carbing w/ DME to add body?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

domdom

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2012
Messages
257
Reaction score
15
Location
St. Louis
i have a belgian tripel that fermented down to 1.002, which is lower than i wanted. I was thinking about bottle carbing with DME to see if that would add any body/sweetness to the beer. i know it probably won't be much but even an increase of 1-2 points would be nice. curious if anyone else had ever tried this with a peer that fermented too dry.
 
Lactose? It's unfermentable and will increase SG along with body and a touch of sweetness. Could be tricky to introduce and incorporate at this stage, though.

A light DME will just ferment out, exacerbating your situation. You'd need a dark DME - which would be inappropriate in a tripel.

Then again, do nothing, as tripel is supposed to be very dry. It will mellow with time.
 
Use some maltodextrin with whatever you use to prime if you really want to bring the SG up. I say drink it and try again.
 
Yeah, I routinely prime with DME, and it really doesn't have much effect on the body. You are only adding about 1 gp per 0.5 vol CO2, so you would add about 4 gp (0.004) to target a carbonation level of 3.0 vol CO2. It's really not going to increase the final, post-carb gravity at all. I do this for my saisons, and they remain very dry.

Maltodextrin is a way to do it, but I'd also say chalk it up to experience, and try, try again with tweaks to mash procedures to increase FG.
 
thanks for the input. it ends up staying dry, i'm fine with that. i'll probrobably give DME a try anyways this time around.
 
Back
Top