Newbie mistake, how can I fix?

Made the honey brown kit from northernbrewer.com, and the target gravity was 1.050-55. I ended up with a starting gravity of 1.080. (I DID add some extra DME to the boil because I am kegging[the bag that came for bottling].)

I figured... awesome! Higher alcohol content. I don't need to add more water to get closer to my target gravity. It's my beer right? I know what I'm doing.

I'm starting to think now that was a bad move. I know now about fermentables, non/fermentables and I think my end result will be a thicker beer with a big body to it. As opposed to a lighter, more drinkable one.

Is there any way to salvage at this point? Could I just add more water when I transfer over to the secondary?

Q: Why did you add DME due to kegging? How much did you add?

You sure it wasn't dextrose (corn sugar), maybe 4-4.5 oz? If so, I wouldn't worry about it, not that much in the scheme of things.

You won't know whether you need to make a change till you taste it.

I plan on kegging, not bottling, so I wouldn't need the DME that came with the kit.

I added it to the boil for a little extra kick as far as ABV goes.

I wouldn't worry about it. Some kit vendors actually sell dextrose (priming sugar/corn sugar) as an "Alcohol Boost" to up the abv of a kit.

It's fine, let it go.

Actually the reverse. Adding fully ferment able corn sugar will thin the beer out and when I've added it to the boil it gives a hot alcohol taste.

Since you did a late extract addtion, I would be willing to bet that the extract-wort and top-off water were not fully mixed, and your gravity sample had a higher concentration of extract (less water) This is pretty normal with partial boils and extracts. Let the beer go until the yeast are finished, taste it, and see what you have. Do not worry, you made beer. All will be well.

He used the included packet of priming DME in his boil. I'm not too familiar with these kits, but I can't imagine there was that much extra DME. How much extra did you add? I believe DME gives approximately 44 points per pound per gallon. If you added a half pound, for example, to a 5 gallon batch, you would have approximately 4.5 more gravity points. By no means the end of the world. I doubt you'll be able to notice a difference. But again, it depends on the amount of priming DME. From what I can tell, you probably didn't add anywhere near that amount.

DeanMachine said:

I plan on kegging, not bottling, so I wouldn't need the DME that came with the kit.

I added it to the boil for a little extra kick as far as ABV goes.

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Well 1# of DME only adds +.008 to your starting gravity -- so unless you added a crapload of it, your measurement has to be off.

Q: Did you top off with water?
Q: What was the target batch volume and what did you end up with?

Sorry after re-reading I saw that you said dme. It may not fully attenuate, which will lead to sweeter beer. You can try to add more yeast or you can add some pure sugar 2/3 of the way through fermentation. The yeast will go for the sugar but will also continue to eat the more complex dme and drive the gravity lower.

Ok now I'm confused. Was it corn sugar (priming sugar) or DME? They are different and will have different effects.

Q: Did you top off with water?
Q: What was the target batch volume and what did you end up with?

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A: I followed the recipe, it told me to top off with 2.5 gallons of water.

A: I did, I but I only had about 4.5 gallons left over. I think I boiled a bunch of water off during the boil.

Again, I know I should've topped it off with more water to bring down the O.G., but I didn't because I was drinking and my newbie brain thought: higher OG = higher ABV.

I know what should've done, is there any way to fix it now?

It was the priming sugar normally used for bottling. Don't know why I wrote DME

I'm NEW!

OK, well disregard my earlier post then. The corn sugar will thin the beer out, but you started with (I think?) a half gallon too little, so your OG would have been notably higher than the recipe calls for.

Depending on when you pitched, you might be able to add a half gallon of boiled water without introducing too much oxygen but, to be honest, I wouldn't touch it. Chalk this one up to noobiness and too much drinking during brewing and move on. You'll have beer. And in the future, because of this, you'll make better beer.

You can add more water to hit your intended OG -- you'll get more beer but it'll be lower ABV -- or you can leave it giving you less beer but higher ABV. The only real concern is how much yeast you pitched -- higher gravities require more yeast so your yeasties might be stressed a bit.

Was this all-grain or extract? Getting a proper gravity reading after adding top-off water is notoriously difficult since the sugars don't mix uniformly into the added water without a good amount of stirring or shaking.

DeanMachine said:

It was the priming sugar normally used for bottling. Don't know why I wrote DME

I'm NEW!

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Ok cool. That is fully fermentable and will thin the beer. That being said, when you add it makes a difference. Yeast will eat less complex, fully fermentable sugars first, so they may leave some malt behind. When I add sugar or corn sugar, I add it later in fermentation to ensure the yeast eat the malt then the sugar.

Think of it like feeding a child. You make them eat their dinner first and if they have room to eat, then you give them dessert.

Adding more yeast is probably a good idea to make sure the beer finishes.

Was this all-grain or extract? Getting a proper gravity reading after adding top-off water is notoriously difficult since the sugars don't mix uniformly into the added water without a good amount of stirring or shaking.

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It was an extract kit. This makes me feel better because I did shake it pretty well, but I don't know. Next time I'll take more readings before and after I add top off water.

Ok cool. That is fully fermentable and will thin the beer. That being said, when you add it makes a difference. Yeast will eat less complex, fully fermentable sugars first, so they may leave some malt behind. When I add sugar or corn sugar, I add it later in fermentation to ensure the yeast eat the malt then the sugar.

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The only real concern is how much yeast you pitched -- higher gravities require more yeast so your yeasties might be stressed a bit.

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This is actually really interesting because my yeast appeared to slow down and almost completely stopped after the first 2 days, and it never really took off like it normally would. I just chalked it up to it being a slow fermenation. I did not make a starter I just used the slap-pack that came with the kit. Maybe I should pitch some more yeast today.

You guys rule, thanks for sorting out this newb.

Yea you are fine. Extract kits are a PITA to measure properly.

I'd leave it how it is -- with the extra sugars and the missing 1/2 gallon, you'll get a slight increase in ABV, but don't expect the gravity measurement of 1.080 to be accurate so your yeasties will be fine.

Brew on!

What yeast was it? I would still add more. 1.080 and no starter = under pitched to me.

What was the temperature of wort when you measured it?

scoundrel said:

What yeast was it? I would still add more. 1.080 and no starter = under pitched to me.

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I was thinking that -- but it's an extract kit -- so it's pretty much impossible to hit 1.080, even with the extra corn sugar and the missing 1/2 gallon of water.

Playing around with hopville:

A 1.050 recipe @ 5 gal reduced to 4.5 gallons converts to 1.055 OG. Adding 1# of corn sugar only gets it up to 1.065 OG (on the fringe of double pitching). Since I assume the OP only added the 1/4# priming pack, he should still be good.

What was the temperature of wort when you measured it?

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I don't know, I got it down to 80 degrees with my wort chiller and then mixed it with cold tap water.

What yeast was it? I would still add more.

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1056 American Ale. I'm going to add some more as soon as I get it. Maybe I'll even use my super cool new starter plate!

A 1.050 recipe @ 5 gal reduced to 4.5 gallons converts to 1.055 OG. Adding 1# of corn sugar only gets it up to 1.065 OG (on the fringe of double pitching). Since I assume the OP only added the 1/4# priming pack, he should still be good

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This is awesome. You made my day.