Insanely overshot my target gravity...

[Tidwellc]

Had my first brew day this weekend after not brewing for a good number of years. Was doing all-grain before but I no longer have the equipment nor the space, so I'm easing back in with a few extract batches before going back to partial-mash.

In any case, I found a La Fin du Monde clone extract recipe online and I'd never made an abbey ale before so I gave it a try:

Fermentables:
9.15lbs Pilsen LME
1lb Belgian Candi Sugar - clear
1lb Cane Sugar

Steeping:
0.0125lbs Aromatic
0.25lbs Honey Malt
0.1875lbs Munich

Northern Brewer, Styrian Goldings, Hersbrucker, and Saaz
Some orange peel and coriander

White Labs WLP530

Plugged it all into the recipe calculator on Brewer's Friend, said my target OG would be 1.086.

Brew day went well, 3 gallon boil on the stovetop, topped off to 5 gallons in the fermenter, mixed well, and took a gravity reading....
...1.123!!! w/ temperature correction.
I really can't figure out where I went wrong. Ideally, the beer should be fine, I seriously doubt I'll reach my target FG, and it may be overly sweet, but..

Any ideas on how this could happen? I may be rusty, but damn.

---Update---

I made the decision to dump it, as I underpitched the hell out of it anyway, and I was planning on letting it sit long-term in secondary (I'd rather start over and do it right if I'm gonna wait 4 months for it). Before I did, I got out my paddle and whipped the s*** out of it to get it real good and mixed. Took a hydrometer reading, and it was right on the friggin' money. 1.085... I guess I didn't mix it as well as I thought I did when I dumped into the fermenter.
I used to consider myself a decent brewer, but I guess I'm rustier than I thought after 4 years. Feeling more confident now and taking another crack at it this weekend or next. Thanks everyone for the advice!

 

[shoengine]

edit: Ugh, first I read DME, when you clearly wrote LME. Too early for reading comprehension!

Extract should just math. Somewhere a number is incorrect, either due to measurement or some other factor.

 

[Tidwellc]

edit: Ugh, first I read DME, when you clearly wrote LME. Too early for reading comprehension!

Extract should just math. Somewhere a number is incorrect, either due to measurement or some other factor.

It also happens to be the first time I've ever used LME, only ever used DME in the past. The only thing I can think of is the two additional pounds of sugar (belgian candi and cane), although the calculator should have captured those, and the target OG it gave me was very close to what the original recipe said as well...

 

[jdauria]

How did you take your reading, with a hydrometer? Was the wort adjusted to room temp before taking reading? If not you need to use a hydrometer calculator to adjust for temperature since most hydrometers are calibrated for either 60F or 68F readings.

Are you sure you water was as well mixed as you though it was? It's pretty much impossible to pull that much extra more gravity points from LME and sugar than what recipe calculators predict. So it's pretty much either your hydrometer reading was wrong, or you pulled a strong portion of unmixed wort.

Just an FYI, even at 1.086 that you expected, one pack of yeast would not be enough. For a 1.086 beer you would need 294 billion cells (using Brewers Friend yeast calculator), so even if the yeast was freshly packaged on your brew day (it wasn't), you would only have around 100B cells. You would need 3 packs for that beer or one pack with a starter. So even at 1.086, the yeast will struggle to ferment the beer out completely, let alone if it were really at 1.123.

 

[jdauria]

Follow up - Looking in to your issue more...so your 3 gallon boil, with the grain bill, should have had a 1.143 gravity after the boil. Then 2 gallons of water would dilute that down to the expected 1.086. So did you start with 3 gallons of water before the boil, or did you finish the boil with three gallons? If you started with 3, than could be part of the issue.

 

[ProblemChild]

just figuring -
9.15 lb LME (@ 5 gal)=68 points
2 lb sugar (cane and candi) 16 points

so should be around 1.084 without steeping grains and only a few points over that, so I cannot imagine anything over 1.090.

Too much of something was added or the mixing was not done well enough.

 

[Tidwellc]

Follow up - Looking in to your issue more...so your 3 gallon boil, with the grain bill, should have had a 1.143 gravity after the boil. Then 2 gallons of water would dilute that down to the expected 1.086. So did you start with 3 gallons of water before the boil, or did you finish the boil with three gallons? If you started with 3, than could be part of the issue.

I started with 3 gallons in the kettle. After adding in the LME, it was probably closer to around 4 gallons during the boil. I don't know how much was left after the boil, but it was probably back down to around 3 gallons, and then topped up to 5.

 

[ncbrewer]

Sometimes the paper scale in the hydrometer can slip and give a really bad reading.

 

[davidabcd]

In any case, I found a La Fin du Monde clone extract recipe online and I'd never made an abbey ale before so I gave it a try:

Fermentables:
9.15lbs Pilsen LME
1lb Belgian Candi Sugar - clear
1lb Cane Sugar

Steeping:
0.0125lbs Aromatic
0.25lbs Honey Malt
0.1875lbs Munich

Northern Brewer, Styrian Goldings, Hersbrucker, and Saaz
Some orange peel and coriander

White Labs WLP530

Plugged it all into the recipe calculator on Brewer's Friend, said my target OG would be 1.086.

Brew day went well, 3 gallon boil on the stovetop, topped off to 5 gallons in the fermenter, mixed well, and took a gravity reading....
...1.123!!! w/ temperature correction.
I really can't figure out where I went wrong. Ideally, the beer should be fine, I seriously doubt I'll reach my target FG, and it may be overly sweet, but..

