Should have cut the grain bill, now what?

So I was up for trying my hand at an Amber Ale, found a recipe here that I thought looked nice, but was confused as to the batch size (was listed as an 11gal batch). I put it into beersmith and the OG for 11 gal came out way too low (something like 1010). I went ahead and brewed it as a 5 gal batch, then as I took out a sample to measure the OG it landed right at 1100. So, now what?

Here's the recipe I used:

16.75 lbs of 2 row
2 lbs of Munich
1.5 lbs of Crystal 20
1 lb of German Wheat
0.5 lb of Carapils
0.25 lb of Chocolate Malt
2 oz of Fuggles @ 60
1.5 oz of Willamette @ 30
0.5 oz of Fuggles @ 5
1 vial of WLP 001

Would it be wise to pitch a second yeast to help eat up the sugar, or let the yeast in there go to town (I'm afraid it may be overwhelmed).

Any advice would be much appreciated, going to need another homebrew to help relax and not worry!

that's gonna be one big beer. i'd pitch AT least another vial. really, you should be making a starter when using liquid yeast.

You could pitch more yeast and have a big beer, it sounds like it will end up pretty weird, but you ever know, maybe you just invented a fantastic new kind of beer.

The other option, which sounds a lot better to me, is that you could get another 5 g fermentor and split the batch in 2, add 2.5 g (or whatever volume you need to get the gravity you want) of sterilized water to each and be back to where you wanted to be. You probably should still add at least one more pack of yeast if you are going to do that.

imperial amber ale? could be good, who knows.

I'm doing starters on all my yeasts, just kind of blown away by how this came out. Suppose I could pick up more 001 tomorrow, do a starter and pitch that by mid-week, split the beer into another fermenter and dilute it a bit, just not sure how to correct for the gravity if the yeast is in there....hmm.

Funny, I just entered that recipe into BeerSmith (v2.x) and at 11 gallons the OG should be about 1.054 with a 75% efficiency rate. Not sure how you entered it, but if you didn't pick 'All Grain' as the type there's your error... I have mine default to all grain, so I don't even need to think about it.

At 5 gallons into fermenter, you hit about 63% efficiency. Depending on your setup, that might not be all that bad.

For the brew you made, though, I don't think another vial of 001 will be enough. Pick a yeast that will be able to go over 10% (you're on target for 10.6%) if you wish. Or just let it finish as it will. If it's been 12-18 hours since you pitched the yeast, and you're seeing active sign of the yeast doing something (even if it's just starting) you could give it some more O2. After 24 hours, though, I wouldn't introduce any more O2 into the brew. Some nutrient could also help out, if you have some on hand.

On the IIPA I used 2 packs of Safale, it really kicked butt and took that sucker from 1090 to 1011...suppose I could throw some of that in tomorrow, my local brew shop is closed for the day, so it'd be at least 26 hours since pitching the first yeast before I could pitch a second helping. I think splitting this and diluting down may be the best option, I'd hate for a sub-par brew to come out of a pricey grain bill.

As for beersmith...you hit the nail on the head, the default of extract was selected, which changed what the beer stats looked like. After swapping it over to AG the OG dropped to what it should be.

Why not let it ride as it stands? I think you'll be better off than trying to dilute it later and such. Seems like more work and higher risk of things going south to me. It will just be a bigger version of the brew you had thought to make. Or you could let it ferment, see how it is, and make a weaker version to mix with once fermentation has completed (in both batches). Without having used the WLP001, I can't say if it will go over 10% and finish the brew where it should. At this point, you have pretty much nothing to lose by letting it go. Or, you could add 2qt more water (IF you're under 18 hours from pitch) to thin it a little. Just boil it to kill anything potentially harmful in the water, and get rid of the excess oxygen (although pouring it in will add some back).

On the site White Labs says that WLP001 has a "high alcohol tolerance", which translates to 10-15%....% of what, I'm not sure, the site isn't terribly clear on that, or perhaps I'm just not understanding it completely.

Would it hurt to pitch another yeast batch to help out with all that sugar in there?
Would the yeast in there be too stressed with that big of a beer and only one vial working on it?

Perkt said:

On the site White Labs says that WLP001 has a "high alcohol tolerance", which translates to 10-15%....% of what, I'm not sure,
Would it hurt to pitch another yeast batch to help out with all that sugar in there?
Would the yeast in there be too stressed with that big of a beer and only one vial working on it?

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10-15% abv
wouldn't hurt at all, when in doubt....
most likely, yes.

Alcohol tolerance and proper pitching rates don't always coincide. Just because a yeast strain can tolerate 10% doesn't mean it can get that big of a beer down without being stressed. You say you use starters, but what kind of starter did you make? One appropriate for the beer you were expecting, or one that's big enough to handle the monster you actually got?

I'd check Mr. Malty and see what kind of cell count you'd need and go from there. My guess is either another starter or another packet of dry yeast will be needed to prevent too much stress. However, if you wait too long, preventing stress will be a moot issue, as it will have already happened.

How long is too long? I am planning on grabbing a packet of Safale tomorrow, as it seems to handle big beers and not require a ton of prep time.

The starter I made with the WLP001 was simply a pint of water with 1/2 cup of light DME...certainly not enough to take care of what beer actually resulted.

I don't know how long is too long, unfortunately. I know the earlier part of fermentation is the reproductive phase and I believe this is where the stress-caused off flavors can develop due to underpitching. But I don't know how long this phase lasts, specifically. Asking over in the Yeast/Fermentation Forum might get some better answers as the folks over there have more knowledge of the specific biology associated with the yeasts' phases.

I would hazard a guess that throwing a packet of dry yeast in tomorrow will help, but I don't know how much.

Perkt said:

I put it into beersmith and the OG for 11 gal came out way too low (something like 1010).

Click to expand...

sounds like type was set to Extract. make sure you change the type to All-grain, Extract, or Partial Mash to get the right numbers. You could boil and cool 5 gallons of water and add it, and use it like a partial boil.

I misread the spec's in the white labs site... 10-15% could mean that it will tucker out at 10% or go to 15%, or maybe even higher.

Personally, I would wait and see where it lands for the FG before adding more yeast. IF I was to do anything, in the first 12-24 hours (in this case) it would be another infusion of O2 and perhaps nutrients.

While your starter was small, any starter is better than no starter. At what point did you pitch it in? If it was still highly active then you could be ok. If it was finished, then maybe not so much.

IMO, at this point no matter what you do you'll get beer. It won't be what you originally thought it would be, or wanted, but you'll still get beer. It could be one of those cases where it's a very happy accident and you'll put it on the 'brew again' list. I would advise brewing another batch as soon as possible so that your pipeline doesn't suffer while this one does it's thing. You DO have another fermenter, right??

BTW, lumpher, we had already established where the BeerSmith misstep took place...

Depending on the IBU, that might be a pretty good barleywine. You may have to wait until next winter to enjoy it, though.

So I'm going half 'n half...bought some Safale 05 and pitched over the top, let mix and what not, transferred 2.5 gallons to another carboy over the top of 2.5 gallons boiled water, left the other 2.5 in the initial primary and will let it work away. These will sit for about 3 weeks in primary, then I might transfer the higher OG to a secondary (incase of adding anything to it), or just bottle both and let them condition...the higher OG will be at least 2 months before I chill, the more dilute should be ready in about half that time.

Keeping my fingers crossed for two good beers, but we'll see how it turns out.