Newbie question regarding slightly flubbed recipe

hey folks,

I started brewing for the first time in July after many years of enjoying the fine homebrew work of my friend, the crawdad. I was pretty instantly hooked (my third batch is in primary at the moment). My first batch (a european style brown) is in bottles and is decent. My second batch (a very generic blonde ale) is in the secondary.

So for my third batch, I gave a go at the partial mash version of an Old Speckled Hen clone. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f64/old-speckled-hen-21132/

While I was able to track down all the ingredients and do a decent job of the process from partial mash to fermenter, i made one rather substantial misread of the recipe. Instead of using 3 lbs, 9 oz of DME that the recipe called for, I used 3 lbs. (I somehow didn't see the second number - i plead beer-induced blindspot).

I had some concerns about fermentation that were mostly allayed by Revvy's oft-quoted post on the subject and I know that the beer is probably not ruined, but I was wondering what to expect as a result of using too litle DME. I would assume that it would be a lower alcohol content, due to less sugars for the yeast to chow down on. Any ideas on what it might do to the flavor?

Thanks,

roostra

ps - any if anyone can point me in the direction of a really good imperial ipa partial mash recipe, i would be greatly appreciative

A lot of us add things to the fermenter as its going. I do this fairly frequently to dry out big beers, and to boost the OG incrementally as to not shock the yeast too much in the beginning. I have had luck restarting stuck fermentations using .25 lb sugar, some yeast nutrient, and a little water, boil, chill, and add that to primary to give the yeast some work to do to get them to go the last mile for you. If you are truly concerned (no reason to be) boil up 9 oz of dme in a little water, cool, and add to your fermenter.

Otherwise, it will be a slightly lighter, and a little less malty version of the original. Chances are you wont notice and it will turn out great anyway.

I wouldn't worry about it. It'll have a bit less alcohol and body but still be a good beer. People have made far worse mistakes and had good beer.

Welcome to HBT!
You didn't mess up by much and your beer will still be good. Heck, it might be better this way. You will have slightly less alcohol but that just means you can drink a little extra beer (because it's so good) and not feel bad in the morning.

Thanks for the feedback, folks. I feel a lot better about this batch, so I'll just wait and see how it turns out.

It is great to be part of such a knowledgeable and welcoming community.