Sugar wash calculator
Choose the size of the wash, the starting gravity you want and where the sugar comes from, for what to weigh out, the water to add and the strength it should reach.
Sugar to add
- Water to add
- 21.8 L
- Expected strength
- 11.7 % if it finishes at 0.995
A 25.0 L wash at 1.080 takes 5,210 g of white sugar and 21.8 L of water.
How it works
Brix is the share of sugar by weight. The starting gravity gives the wash’s weight and its Brix, and so the sugar in it; whatever isn’t sugar is water. Dissolved sugar takes up room, about 0.62 mL a gram, so the water is less than the wash.
sugar = volume × SG × Brix ÷ 100
water = volume × SG − what you add
Dextrose, molasses and malt extract aren’t all sugar, so it takes more of them. A gram of dextrose as sold gives about 0.91 g of sugar, dry malt extract about 0.96 g, and molasses or liquid malt extract about 0.78 g.
The expected strength assumes the wash ferments down to a usual finish: 0.995 for sugar and dextrose, 1.010 for malt extract and 1.015 for molasses, which leave more unfermented behind.
Worked example
A 25 L wash at 1.080 with white sugar takes 5,210 g of sugar and 21.8 L of water. If it ferments down to 0.995, it reaches about 11.7% ABV.
Good to know
- It holds from 1.000 to 1.129 (0 to 30 °Bx), where the sugar tables do.
- A real wash lands within a point or two. Mix, cool to 20 °C and check the gravity, then top up with water or sugar.
- The ABV calculator gives the strength once you have the final reading.