I'm running into a new situation and would like some advice. First, a bit of background: I've brewed a couple of 5 gallon ultra-hoppy all-extract beers and have been fairly happy with them, but my love of hops doesn't always agree with my friends' tastes. I saw a brand new Mr. Beer kit w/ additional recipe packs all for $20 and thought it would be a good way to do some small batches for other people since I don't want to tie up my big fermenters for stuff I won't drink as often.
One of the recipe packs was the Mr Beer "whispering wheat," which I thought would be a good change from my earlier recipes. I tend to like bigger beers so I stopped by the homebrew shop and got some extra ingredients. All in all, this is what I ended up putting in:
Now my issue: according to beersmith, this should have given a starting gravity of ~1.069, which I know is a bit high but I didn't mind. My actual measurement came out to 1.085! Eight days (and lots of overflowing krausen) later, the gravity reading is at 1.016 (these are temp. corrected), giving an ABV of 9% which is quite high for the style. I see a few options here and would like any suggestions or advice:
I tasted the sample I took for the gravity reading and it seemed fine, but a bit heavy. Will this turn out to be a "drinkable" beer for my buddies after carbonation if left as is, or should I try one of the other options?
One of the recipe packs was the Mr Beer "whispering wheat," which I thought would be a good change from my earlier recipes. I tend to like bigger beers so I stopped by the homebrew shop and got some extra ingredients. All in all, this is what I ended up putting in:
- 19.4oz can of hopped malt extract "whispering wheat" from mr beer kit.
- 2.5# of unhopped wheat extract (liquid)
- 1oz of argentine cascades (1/3 oz at 60, 30, and 0 min, wanted something on the milder side)
- 0.25# of Mr Beer "Booster" (mostly dextrose)
- boiled in about 1.25 gallons, filled up to 2.1 gallons after yeast pitched.
Now my issue: according to beersmith, this should have given a starting gravity of ~1.069, which I know is a bit high but I didn't mind. My actual measurement came out to 1.085! Eight days (and lots of overflowing krausen) later, the gravity reading is at 1.016 (these are temp. corrected), giving an ABV of 9% which is quite high for the style. I see a few options here and would like any suggestions or advice:
- Leave things as is, prime and bottle for a really heavy beer.
- Dilute with some extra water, prime then bottle. How much would be appropriate?
- Dilute to 5 gallons, prime and place in corny keg to carbonate (and then hope the rest of my keg setup arrives soon so I can enjoy it).
I tasted the sample I took for the gravity reading and it seemed fine, but a bit heavy. Will this turn out to be a "drinkable" beer for my buddies after carbonation if left as is, or should I try one of the other options?