Hi all! So about 2 months ago I brewed some Graff slightly based off of Brandon O’s recipe. I only had two 2 gallon Carboys and I went ahead and split up the yeast pack(meant for 5 gallon). So i figured it might end up being a bit higher alcohol content, and that was fine. Any ways, cause I’m stupid I got a little alcohol poisoning and couldn’t be around it for 2 months. I went in last night and opened up one of my buckets to just sniff and…they smell really strong! Like upper teens maybe into twenties. My question is: Should I carbonate it ,or just serve it as is?
I’m curious how you can tell the alcohol content just by the odor
What makes you think it’s stronger by splitting the yeast?
How did you measure OG? Did you measure FG?
How did you get alcohol poisoning?
can you guys not tell a difference between cider or beer and strong alcohol content by the smell? The pack was meant for 5 gallons and I used it in less than 4 gallons. i figured all the extra sugars from the apple juice plus the extra yeast could cause that. And I got alcohol poising from drink alot of alcohol.
Now do you all think I should carbonate it or not?
Granted a beverage with more alcohol smells ‘stronger’ than one with less, especially if those alcohols are fusels because it fermented at a temp that was too high. But, there’s absolutely no way at home of knowing what ABV your Graf is unless you took both a OG and a FG. Otherwise it just speculation. Some parameters that can influence the FG and OG are 1. How much wort(at what SG) vs. how much cider you started with, 2.did you add sugar, and 3.what temperature did you ferment at, especially in the 1st couple of days, 4.what yeast strain did you use.
1 packet of yeast split between 2, 2 gallon jugs is not an overpitch, so you are just fine. Besides, pitching more yeast will not increase your ABV. The yeast multiplies up to whatever #s they need and start fermenting. You could pitch 6 packets and still not get any more fermentation than pitching 1.
Whether you carbonate it or not really depends on whether you like your graf to be bubbly or not. Me, I like it mildly carbonated, so I usually add 1 can of frozen apple juice at bottling time. Then I pasteurize the bottles when the carbonation reaches what I want. Good luck!
I prefer my ciders/grafts carbonated.
I’d carbonate.
Just so you know, the concentration of sugar determines the alcohol content. So if the recipe was for 5 gallons and was suppose to give (for example) a final alcohol level of 6%, then making 4 gallons would give an alcohol content of 6% x 5 / 4 = 7.5%.
In most case, using more yeast won’t increase the alcohol content. If the sugar is concentrated enough to allow the yeast to reach their alcohol limit (about 9-10% for most beer yeasts), adding extra will help push the final level up by a very small amount.
