That didn't go as planned...(Low OG)

Well a cold brew day didn't quite go as planned. I had an expected OG of about 1.065, and actually came in at 1.046

First, what to do with this beer. It is going to be good, but I had planned for a bigger beer and would like a higher ABV. Was thinking about adding some DME into the fermenter, but not sure what kind of effect that would have. I thought about adding dextrose, but I worry that would dry it out too much.

so the question is: what will adding DME to the fermenter do to the beer?
And, how should I add it? The thought was make a mini wort with about a pound of DME, cool it and throw it in to the fermenter.

here is my recipe:
2-Row (US) 9.75 lb 82%
Munich - Light 10L (US) 1.0 lb 8%
Caramel/Crystal 60L (US) 0.41 lb 3%
CaraFoam (DE) 0.33 lb 2%
Melanoidin (DE) 0.33 lb 2%

Centennial (US) 2.0 oz FWH
Cascade (US) .5 oz 20 min
Citra (US) .5 oz 5 20 min
Citra (US) 1.0 oz 10 min
Cascade (US) .5 oz 5 min
Citra (US) .5 oz Flameout
Citra (US) 1.0 oz Hop stand (20 min stand at 180degrees)

Safale US-05 Fermentis US-05 85.5%

Adding DME is the perfect way to correct the OG, and keep the balance of the beer the same as intended.

For a 5 gallon batch, a pound of DME will provide 9 points. You can use 2-3 pounds, or thereabouts, with a bit of water, and that should get you to your desired OG. You can boil it up in as little water as possible, cool it, and then add to the fermenter, with no problems at all.

Yooper in to save the day!

Should I go with the extra light DME I use for starters to keep the flavor profile?

as for process: should I boil a full hour? Is that even necessary?
And then obviously cool to the same temp as fermenter before throwing in there, right? Should I get in there as soon as possible? or wait until fermentation is getting going good before adding?

Thank you!

I'd use the extra light DME as it would be mostly malt sugars which is what you need to raise the OG. Darker malt extracts will have some crystal malts or other darker malts which will change the flavor of your beer.

You boil the DME with a little water to make sure it is pasteurized. It only needs to be brought to a boil and then you can start chilling it. It probably won't matter too much when you add it because the yeast will find it. Personally, I'd try to get it in asap.

Sounds like you have a solution. The next thing you should do is buy a refractometer for under $30 on Amazon. That way you can check the OG through out the boil. This is an essential piece of equipment that all AG brewers should have imo.

boiled 3 pounds extra light DME and added earlier today. About 24 hours after initial brew. The new wort ended up adding about 1/2 gallon of volume into the fermenter.

Thanks for the help. We'll see how it goes

I was wondering about using a refractometer or just cool off some samples and test with the hydrometer. With taking samples near the boil end, couldn't you just continue to boil it down if it's a bit low until the OG is where you want it? May have less going into the fermenter but with no need to add adjuncts.

had the same problem today. missed my og by 10. seeing it was late will head out to the LBS and get some DME in the am and get it into my primary asap..
good luck with your brew

timpoulsen said:

I was wondering about using a refractometer or just cool off some samples and test with the hydrometer. With taking samples near the boil end, couldn't you just continue to boil it down if it's a bit low until the OG is where you want it? May have less going into the fermenter but with no need to add adjuncts.

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Yes, you can do that. But it screws up your late hopping schedule so it's tricky to do. If you only have 60 minute hops in the boil, then boiling 15 minutes longer to reduce volume is no big deal. But adding late hops and then boiling longer will increase your bitterness by quite a bit and change the flavor and character of the late hops.

RM-MN said:

I'd use the extra light DME as it would be mostly malt sugars which is what you need to raise the OG. Darker malt extracts will have some crystal malts or other darker malts which will change the flavor of your beer.

You boil the DME with a little water to make sure it is pasteurized. It only needs to be brought to a boil and then you can start chilling it. It probably won't matter too much when you add it because the yeast will find it. Personally, I'd try to get it in asap.

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Good to know as I am just getting into all grain.

Roger

FG has been at 1.014 for 2 days (today is day 12, day 11 from when I added the 3 lbs DME). I'm guessing I didn't get the full 9 points per pound that Yooper suggested, being that the new DME wort added about 1/2 a gallon in the fermenter. I'm thinking OG was probably around 1.065?

Added 3 ounces citra to dry hope for another week until I keg.

Tastes great. Has the color I was going for, i was wondering of the DME would have any effect on color/taste and it seems to be just what I was expecting. Really excited to get it kegged and cold! Won't necessarily be able to reproduce this again, but it should be good.

First off, I'm glad this turned out for you. My question is, what would keep you from hitting your target OG? Do you check for conversion during your mash? Do you check for temp. during mash? What can be done if you are at a lower than expected gravity during your mash?
I have been doing AG for my last 8 brews and I have not experienced this problem. My OG always seems to come in higher than expected. But I'm still dialing in my efficiencies. Thanks for the input everyone.

I am pretty new to All Grain myself, but here is what I think went wrong. It was cold outside (minnesota winter) so I increased my water temp by 10 degrees. However, as I was stirring in the temp was decreasing faster than I anticipated. i wanted to mash at 154, and the temp was already down to 152 so I didn't stir as much as I usually do. I was more worried about temp than stirring, but looking back, I think I would have been better off to get a more rigorous stir as opposed to closing the tun to keep the temp. Tun went inside and only lost ~1-2 degrees over a 70 minute mash.

I guess I will ask the board; What would hurt the efficiency more: a low mash temp or lack of stirring the grains?

Other than that, I followed my normal brew day procedures. I did not test for conversion. How do you test yours? With an iodine test? Or refractometer?

I've always hit my numbers in the past and never worried too much about checking it mid mash. I also try and keep the cost of the hobby to a minimum, so as long as it was hitting the numbers I didn't want to put more money into equipment that I don't necessarily "need".

Not the greatest answer, but that is what I have come up with. I am open to any other suggestions.

In my view, lack of stirring will be much more detrimental to your efficiency than temperature, assuming your mash temp is at least 148 or 149. My first AG batch (not too long ago), I under-stirred and missed my OG by close to 30 points. Now, I stir, and stir and stir and stir some more. I also test with iodine, mostly because I only have 4 or so AG batches under my belt and my first was troublesome.

Kegged Thursday, 7 days after dry hop. Had a couple lady night and they were great. No flavor from the dme that I can tell. Great citra aroma that I love. Nicely balanced and smooth for the(estimated)6.8% abv. Thanks for the advice, this turned out great and other than the added cost of dme it is exactly what I was going for

Sent from my SGH-T999L using Home Brew mobile app

Here is a pic. Great head retention


http://imgur.com/8Jp4MrZ

Glad to hear this worked out. I had the same issue a week ago. I just rolled with the lower OG and I guess I will just have to drink more of them at 5% than at 6.4% LOL.

DME trick seems like a good solution.

Hey saw this on Reddit and wrote it down in my brew book. Will be trying this very soon and glad it all worked out.