Any ideas on how this could happen? I may be rusty, but damn.

---Update---

I made the decision to dump it, as I underpitched the hell out of it anyway, and I was planning on letting it sit long-term in secondary (I'd rather start over and do it right if I'm gonna wait 4 months for it). Before I did, I got out my paddle and whipped the s*** out of it to get it real good and mixed. Took a hydrometer reading, and it was right on the friggin' money. 1.085... I guess I didn't mix it as well as I thought I did when I dumped into the fermenter.
I used to consider myself a decent brewer, but I guess I'm rustier than I thought after 4 years. Feeling more confident now and taking another crack at it this weekend or next. Thanks everyone for the advice!

Don't get too down about it!
After you got the 1.085 reading, the one you wanted, what was it exactly that kept you from saving it? I saw the bit about underpitching but I may have missed exactly what the definite reason was.
Good luck though.

 

[Tidwellc]

Don't get too down about it!
After you got the 1.085 reading, the one you wanted, what was it exactly that kept you from saving it? I saw the bit about underpitching but I may have missed exactly what the definite reason was.
Good luck though.

Well, I didn't use a sanitized paddle or sample thief when I checked it again, so I'm sure it was contaminated. Plus, it was underpitched with yeast that was manufactured in April.. I just didn't want to wait 4 months for a beer that wasn't going to be as good as it should have been. It's been 4 years since I've brewed any beer, but actually far longer since I've done an extract. For my first brew in so long, I really should have picked a less ambitious recipe, and not a style I'd never done before.
In any case, I didn't lose any sleep over it. Went ahead and picked up a stir plate and some more yeast and gonna hit it again next weekend. I'm feeling good about this round

 

[davidabcd]

Thank you for the info. I'm glad you didn't lose sleep and are going right back at it.
By the way! I love La Fin Du Monde, the Tripel. I just saw a wheat La Fin Du Monde, also 9% ABV, at store outside of downtown Detroit. I had a choice between the two, stood there about five minutes, but couldn't pull the trigger on the wheat one though I'm sure it's good.
I had never heard of La Fin Du Monde until, I don't know, about a month or two ago (guy at Trader Joe's pointed it out)? Now, I'm seeing or hearing about it everywhere.
Needless to say, I was paying close attention to that recipe you posted.
Happy brewing!

 

[Sailingeric]

I screwed one up a couple months ago doing all grain. I did my math wrong and ended up using way too much sparge water and ended up with a 3.5% beer instead of a 6%. It has been sitting in a keg for a couple months waiting for a spot to open up in my keezer so I am not sure how it came out. I highly suspect I will be pouring it out but who knows, it might be a dang yummy light beer.

 

[Tidwellc]

Thank you for the info. I'm glad you didn't lose sleep and are going right back at it.
By the way! I love La Fin Du Monde, the Tripel. I just saw a wheat La Fin Du Monde, also 9% ABV, at store outside of downtown Detroit. I had a choice between the two, stood there about five minutes, but couldn't pull the trigger on the wheat one though I'm sure it's good.
I had never heard of La Fin Du Monde until, I don't know, about a month or two ago (guy at Trader Joe's pointed it out)? Now, I'm seeing or hearing about it everywhere.
Needless to say, I was paying close attention to that recipe you posted.
Happy brewing!

You know I haven't actually had any La Fin Du Monde in at least 4 or 5 years now, but I remember it being one of the best beers I've ever tasted. I was looking for a decent trappist-style recipe to try for the first time and came across that clone. Not sure about the finished product yet, but the hydrometer sample I tasted from the first attempt was REAL promising! I didn't even know they made a wheat version, I'm gonna have to pick up a bottle.

 

[Tidwellc]

I screwed one up a couple months ago doing all grain. I did my math wrong and ended up using way too much sparge water and ended up with a 3.5% beer instead of a 6%. It has been sitting in a keg for a couple months waiting for a spot to open up in my keezer so I am not sure how it came out. I highly suspect I will be pouring it out but who knows, it might be a dang yummy light beer.

Yeah, if I had more carboys around and had the rotation space for it, and if it was not for a slightly special occasion and I wasn't planning on letting it age until Feb., I might not have dumped it. Good luck with yours! I say if you've got the room for it and it's not holding up any future brews, give it a chance!

 

[davidabcd]

You know I haven't actually had any La Fin Du Monde in at least 4 or 5 years now, but I remember it being one of the best beers I've ever tasted. I was looking for a decent trappist-style recipe to try for the first time and came across that clone. Not sure about the finished product yet, but the hydrometer sample I tasted from the first attempt was REAL promising! I didn't even know they made a wheat version, I'm gonna have to pick up a bottle.

Sounds like you have a winner.
Yeah, the wheat one has a brown label. I couldn't find it or didn't recognize it on their website but it was 9%, probably had "wheat" or "wit". I think I'll get one next time--or both.
Final Absolution, another Tripel, is quite good--just learned about that one also.
I've made the Westmalle Trappist Ale clone three or four times now and I love it and so does everyone else. I'm glad I brewed the clone before trying the real thing because I didn't like it and wouldn't have even considered trying to brew a clone of it.
I got the recipe for the Westmalle Trappist from Brew Your Own 250 Clones. It was only $10 when I bought it. I just Googled it and I saw it for $5.
I seem to be less of an experimenter than a lot of the people here so just following a recipe is right up my alley.
Maybe you could post how that La Fin Du Monde clone turns out?

 

[Tidwellc]

Maybe you could post how that La Fin Du Monde clone turns out?

Will do!