Messed up during brewing. What is going to happen to my beer?

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harrybaules

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Last night I brewed River City ESB from North American Clone Recipe book. I stupidly neglected to see that there was an alternate method to brewing all grain which is what I was doing. So I ended up using the wrong quantities in strike water and sparge water. I ended up using the amounts given for part grain, part extract.

I cannot find a link to the recipe but I will list the quantities.
Recipe called for strike water 3 gallons ( I used 1-3/4 gallons)
Recipe called for 3-3/4 gallon sparge (I used 2-1/2 gallons).

The whole time it just didn't seem like enough water but I NEVER SAW the side of the page where it listed the quantities for all grain. Needless to say my OG came out to around 10.35 instead of 10.52. That's what I realized what I had done. I was so upset that I did not record the exact OG. I just know it was close to 10.35. I pitched the yeast anyway. What kind of results can I expect? If you need more info on the recipe let me know.

P.S. During the end of the boil the recipe called for adding enough water to bring the total to 5-1/4 gallons, and I did that. So I did end up with 5 gallons in my fermenter. 5 gallons of weak stuff I'm afraid. This is only my 3rd brew.
 
i wouldnt worry about it too much... you'll end up with a lower abv but who cares about that anyways? it may be a tad bit on the watery side but it should still definitely be drinkable. let it ferment out and drink the sh*t out of it, dont worry a ton...

took me a long time to not care as much, but it certainly makes it better. i strive to be on point on all of my temps and volumes and gravities but its not always possible. i was 10 points low on an ipa clone i made and it still turned out amazing!
 
It will be low abv and maybe a little watered down.

it will be drinkable tho.

I guess if you really wanted, you could boil a pound of DME in a quart or so of water and dump it in. add a little of the same hops to it then you do. will bring up the abv and add a little more flavor. That's if you really just want to mess with it.
 
bob1006 said:
It will be low abv and maybe a little watered down.

it will be drinkable tho.

I guess if you really wanted, you could boil a pound of DME in a quart or so of water and dump it in. add a little of the same hops to it then you do. will bring up the abv and add a little more flavor. That's if you really just want to mess with it.

+1. I have done this in the past with good results.
 
Look on the bright side like. As others have said, you still made beer and even though a bit low on the ABV side it will still be good. Might turn out to be a great lawnmower beer on hot summer days! You learned a few lessons as well along the way. BTW the decimal point in the gravity reading should be moved to the left one digit. ie 1.035 1.052
 
Hey thanks everyone for the fast replies. I'm very glad to hear that my beer will be drinkable. I don't mind at all that it may be a bit low in the abv side. Who knows? Like Dan said, it may turn out to be a great thirst quencher.

bob, thanks for the tip. I'll keep it in mind if I ever run into an issue like this again. It's already been a day and I really dont' want to mess with this batch at this point. Thanks ayway.

I'll post results in a few weeks.
 
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