5% lager

M cebee

How many units of alcohol in the 5% 500ml cans

Thanks

huskerdu

A unit of alcohol is not standard.
Each country decides what a unit is.

According to the hse website, in Ireland a unit is 10g pure alcohol.
However, in Britain a unit is 8g pure alcohol.

The HSE estimate a half pint of normal beer is 1 unit.
If we assume that normal beer is 4%, then 500ml is about 2 units

284ml (half pint) is 1 unit
500ml is 1.76 units.

5% makes the beer 20% stronger than normal, which brings it up to 2.1 units.

Ted_YNWA

huskerdu wrote: »

A unit of alcohol is not standard.
Each country decides what a unit is.

According to the hse website, in Ireland a unit is 10g pure alcohol.
However, in Britain a unit is 8g pure alcohol.

The HSE estimate a half pint of normal beer is 1 unit.
If we assume that normal beer is 4%, then 500ml is about 2 units

284ml (half pint) is 1 unit
500ml is 1.76 units.

5% makes the beer 20% stronger than normal, which brings it up to 2.1 units.

500ml @ 5% ABV would be 25ml alcohol .. 10ml = 1 unit. then 500 ml can is 2.5 units

or it that over simplifying things ?

rubadub

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_drink#Standard_drinks_as_defined_by_various_countries

Standard drinks as defined by various countries
French beer (330mL @ 5.8% alc)

Amount of alcohol is stated in grams and millilitres. Number of standard drinks contained in 500ml of beer with 5% ABV, a typical large drink of beer, is stated for comparison.[1]
Country Mass (g) Volume (ml) 500 ml beer contains
Australia[2] 10 12.7 2.0 s.drinks
Austria 6 7.62 3.2 s.drinks
Canada[3] 13.5 17.1 1.5 s.drinks
Denmark 12 15.2 1.6 s.drinks
Finland[4] 12 15.2 1.6 s.drinks
France 12 15.2 1.6 s.drinks
Hungary 17 21.5 1.2 s.drinks
Iceland[5] 8 10 2.5 s.drinks
Ireland 10 12.7 2.0 s.drinks
Italy 10 12.7 2.0 s.drinks
Japan 19.75 25 1.0 s.drinks
Netherlands 9.9 12.5 2.0 s.drinks
New Zealand[6] 10 12.7 2.0 s.drinks
Poland 10 12.7 2.0 s.drinks
Portugal 14 17.7 1.4 s.drinks
Spain 10 12.7 2.0 s.drinks
UK 7.9 10 2.5 s.drinks
USA[7] 13.7 17.7[n 1] 1.4 s.drinks

You have to remember a 1ml of alcohol does not weight 1gram (1ml of water is approx 1gram at room temp)

Another strange phenomenon is the fact that if you dilute 1L of 50% alcohol with 1L of water you do not end up with 2L of 25% alcohol as you might expect. I am not sure if these unit calculations take this into account.

M cebee

hmm so whats the answer:)

huskerdu

M cebee wrote: »

hmm so whats the answer:)

According to my rough calculations, the answer is about 2.

According the wikipedia article, the answer is 2, which is based on the following calculation


1 unit = 10mg alcohol = 12.7ml

500ml @ 5% strength = 25ml alcohol = 2 units.

huskerdu

rubadub wrote: »

Another strange phenomenon is the fact that if you dilute 1L of 50% alcohol with 1L of water you do not end up with 2L of 25% alcohol as you might expect. I am not sure if these unit calculations take this into account.

I'm really interested in this. Can you explain further or link to an explanation ?

Thanks

FTGFOP

It's because the alcohol or dissolves in the water (or the other way round, if you prefer). In the same way as combining a cup of salt and a cup of water won't give you a volume of 2 cups but a volume of 1.x cups of a denser liquid, namely salt water.

Solvation.

You could see it as the small molecules of water occupying the space between the the larger molecules of ethanol. Like throwing a litre of sand into a litre gravel (although the scale's off in that example).