Compensate for more dextrose.

So I have a small dilema.

I dont have as much DME as I thought, im missing about 2 pounds for the recipe I had planned, but hoping not to "have" to get anymore as it takes over a week to get it, and I really need to get this started tomorrow.

Question, if I steep crystal malts and add Dextrose as fermentable, is that a suitable solution to raise the gravity without drying out the beer?

What kind of ratios? pound for pound? Doesnt have to be perfect, ive just never tried this before.

Dextrose is highly fermentable. If you have a couple pounds of crystal to steep, you would be better off with that IMO.

Edit: misread

But any idea of ratios? 2 pounds of crystal will do 1 pound of dextrose.

I guess your question is will a mixture of crystal and dextrose be a good replacement for DME?

According to beersmith, DME = 1.044 potential, Crystal = 1.035 potential and dextrose = 1.046 potential.

A good mix would be 3 parts crystal (1.3 lb) to 2 parts dextrose (.9 lb). That is a reasonable replacement for 2 lb DME.

Crystal malt has no diastatic power - it has no enzymes to break down the starch to shorter chain sugars for fermentation. If you want to get some sugar from the crystal, you need to do a mini-mash with some base grain like 2 row. All a steep is going to do is add colour - which could be a lot if you add 2lb.

So, to answer your question - no it is not a satisfactory solution to prevent drying out the beer.

If you can get hold of 2 row as well as crystal, just do a partial mash and forget the dextrose. Partial mashing is exactly the same as steeping - just hold the grain in 150F-ish water for 30-60 minutes.

Note that the potential of grain is going to be modified by your extraction efficiency, while the potential of DME or dextrose is not.

So you need to get 88 points to make up for the 2 lbs of DME you are short, right? [Take the last two digits from the potential, x 2 for 2 lb.]

Assuming an efficiency of 60% for a partial mash, and a total potential of 35 per pound of grain

0.6 * 35 = 21 points per pound of grain actually available.

88/21 ~ 4 lb of grain total.

So do a mash with a total of about 4 lb of grain. You want mainly 2 or 6 row, with just enough crystal to give the color you desire. Plus - you need at least 1 lb of base grain per lb of crystal to get conversion.

You can just make a smaller batch. That is the only way to make the beer the same.

Malticulous said:

You can just make a smaller batch. That is the only way to make the beer the same.

Click to expand...

....Doh!

Im clearly drinking too much of what I make. That is an ENTIRELY OBVIOUS answer.

My god, I need to go get some sleep I think. Cant beleive I was hunting through the cupboards for adjuncts before I thought of just cutting a gallon off the batch....

Im dumb struck.

Thanks.