an IPA recipe that runs like 6-6.5% roughly. When I want to make it bigger, I ramp up the crystal, which is to sweeten and add body, ramp up the 2 row, and amp up the hops in a fashion that keeps the integrity of the recipe as it started. Gets me roughly 7.5% or so, which is plenty for me to slug back a handful during the weekends and evenings and get a decent buzz from without being shit canned in the morning. Also, bigger equals longer time to ferment, and to really mellow and not be a green beer. Will take longer to be really ready to drink.
Depending on what is the style you are going to start with,you can either add more extract or sugar to raise ABV but you will need to add more hops accordingly.You could try to start with dry yeast , it is easier to prepare and to deal with.
