First missed OG ... add sugar to fermenter?

soltangris · January 24, 2012, 1:31pm

I’ve brewed about 20 all grain batches and I’ve done this bitter recipe five times. But something went wrong. I usually see 1.039 with this recipe but my last attempt resulted in 1.022. The grain looked normal when I ran it through the barely crusher. There was a huge dough ball but I thought I’d broken it up. Must not have broken it up completely
Was bummed that my tried and true recipe would go so wrong and just pitched the starter on the weak wort without thinking about how to “fix” it.

Anyway, it’s been fertmenting near 70 w/ Wyeast 1882 since Saturday evening and is starting to floc out. What could I do to add gravity and flavor at this point? Would that just make it more alcoholic without much flavor? I do have a few pounds of LME I use for starters.

dobe12 · January 24, 2012, 1:41pm

You could boil off some LME, cool it and add it to the fermentor. That should jump start the yeast and get you a little more ABV.

or

You could just live with a crazy weak session beer. Save them for the one drunk a-hole friend who always comes to your place empty handed and expects you to provide his beverages, just because you brew.

or

You could brew another batch of the same beer, but with a much higher gravity and when complete blend the 2 together.

a10t2 · January 24, 2012, 8:46pm

Have you calibrated the hydrometer? It seems really unlikely that you were actually that far off on a recipe you’d brewed before.

soltangris · January 25, 2012, 1:28pm

I did check it against tap water at about 60F and it read 1.002. Same 55lb grain as I used last 2 times, no adjustments to the crusher unless I somehow bumped the knob.

I think I’m just going to let it go and see what turns out.

cam0083 · January 25, 2012, 2:35pm

I’d bump it up, either with the sugar or LME, but that’s just me. It hardly seems worth drinking at that point

soltangris · January 26, 2012, 1:16am

Well it’s a 6 gallon carboy so I figure I can add a gallon of liquid. At 42 “gravity points” per pound of dry malt extract, one pound DME in one gallon water would turn my batch into 6 gallons of 1.029. 2 pounds would make it 1.036. Maybe I’ll just do that tomorrow.