Konrad...I thought the normal method was to test the specific gravity using an inexpensive hydrometer. Will this method not work for you?

Appleseed, if you don't know the initial gravity you can't compute how much alcohol was produced.

Konrad its hard to measure. One method is boil off the alcohol (and some water), replace all the liquid lost, then measure SG. See link below for an article on it. I never tried it myself, I usually just drink a glass and wait an hour :-)

Scott

Here is a link that might be useful: measuring alcohol

I thought you just drank a couple mugs and guessed from there :)

Apple is probably 1.050-1.055. Measure the gravity now and figure the difference.

You may also find a calculation to measure with a hydrometer and a refractometer and the difference will tell you. I know of one like that for beer but not wine, should be close.

scott and cckw hit the nail on the head hahahahaha!

OK..thank you all!
Yeah..figured is was hard to do..

Then I guessed right, it's around 4%, when my wife drank two
sips and was already tipsy! lol [she can't handle anything!]

"Then I guessed right, it's around 4%, when my wife drank two
sips and was already tipsy! lol [she can't handle anything!]"

My wife is the same way. A couple of sips of an adult beverage at a restaurant and she feels tipsy.

Konrad, trade me some of your ale for peaches. If I can get my wife to drink it maybe I can get her clothes off easier. LOL.

you guys are cracking me up!

Konrad, you could measure the SG of some of your fresh-pressed juice and assume it is very similar to what was put in the keg. Then measure the keg SG and do the calculation.

OK, I didn't measure SG,..say it was at 12 Brix.

Looking at my triple-scale hydrometer, a brix of 12 is equivalent to a potential alcohol of 6.1%, and your finishing brix of 9 is equivalent to a potential alchohol of 4.5%, so your beverage should be about 1.6% alcohol by volume.

Thank you Don,..this would make sense.

oh, I thought the method to measure alchohol is: drink a bit of serbian slivovitz and after 5 minutes I am in a ditch

Except refractometers don't measure right when there's alcohol involved so that 9ð isn't accurate.
12ð sounds right as a start.

If it was wort/beer (it's not so this isn't accurate either) that had a SG of 1.051 and measured 9ð when finished BeerSmith corrects that to 1.026 FG. A potential about 2.5%-3% (I really don't like my hydrometer's potential scale so I don't trust that to be perfect, broke the one I did like). So about 3%-3.5%ABV.

The 3.5% sounds about right for sweet cider that wasn't bumped with a sugar and assuming the 1.026FG estimation is near correct.
About 5%-6% for a dry cider.

Without a hydrometer rely on taste, balancing that with other flavors (alcohol is low so that's not a factor). Hard to do without a hydrometer to give you the experience.
1.026 sounds sweet in an apple. Is it?
Granted I use honey which tastes sweet even when it's not but I have some 2 year old Cyser that is 1.010/13% and it's too sweet for my sweet tooth tastes. 1.010/16% wasn't too sweet.
Sour cherry pie wine @1.026 is sweet but the sour balances it.
Under 1.000 is extremely distasteful to me. Sour cherry wine that went to .990 would turn my face into a black hole. I aged that stuff 10 years and while it lost some sour it was never enough by the time it was oxidized.

Really without a hydrometer and a SG-FG to go on it's a guessing game. On beer and wine forums when someone comes on forgetting to take a SG they don't get time wasted on them because at that point it's all a guessing game even with all the methods and formulas.
If you want to know, get a hydrometer and don't forget to take the initial reading next time.
Until then if it's good drink it. If not age it until you need the space.

radovan, I am laughing so hard right now my face hurts!
Great thread little bit of humor and a little bit of theory, fantastic!

Thank you all!
>>Except refractometers don't measure right when there's alcohol involved so that 9ð isn't accurate. Will the hydrometer get me the correct reading after the brew when there is alcohol in it?....I have one somewhere but haven't used it in years...usually my tongue is the hydro/refractometer.

I think it's slightly off but close enough. Some are calibrated for that (I think mine is that I don't like and that's why it seems off to me).