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ALCOHOL CONTENT IN BEER
  
Alcohol content in beer can be calculated for your home brew.  To do this you need a hydrometer.  A hydrometer is a cylindrical glass tube that floats vertically in liquid and is calibrated to read specific gravity (referred to as SG or as G for 'gravity'). Pure water has an SG of 1.00. At the time of pitching the yeast the specific gravity of beer wort could be of the order of 1.042. This figure is read and referred to as 1042 (leaving out the decimal point). When the bubbles have ceased through the airlock it means that all the fermentable sugars have been converted to alcohol and CO2 so you can expect an SG close to 1000; maybe  around 1006.  Not all sugars are fermentable and so the SG is higher than 1000; i.e. the liquid is more dense than water. You need to be able to calculate the beer alcohol content of your home brew beer.   Check out Hydrogen in Glossary of Brewing Terms.
 
Formula 
 
There is a formula to determine the approximate percentage (%) of Alcohol By Volume (ABV).
 
Formula:   %ABV = OG – FG + 0.5
                        7.46
Where OG is the Original Gravity measured just before you pitch the yeast. This can be done by taking a sample in a measuring cylinder, or simply measure directly in the wort in the beer fermenter. Be careful that froth bubbles don’t buoy up the hydrometer. Record the reading in a Brewing Log Book. FG is the Final Gravity at the time of bottling which would be a couple of days after the bubbles through the air lock have ceased. Let’s put some numbers into the formula.
%ABV = 1042 – 1006 + 0.5
7.46
= 5.3%
 
 
That’s what you could call a Full Strength Beer. If you prefer a lower alcohol level you could use only half the sugar and get about 4% alcohol, for a mid-strength Malty Hoppy Drop.  Alcohol content of beer wine is of the order of 10%.  Alcohol content of less than 1.0% could be considered as 'non alcohol beer'. 
 
Using a Hydrometer
 
   
 

Carbonation
 
Carbonation of the home brew beer is achieved when bottling beer by adding a rounded teaspoon of free running white sugar to each standard full size bottle prior to filling with your beer.  The 0.5 added in the formula is for the additional alcohol this sugar produces.
 

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Cleanliness
 
There are other important procedures that you must do for top grade home brew. Cleanliness! Every piece of equipment that comes in contact with the brew must be clean and sanitised to avoid contamination from wild yeasts, oils and fats.   Your specialised Home Brew Shop or the Home Brew section at the Supermarket will have washing and sterilising powders and liquids. Avoid anything that contains washing detergent e.g. the liquid used to wash the dishes in the kitchen sink. All washing powders and liquids must be inorganic.  Sodium meta-bisulphite is a good sterilising agent.  Wash, sterilise and rinse with clean water everything that comes into contact with your brew.
 

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Bottling your Brew
 
During the 5 to 7 days for fermentation, it is time to wash and sterilise your beer bottles; rinse and upturn to dry. Calculate how many bottles you will need to bottle the 23 litres of brew e.g. you will need 30 x 750ml (or 26 fl oz) bottles for 23 litres of brew. You will also need enough bottle tops/caps/seals for the number of bottles as well as a means for fitting these to the bottles. 
 
Gas in Home Brew
 

To get a sparkling beer with a frothy ‘head’ you need to get some CO2 into the bottles and this is simply achieved by secondary fermentation within the beer bottle by adding a rounded teaspoon of white cane sugar per 750ml bottle at the time of bottling. Then invert and shake each bottle after sealing to dissolve the added sugar and stand upright at a temperature above about 18ºC for a week or two for carbonation to take place. Conditioning of your brew can take at least 3 months for flavour to mature and bubbles in the frothy head to reduce in size.  After two to three weeks, you might like to chill and sample your malty hoppy drop.

From experience, you might be tempted to drink too much.  Because you have made pure home brew beer without added chemicals and you end up with a hangover or headache, it will be because of the alcohol content in beer.

 
 
 
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