About the Author:
Resume
Biography
How I Became A Brewer
My Worst Brewing Experience
Teri in the News
Rain Dragon Studio
Artists on Amherst
 
Articles by the Author:
Hiring the Best Brewers
Schedule for Opening Day
My Burn Injury
Specialty Malt-Presentation
Specialty Malt-Handout
My Brewing Career
Ingredient Supply Chain
Creating A Community
Forward Hop Contracting
Australian BrewCon
Beer Across America 2007
Grain Handling Systems
7 Secrets of Brewpubs
5 Brewpub Success Tips
The Jockeybox
Going Pro in the Beer Biz
1999 CBC Safety Panel
Brewing Diagrams
Server Beer School
Increasing Beer Tourism
Closed Pressurized Fermentation
Shortcut to Brewmaster
 
Dialogs & Essays:
Advice for Future Brewers
Extreme Brewing Dialog
Definition of "Brewmaster"
Opinions & Advice
 
Tools & Formulas:
Brewpub Lab Manual
Operations Manual
The Mash Hoe
The Brew Clock
Simple Brewlog Template
IBU Formula
Alc by Vol. Formula
Calorie Calculations
Recommended Reading
Fal's Beer Descriptors
 
More Articles & Recipes:
Bread Class Handout
Bread-Making Advice
Root Beer Production
Food Recipes
Beer Recipes
 
Women and Beer:
Pink Boots Society
Pink Boots Society Story
 
Road Brewer Trips:
2007 Road Trip Blog
2007 Trip Itinerary
2007 Trip Statistics
1999 Teardrop Adventure
 
Click here to download if you don't already have it: Several of the links are PDF files.

Alc. by Vol. Formula:
Schwartz Factors

When I attended the 60th Dipoloma Course at the Siebel Institute in 1988, I visited Victor Ecimovich, then the Brewmaster at Goose Island in Chicago. Vic had a little booklet called, "Schwartz Tables," and he used it to calculate the alcohol level of his beers.

I asked Vic where he got it, and he told me he got it from Siebel. I asked at school, and they told me they only had a few copies left, but I got one.

Examining the Schwartz Tables, I noticed a pattern. I converted the tables into Factors, and I extrapolated estimates for all those marvelous big gravity beers that were "off the charts" for the booklet's tables.

The formula was slightly logarithmic, but below is what I came up with. I have successfully been using my Schwartz Factors since 1989.

How to Use these Schwartz Factors:

1. Use a good temperature-corrected Plato hydrometer.
2. Take a starting gravity reading. (SG)
3. Take a final gravity reading. (FG)
4. Find the difference: subtract the FG from the SG.
5. Find the starting gravity reading on the left side of the chart below. Do not round up! The chart is designed so that if your beer had a SG of 13.9, you would look at the Factor for 13, not 14.
6. Multiply the difference you calculated in step 4 by the Factor you found in step 5.
7. The answer is a fairly close estimate of your final alcohol level.

Schwartz Factors:

10 = .531
11 = .534
12 = .537
13 = .540
14 = .544
15 = .548
16 = .552
17 = .556
18 = .560
19 = .564
20 = .568
21 = .572
22 = .576
23 = .580
24 = .585
25 = .590


Hey - thanks for caring about great beer!


Road Trip Blog: www.roadbrewer.com
Women in Beer & Brewing: www.pinkbootssociety.org