A Very Overweight Blonde

[_d_]

I just brewed Jamil's Recipe in Brewing Classic Styles for Blonde Ale, and I think something is up with it..

I only have a 5 gallon pot, so I modified it to be a partial boil. He calls for 8.3 lbs LME and wants an OG of 1.050. I only boiled 3 gal, so to keep my hop utilization correct I mixed in 4 lbs of LME before the boil and the remaining 4.3 about a minute before chilling. I chilled the 3 gal poured in some sterile cool water and found out I actually had a 1.070 beer on my hands. (I had noticed a discrepancy in the recipe when I calculated my first addition to hit 1.050... but I figured "hey who I am I to question Mr Malty?")

A little discouraged, I finished up my process as follows:
1) Oxygenated for 2 min
2) pitched two fresh vials of WLP001 at about 60 degrees
3) fermented for 4 days at 68
4) fermented for 3 more days at 72. (rousing yeast daily)

At 7 days I have a FG of 1.022. I've had zero airlock activity for 2 days so I think this round is almost over... Tasting the sample the beer isn't overpoweringly sweet, but I'm still concerned I need to cut this down or it will be cloying and thick.

All I can think to do is krausen this with some active lager yeast and hope to shave a few points...

Any Ideas Guys? My kegorator is dry and I really don't want to lose this batch.

 

[bovineblitz]

Well, my first guess is that with 1min left you may not have gotten it completely mixed in. That malt extract can be tricksy, it takes a lot of stirring/motion to get it dissolved. It'd be pretty weird to have an OG be off by 1.020 using extract, so long as all your water volumes were correct so my guess is the measurements are what's off.

If it doesn't taste sweet at 7 days I think you're fine. 1.022 is slightly high but extract often finishes around 1.020 plus it might go down a point or two. In the future I wouldn't rouse the yeast during fermentation, they'll do the job without you messing with them.

I'm guessing you have a good beer on your hands and the only thing you need to do is RDWHAHB.

 

[suds_zville]

8.3 pounds of extract would put you right at 1.070. I would think your beer would finish slightly lower than you have it but not substantially so.

I think your beer will be just fine albeit with more body and alcohol than planned.

 

[BesteBrew]

Sounds like a great name for your brew. I say keep as is and call it "Very Overweight Blonde". Or maybe "Fat Ass Blonde". What about "Busty Blonde"?

 

[unionrdr]

Burly blonde? I say give it a bit more time. I've had ales take a 3rd week to go down that last point or two. Relax & let them try...

 

[_d_]

Thanks guys, I was thinking of naming it 'mo-ped ale'

 

[stratslinger]

Another thing to keep in mind, as someone just reminded me: if you're brewing from "Brewing Classic Styles", all those brews are actually formulated for a 6 gallon recipe. He figures you'll make 6 gallons, lose half a gallon when transferring to your fermenter, and another half gallon when racking from fermenter to keg or bottling bucket. So, if you brewed the exact grain-and-extract bill he listed, dumped it ALL into your fermenter, then topped off to exactly 5 gallons, I'd expect the gravity to be higher than he listed.

 

[BigTerp]

sounds like a great name for your brew. I say keep as is and call it "very overweight blonde". Or maybe "fat ass blonde". What about "busty blonde"?

this

 

[ChaosStout]

The reason is that all His recipies are 7 gallons preboil

From the Book

"All these recipes are designed to leave 6 gallons of wort in the kettle AT THE END OF BOIL. It is assumed that 5.5 gal are transfered to the fermenter and this will yeild 5 gal of beer after loss due to trub"

 

[_d_]

I don't follow. His recipe assumes the extract yields 36pg/p.
Jamil's stated OG at 6 gallons is 1.050, which is what he would get with 8.3 lbs of LME. (36*8.3/6 = 49).
Given I didn't start with 7 gallons and reduce to 6, but that should be irrelevant. I still left a percentage of my extract behind in the kettle and diluted the remaining to 5.5 gallons, so i should have very little variance in OG from the recipe.

Even if i only diluted to 5 gallons, I would still expect an OG of 1.060.

I really can't figure out how I got an OG of 1.070.... must have been the mixing i guess, but that just seems odd.

 

[_d_]

In the future I wouldn't rouse the yeast during fermentation, they'll do the job without you messing with them.

I was worried that since I ended up under-pitching at my new and improved 0G I would end up with diacetyl. I was hoping that by keeping the yeasties awake in the final phase they would help clean up their mess. That's also why I decided to bump the temperature a few degrees during the final leg of fermentation.

Am I way overthinking all this? Do you think I'll even see a benefit from all this fiddling?