Add water/DME to my AG batch fermentor

[jojacques]

Hi there,

So, I was brewing a DIPA and had a double fail...
1- When transferring from my boil kettle to the Fermenter, I forgot to close my BrewBucket's bottom valve and ended up losing half my batch down the garage's drain. ARG!!!

2- 55% Brewhouse efficiency ouch. (I was aiming for 64%, for an expected OG of 1.077) So now my 8.5% DIPA will probably end up around 7%... not much a DIPA anymore!

So, 3 Gallons of 7% DIPA....... I would like to add Water and Dextrose (or DME?) to bump up my OG and my volume:
-Any recommendation DME Vs Dextrose?
-Any calculators to calculate with my new gravity after all this (how much wort, at what gravity)

P.S I know my SRM (which is currently at 11) and IBU (which is currently at 109) will be reduced, and I am fine with that.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

no reason you can't do what you suggest, but you'll be diluting your hops unless you hop your DME wort. it depends on the volumes your talking about. I sometimes do this to add a half gallon to a batch to get up to 5.25 in the carboy so I end up with a full keg, but if your doing this by adding 2 gallons to a 3 gallon DIPA you're going to significantly dilute your nice DIPA.

 

[IslandLizard]

You had 2 things going wrong: loss of gravity (low efficiency) and loss of wort (spill).

To make up for your lost gravity, you should add DME (malt extract). Now many DIPA recipes include some sugar to increase alcohol while keeping FG and body lower (sugar ferments out 100%). If your original recipe included sugar already, I wouldn't add more.

Compensating for lost wort by adding more wort (derived from DME and some sugar if your original included it) will "dilute" the flavor from specialty malts and your hopping efforts, giving you lower bittering, flavor, and aroma. The last 2 can be corrected mostly with dry hopping, but the loss of bitterness is irretrievable that way. Losing 50% of IBUs puts that in the Pale Ale category, there may not be enough bitterness left to balance the malt and hop profile.

Why not let the volume be or add maybe only 1 gallon worth (33%) at the most.

 

[jojacques]

^^ Thanks fellas, I'm glad to hear this as it was exactly what I had in mind:

-I will be adding 2pounds od light DME (roughly same SRM as my wort) in 1 gallon on water. OG of this wort will be 1.084, which should bump up a bit my alcohol % (1.067 in original wort)

-I wanted to boil my water with a bit of bittering hops (centennial, to match the original recipe). 0.5oz for 40minutes will give me a wort with 62 IBU (109 IBU in original wort).


So by doing that, yes I will be diluting, but will compensate a bit with a bitter wort. Does that makes sense?

Also, how can I know the final IBU, SRM and O.G of the mixed wort?

 

[jojacques]

And yes, I added 9.6oz Dextrose at the end of boil to get a dry beer.

 

[NSMikeD]

^^ Thanks fellas, I'm glad to hear this as it was exactly what I had in mind:

-I will be adding 2pounds od light DME (roughly same SRM as my wort) in 1 gallon on water. OG of this wort will be 1.084, which should bump up a bit my alcohol % (1.067 in original wort)

-I wanted to boil my water with a bit of bittering hops (centennial, to match the original recipe). 0.5oz for 40minutes will give me a wort with 62 IBU (109 IBU in original wort).


So by doing that, yes I will be diluting, but will compensate a bit with a bitter wort. Does that makes sense?

Also, how can I know the final IBU, SRM and O.G of the mixed wort?

Quality v Quantity

It's up to you and which you value more. If it's quantity go for it. If it's quality, then use DME to bring up the ABV and forget about what you spilled. This may be the smarter route since it will give you better insight into any tweaks you want to use in your next DIPA batch.