Seth's Correction Equation

seth8530 · Aug 5, 2012

Hey, I was reading on the gotmead forums and I saw someone make the mistake of claiming that the final ABV of his step fed mead was simply the difference in gravity multiplied by a constant. In essence, he did not account for the dilution caused by his honey.Anyways, I decided to come up with an easy to use equation to take care of this issue

The context of this derivation will be in my next post.

seth8530 · Aug 5, 2012

Here is what one of our fellow mazers posted

This is what I did

6 lbs meadowfoam honey
6 lbs buckwheat honey
6 lbs dried organic mission figs(chopped)
2 lbs dried organic Turkish apricots

Put the 3 lbs of each honey into fermentation bucket add water to 3 gallons. I mixed until all honey was dissolved. Added 3 lbs of figs and 3 campden tablets. 24 hours later the og was 1.083. I pitch 71b. At SG 1.075 I added .2 gallons of honey to bring sg up to 1.093. Then at Sg 1.05 I added .125 gallons of honey to bring the OG to 1.06. At Sg 1.005 I fortified 2.5 gallons of the mead that is just north of 14% abv with .5 gallons of aguadente to bring the mead up to an abv of just over 20%. 24 Hours later added 2 lbs of chopped mission figs and 2 lbs of Turkish apricots.

The correct solution will be in the next post

Click to expand...

seth8530 · Aug 5, 2012

% alcohol = alcohol volume/total volume

alcohol = step 1 + step2 + step3

( OG-FG)*125= %alcohol gain per step
Step1

( OG-FG)*125=

alcohol gain per step

[(Alcohol gain per step)/]100*current volume =

alcohol gained per step.

This may be re written as (OG-FG)*125*current volume /100

This is simplified into (OG-FG)*1.25*current volume =

alcohol per step

So, to formulate this all out nice and pretty for your case

[(OG1-FG1)*1.25*volume1]+[(OG2-FG2)*1.25*volume2]+[(OG3-FG3)*1.25*volume3]

this can be simplified once again into

1.25{[OG1-FG1]*vol1+[OG2-FG2]*Vol2+[OG3-FG3]*vol3}= TOTAL ALCOHOL

So finally it is time to plug in some numbers

1.25{[1.083-1.075]*3*+[1.093-1.05]*3.2*+[1.06-1.005]*3.325}

This gives us .43 gallons of 100%

alcohol in your 3.325 gallons of

mead.

As we have discussed above %

alcohol is

Alcohol volume/Must volume *100

(.43/3.325)*100 This gives you 12.93%

alcohol by volume before

fortification.

When you added 1 half

gallon of 50%

alcohol this contributed .25 gallons of pure

alcohol.

To get your final ABV we shall adjust our recent calculation.

He is fortifying 2.5 gallons.. 2.5*.1293=.32
[Total Alc/Total volume]*100= abv

[(.32+.25)/(2.5+.5)]*100 =19%

According to my maths you have 19%

alcohol

THUS

125{[OG1-FG1]*vol1+[OG2-FG2]*Vol2+[OG3-FG3]*vol3......}/Total Volume=ABV

Arne · Aug 5, 2012

Hi Seth,
I'm a long ways away from figuring the math calcs like you are doing. Been somewhere around 50 years ago. So, I really am not following everything you are saying, but agree with it. The only thing that stuck out for me is when you are adding the 50% alcohol to it are you allowing for the other 50% (Isuppose water??) Just wondering, Arne.
Btw, I am impressed you can figure that out, I don't have a clue, lol,A.

seth8530 · Aug 5, 2012

Thanks, I posted this here because I figured it would be usefull. Hopefully this will get some more attention soon.

Yes I did factor that in. It is included in here [(.32+.25)/(2.5+.5)]*100

The .32 is the gallons of alcohol contributed from the yeast. The .25 is half of a half gallon. ie the pure alcohol from the distillate.

The 2.5 is the volume from the wine. the .5 is the volume added from the distillate.

In all honesty the BIG BOLD equations are the ones that most of you will find useful. However, I also included my derivation.

seth8530 · Aug 5, 2012

Arne said:
Hi Seth,
I'm a long ways away from figuring the math calcs like you are doing. Been somewhere around 50 years ago. So, I really am not following everything you are saying, but agree with it. The only thing that stuck out for me is when you are adding the 50% alcohol to it are you allowing for the other 50% (Isuppose water??) Just wondering, Arne.
Btw, I am impressed you can figure that out, I don't have a clue, lol,A.

'

BTW, now that I bolded the key equations is that easier?

Arne · Aug 6, 2012

seth8530 said:
'

BTW, now that I bolded the key equations is that easier?

Probably should be, but by the time I get thru all the figuring I imagine I would have the whole batch drunk up. LOL, Arne.

bob1 · Aug 6, 2012

So he is off by 1%?

seth8530 · Aug 6, 2012

Eh the math is pretty easy actually. And yes, he was off by 1% abv. However, he would of been off by a whole lot more if he wasnt using something as sugar rich as honey.

seth8530 · Dec 16, 2013

BTW, I would like to note that the factor of 1.25 can be substituted for 1.31 depending on which abv equation meets your fancy.

WVMountaineerJack · Sep 10, 2014

Where can we get the app for this? WVMJ

seth8530 · Sep 10, 2014

As of right now their is not an app. But I could write a spreadsheet or .exe if their is enough interest in it.

CUZN_J · Jun 8, 2018

Arne said:
Hi Seth,
I'm a long ways away from figuring the math calcs like you are doing. Been somewhere around 50 years ago. So, I really am not following everything you are saying, but agree with it. The only thing that stuck out for me is when you are adding the 50% alcohol to it are you allowing for the other 50% (Isuppose water??) Just wondering, Arne.
Btw, I am impressed you can figure that out, I don't have a clue, lol,A.

You think you are a long ways off, I got you beat, I don't even have a clue to what the ( funny X ) is. wish I could understand this, guess I will just do it without the allowance for added solution, and just give up a % or 2. if I got that close gee I think that high ABV would not matter about 1 or 2%..

salcoco · Jun 9, 2018

even the Government allows a 1% variance on commercial wines

Seth's Correction Equation

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