Bottle or wait? Do I need to prime still?

[snarf7]

For the full story, see my previous thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/so-i-accidentally-doubled-my-dme.658810/

But long story short I almost doubled my DME in my Irish red due to a conversion error. Now I have an extra strong, slightly sweet ale that's been fermenting two weeks. The FG is about where it should be according to the software. I was going to measure again tomorrow and see if it was stable. Assuming it is I would say it's ready to bottle, but given my screwup do I need to handle the priming process any different? And is there anything I should try to mitigate the sweetness a bit (note: it's not overly sweet, but I was shooting for something dryer). I also think the hops are near the top end for the style so I dunno that I would add any now. Any thoughts on what to do or just bottle and wait?

 

[balrog]

priming sugar calc presumes yeast is finished fermenting, that's why we measure over a few days to see if it has stopped dropping. But strong vs weak, high FG vs low FG, have no bearing on priming--you're just adding new simple sugar to get the yeast to wake up and ferment. Again, presuming it won't also be further fermenting anything still there from the primary fermentation.

As for finishing higher than wanted, I've no advice for you. I've never pitched another yeast to try to dry something out. Maybe you could make something, lesser ABV, and blend.

 

[agrazela]

One simple option that no one has yet mentioned--and this may work if you think the hoppiness truly is already on the high side--is to dilute with additional water at bottling time. Dissolve your priming sugar in a quart (or more, depending how strong you want the finished product) of water, microwave that to 180°F to pasteurize, let that cool a tad, mix into your 1 gallon of over-strong ale in the bottling bucket, then bottle.

You got some extra bottles?

 

[cmybeer]

Question I have is did you pitch enough yeast to account for doubling the DME? Since it's a bigger beer now, it might not hurt to give it at least another week to let the yeast clean up after itself a little. If you underpitched there may be some stress related off flavors going on in there that the yeasties can ca bit lean up given proper time. I always like to wait until terminal gravity is reached and then give it a week.

On another note, not sure but if you doubled the DME and greatly increased the gravity without increasing the yeast count but if so they might not have been able to finish the job properly, accounting for your overly sweet taste.

If the final gravity is where it should be though you probably don't have much to worry about in terms of bottling and you can proceed as normal on that front.

 

[carluchi]

Agreed, wait it out. Two weeks is nothing as far as fermentation time.

I also would not mess with any additional yeast or dilution. There is too much risk of making things worse.

I would just follow normal bottling process (including priming sugar) when the gravity as not changed on at least 3 separate readings spread out of a few days (or weeks).

Good luck

 

[Kharnynb]

I don't even bother bottling before 3 weeks, it's just easier and safer to do so.
let it ride out, measure twice in 3 days, then bottle with normal priming sugar.

 

[ncbrewer]

If you have twice the gravity points that were intended, it's possible that the beer has reached the alcohol tolerance of the yeast. What is the OG and FG? What yeast? If dried yeast, was it properly rehydrated? If liquid, did you make a starter?​