Adding dextrose to kit after fermentation's begun

lemongrabs · Feb 27, 2016

Hey guys, I'm brand new to brewing and have screwed up just a bit on my first kit.

I don't know why I bothered with a hydrometer reading seeing as I was completely unaware of their significance but I measured the OG of my brew at 1030, I'm being told now that if even if I get it below 1010, I'm gonna end up with a 2.5% brew, which just won't do. I know I'll be told to leave it and just see through, but like I said, that just won't do. I'm just hearing this three days in, the beer's down to a gravity of 1018, and I'm considering adding some more dextrose to up the ABV. Thoughts?

EDIT: I should not that there are little bubbles, but the beer has not churned, nor has any krausen formed. I know that there won't be a lot of krausen starting with such a low gravity but is this ok?

meatcleaver · Feb 27, 2016

was this an extract kit?

meatcleaver · Feb 27, 2016

the reason I ask is that missing your og is dang near impossible with extract. a very common issue is wort stratification... your top off water doesn't mix thoroughly with your high gravity wort & it throws off your hydrometer reading.

lemongrabs · Feb 28, 2016

You know what, you could be super right. Does 1018 sound about right after three days?

CJ-3 · Feb 28, 2016

1018 is possible after 3 days, yes.
According to your kit directions what should your OG have been?

lemongrabs · Feb 28, 2016

I swapped out the lager that came with the kit for a pale ale, for which no reccomended OG was mentioned in the instructions

brewshki · Feb 28, 2016

You could add some sugar to water, boil it for 15 minutes, cool it down and add it. People do it a lot of bigger Belgian beers, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't do it here.

CA_Mouse · Feb 28, 2016

It sounds like you took a reading before making sure that your wort was fully stirred. I would venture a guess that your wort was probably closer to 1.040 - 1.050.

lemongrabs · Feb 29, 2016

I used the amount of dextrose the kit alotted me for the lager with the pale ale. Would that have lowered my OG? I have added about ab pound more of dextrose , dissolved in boiled 2ater and then cool. This raised the gravity by 14 points