Alcohol by volume too low!

I was trying to make a very low alcohol beer ... a Mild. Guidelines say that the abv can be as low as 2.8%

Unfortunately, I used a yeast that I don't normally use and the ferment did not get to the FG that I had hoped for. It ended up being only 2.3% alcohol by volume (according to BrewSmith software).

The beer will most likely be consumed within 60 days of kegging (after a 3 week primary). Should I worry about the low ABV or just relax and enjoy it?

One "fix" I was thinking of was to add 8 ounces of vodka (80 proof) to the 5 gallon batch (at kegging time) which should add a half percentage to the 2.3% making it 2.8% (if my calcs are correct) but was wondering what the Vodka would do to the overall taste. Any thoughts?

Ok, first off, don't add vodka under any circumstance. Second, why does the percentage matter so much to you? if it tastes good, drink it, if not, don't. There is always next time. What yeast did you use? Recipe?

Parker36 said:

Ok, first off, don't add vodka under any circumstance. Second, why does the percentage matter so much to you? if it tastes good, drink it, if not, don't. There is always next time. What yeast did you use? Recipe?

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Thanks for the Vodka advice. I was a bit concerned about that.

The low alcohol really doesn't matter to me in the sense that I wanted a low ABV beer anyway. My concern is I thought I heard/read that if the alcohol is too low that it will not keep... that is, it will go bad quickly. It will be consumed fairly quickly (within 60 days of kegging and will be kept cold all that time) anyway so I was hoping that it would not spoil that quickly.

I normally use Safale-05 or Nottingham (and have never had problems) and this time I tried Safale-04 which I now understand doesn't ferment as fully (I shouldn't have used it with the low OG already ... live and learn ).

Thanks again for the advice.

Never.... EVER bastardize your beer w/vodka Would you put vodka in a newborn child? Didn't think so!

Have you moved it off the yeasties yet? If it's still in primary there are a few tricks to spur on further fermentation. Try gently swirling the carboy/bucket around for a min. That's helped me eek out the last few points on several occasions. You could also try slightly warming up the beer a few degrees by putting it near something that radiates heat for a little while. That can get things going again.

Otherwise if there's nothing else you can do that's a totally fine beer. You were aiming for low alcohol anyway, and that's not terribly below what you were shooting for. It will probably turn out great, although the flavor will be a bit diff than if it was dead on the FG. But whatever. Just bottle it up, wait a month, and enjoy.

One option, if it really bugs you, would be to stash it in a secondary, brew a 2nd higher ABV batch and blend.

cvstrat said:

Have you moved it off the yeasties yet? If it's still in primary there are a few tricks to spur on further fermentation. Try gently swirling the carboy/bucket around for a min. That's helped me eek out the last few points on several occasions. You could also try slightly warming up the beer a few degrees by putting it near something that radiates heat for a little while. That can get things going again.

Otherwise if there's nothing else you can do that's a totally fine beer. You were aiming for low alcohol anyway, and that's not terribly below what you were shooting for. It will probably turn out great, although the flavor will be a bit diff than if it was dead on the FG. But whatever. Just bottle it up, wait a month, and enjoy.

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Being an old time winemaker that is the first thing I did. I brought up the carboy out of my wine cellar (mid 60's) to the house (now at 75*F) and stirred up the sediment/yeast. It gave some airlock activity for a bit (probably mostly the higher temps and the expanding liwuid volume) but the FG was the same.

Considering I haven't received a response indicating that the beer will go bad really fast, I'm going to assume that I'll be okay. I just won't let it sit around for a long time. Next time I'll give it a little more OG.

Thanks for the response.

Don't add vodka. Add some Jack Daniels instead. But do it in the glass. Depth-charge style.

You have an excellent small beer that probably won't last out the summer anyway. So many homebrewers get deeply into big beers and never experience small beers. Done right, you can have a pint or two with lunch without any impairment. AKA lawnmower ales.