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Blending for Strength

Northern Brewer General
#1

G’day northern brewers,

I was an active user of this forum years ago but under a different user name (kegstand).

Anyway, totally not important and I’ve never stopped brewing. Always dug the NB boards but having kids sure can take a bite out of the old ‘free time.’

My question, is, if I take a 5 gal batch of beer fermented down to an fg of 1.008 and giving me an abv of 5.6% abv, then rack off half, and add back 2.5 gallons of wort into the primary measuring 1.072 and fermenting down to 1.008 again, do I have a beer that is now 13.9%abv.

It does’t taste like it. It’s much smoother and less hot than other beers of that strength that I’ve tasted.

#2

[quote=“Classy Mullet”]G’day northern brewers,

I was an active user of this forum years ago but under a different user name (kegstand).

Anyway, totally not important and I’ve never stopped brewing. Always dug the NB boards but having kids sure can take a bite out of the old ‘free time.’

My question, is, if I take a 5 gal batch of beer fermented down to an fg of 1.008 and giving me an abv of 5.6% abv, then rack off half, and add back 2.5 gallons of wort into the primary measuring 1.072 and fermenting down to 1.008 again, do I have a beer that is now 13.9%abv.

It does’t taste like it. It’s much smoother and less hot than other beers of that strength that I’ve tasted.[/quote]

no.

the orginal 2.5 stays at 5.6%. the new 2.5 is about 8.8%. overall ABV is average of two because both were 2.5 . You’d still average if they were not equal but it’d be a weighted average.

so, [5.6 + 8.8] / 2 = 7.2%

cheers

#3

Thanks stormy brew.

I had a feeling it wasn’t after I tasted it but I also figured that maybe it would be something like 2.8% higher. For some reason the it seemed the difference of 8.4 and 5.6 added to the original FG might also be the solution.

I majored in English because I couldn’t do math.

but I have great names for this split batch. The Grizzly Giant and the Beer Cub.

Giant might be a bit of a stretch though.

#4

:cheers:

#5

What type of beer is it? And what was your motivation to do this? Just curiosity?

#6

It’s not really any particular style. I did an AG batch on my HERMS planning on making an IPA with a lot of left over bits.

Marris Otter, Munich, Vienna, Carapils, and Simcoe, chinook, Amarillo, cascade hops and a big Safale 05 starter.

We shot for 10 gallons, split it in two fermenters between two brewers and reading 1.056 .I took my 5gal home and split it into two fermenters after 10 days. 2.5gal is resting on all those hop varieties in secondary (The Beer Cub) and then I made a 2.5 gal batch of amber LME and Golden syrup mixed with chinook, Amarillo and cascade and some leftover hallertau measuring 1.072. I added this back to the primary that now contained a big yeast cake which gobbled up the new fermentables fast (the grizzly giant)

Now the other brewer finished his 5gal with more Simcoe and citra. In a couple more weeks we’ll get together to brew again and try The Beer Cub, The Grizzly Giant and his Version of the same brew.

The differences in fermenting temps, dry hopping, and length of time in the fermenters will make for an interesting tasting.

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