ABV Calculator

How does this ABV calculator work?

This is a great tool that computes the alcohol by volume (ABV) contained in an alcoholic beverage based on gravity change. The ABV calculator offers 2 formulas to find the alcohol by volume for beer and 1 ABV formula for wine and returns the estimated alcohol by weight too. It takes account of:

• Drink type – users may choose to calculate ABV for beer or wine. It is set default on beer because calculating for it is more often used, but it can easily be changed to wine from the drop down list.
• Original Gravity (OG) – users may choose to enter the values for starting/ original gravity either expressed in specific gravity measurement unit, either expressed in degrees Plato. Please note that specific gravity usually is expressed as 1.
• Final Gravity (FG) – is the field in which users have to input the value for final gravity expressed in one of the two measurement units ( specific gravity or degrees Plato).
• Desired Formula (only in case of beer) – this field is available only when Beer is selected and users may choose to calculate the concentration by 2 different formulas: a standard one and a complex one that is more accurate.

Before explaining how the calculator works it is important to explain what ABV stands for. This is the acronym for Alcohol by volume and it is often used. Alcohol by volume is a standard measure of how much alcohol is contained in any alcoholic beverage (for instance beer or wine).

• ABV Standard formula for Beer:

• ABV Complex formula for Beer:

• ABV formula for Wine:

Please note that this calculator assumes you have already corrected your specific gravity (SG) readings for temperature.

The source for the Complex Formula is: Anon, 2012, Industrial Microbiology Beer Fermentation Practical, School Of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne.

In case of Wine the Formula field is not visible because there is only one formula used, which is the standard ABV formula that can be found on: Berry, C.J.J. First Steps in Winemaking. Poole, United Kingdom: Special Interest Model Books.

Apart from the alcohol by volume the ABV Calculator returns the alcohol by weight (ABW) which is a measurement that is not often used as ABV. Alcohol by Weight measures how much alcohol is in an alcoholic beverage, expressed as a percentage of the total beverage weight. The formula for alcohol by weight is based on the ABV previously calculated which gets multiplied by 0.79336:

Alcohol by weight (ABW) = ABV * 0.79336.