Adding DME one week after fermentation starts?

[pugmug]

Can I add DME one week after fermentation has started in primary?

I added way too much water. Missed my OG of 1.089 and ended up with 1.052.
I'd like to boil 2 pounds of dark DME into a baltic porter with some flavor hops I missed before to get a middle ground gravity of 1.072.

Would adding too much additional sugar stress out the yeast and make them not finish?

Thanks!

 

[IslandLizard]

Extract or AG?
How did you measure the OG?

After you added top-up water there is a good chance that it didn't mix thoroughly with the wort. You've got a huge difference there, 37 points, something is off.

If you indeed have a low gravity problem (low efficiency or a mistake when adding way too much water) you could add more DME, sure.
After a week the yeast is about done with fermenting (based on OG of 1.052) and is in the conditioning phase. Adding more fermentables will coax them into fermentation again. It should work fine, but be prepared for some high activity (blow off) and possibly some off-flavors, although those are easily masked in a HG porter.

Now if you add more fermentables while your OG is actually closer to 1.089, you may end up with a stuck fermentation later, depending when the yeast craps out.

What yeast did you use?

 

[pugmug]

Thanks for the reply islandlizard!

Seems it'll be ok then.

This was my first AG BIAB and was split between two pots. I did a ton of pre calculations but ran into a ton of newb problems. I thought I was under water by the end and was topping of the kettles. My 3.5 gallon batch became a 5 gallon batch; otherwise I think the gravity would have been good.

The gravity reading of 1.052 was taken prefermenter and again 12 hours later.

I boiled pilsner malt for 90 Minutes with the lid on, so I boiled at least another 60 with the lid off. I didn't want DMS so my boil off and all of my numbers were really off by the end. That's also why I'm going to add some 15 minutes aroma hops because the ones already in there boiled into bitter hops I'm assuming.

I made a two step starter with Wl001 California ale yeast and used pure o2 for 1 minute. Fermenting at around 60F.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[IslandLizard]

Yeah, you should be fine adding that. And refreshing the hops is a great idea.
While you're at it, why not mash a new High Gravity batch (with specialty malt) instead of using dark DME? You can calculate the points you need to add to get to 1.089.

I would hesitate to oxygenate your new wort, because it will likely oxidate your beer before the yeast gets a chance to regrow. Instead, I'd rely on the yeast waking up. Mix really well which will also rouse the yeast.

Is there still yeast activity noticeable? The only thing I can think off there could be a slight risk of the yeast going into shock with the new maltose addition. If that happens and you get no activity for 2 days, you'll have to repitch some fresh yeast starter at high krausen.

Generally, in pilsner malt the DMS precursors should be boiled off in 90 minutes. That is with the lid OFF. If the lid is on, the precursors can't escape and "reflux" (condensate) back into the boil. Your subsequent 60 minutes of boil should have driven them off. That is one reason why the boil needs to be vigorous.

I don't think in a porter you could taste the difference, but if you were brewing a pilsner or any lighter beer, boiling for 2.5 hours is too long. I read something about extended boils and flavor changes.

 

[pugmug]

I might run the numbers and see what a tiny AG mash would look like, but probably will go DME. Been out of town and want to get this added as soon as i get back. It looks like the dark DME has a lot of the same ingredients i used. It would be fun to do a relaxed mash without all the overflowing mash tuns though.

I pitched a a lot of yeast so they might hang in there.

I'm hoping the strong flavors in it will mask any off-flavors too (trying to RDWHAHB). Along those lines I might take 3 gallons onto vanilla beans and lactose (maybe cocoa nibs too) in secondary. Since the recipe purity is out, i might have some fun with it. I like sweet/milk stouts so that might work but I'm not sure if that'll be too much going on. Well, I'll have a few weeks to decide.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[pugmug]

I added dark DME and 15 minute hops. I had a ton of krauesen after just a couple hours. The sample tasted tasted great. I think I get Some raisin flavor from the special b in the recipe. Whatever it is, it taste pretty good. The dark dme has some roast and black malt which my original recipe didn't have (used midnight wheat, choc malt, C60, special b, Munich), which might actually help round it out a bit.

I'm still going to rack 3 gal. on vanilla beans and cocoa nibs though, but now I have high hopes the original will come out tasting great too.