High Gravity Brown Ale?

Whipped up a batch of northern brown ale on Sunday:

6 lbs Amber DME
1 Lb 40 Crsyal caramel specialty grain
1/4 lb chocolate grains specialty grain
1/2 lb cystal carapils
3-4 oz of light brown sugar
1 oz fuggles (bittering)
.5 oz fuggles (finishing)
Wyeast 1028


Took the OG just after transfer to carboy and it it read 1.088 at 73 degrees! Any ideas why the OG was so high?

I made this recipe before (second brew ever, forgot to take OG) with the recipe calling for a 1/2 pound of brown sugar. I cut back on brown sugar for this batch (1/2 pound was too sweet for me).

Also I haven't used the carapils before, my local brewshop recommended it for foam and head retention, could this extra malt be responsible for the high OG?

Regardless, brew is fermenting like a champ, so its no big deal. Just trying to understand why my brew is going to be so potent!...Thanks!

I think your hydrometer reading was off a bit. I'm at work, so I don't have my brewing programs handy....but it seems a bit high to me also.

Yeah, somethings off with your hydrometer or some other part of the measuring process.

I have a high gravity brown conditioning now, started about 1.09, and took 12 lbs of malt extract (plus steeping grains) to get there.

Carapils maybe adds .001-.005 points of gravity in that small of a quantity, depending on steep time and temp, plus sparge.

I don't have any brewing software, so I am not sure, but wouldn't the sugar bump it up a lot?

corvax13 said:

I don't have any brewing software, so I am not sure, but wouldn't the sugar bump it up a lot?

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3 to 4 oz of sugar?

not really.

mindcrime said:

Carapils maybe adds .001-.005 points of gravity in that small of a quantity, depending on steep time and temp, plus sparge.

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Actually, Carapils will likely add nothing at all to this beer other than head possibly head retention. Cara-malts are kilned a little different and have little to no fermentables. If you're going to get anything out of them, you need to mash them with 2-row, pils, or another base malt. It's about the same as using Munich, Wheat, etc. in steeping. Pointless.

But the point is still valid. Carapils is NOT responsible for his high gravity.


Now, in regards to Carapils, my understanding is that they are a variety of crystal/caramel malt, and as such do result in a small amount of fermentables without the need for an enzymatic reaction. Emphasis on -small-. The point of using them is for body and head retention, absolutely.

anyhoo.. no worries either way. Not a big deal. And not a big gravity

Your gravity should be right around 1.060. Either your reading was inaccurate or you ended up with less than 5 gallons. Should be a bit light on IBU's but looks like a malty, tasty brown ale.

HOOTER said:

Your gravity should be right around 1.060. Either your reading was inaccurate or you ended up with less than 5 gallons. Should be a bit light on IBU's but looks like a malty, tasty brown ale.

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This was my thought also. Were you doing a full or partial boil? Did you pull the sample before topoff? My guess is you got something closer to a 4-gallon batch.