Adjusting Beer After Fermentation

[matman89]

Hi all,

A couple weeks ago, I attempted making the AG Lemon Lime Hefeweizen recipe, but made some mistakes along the way. When I steeped the grain, I did it at too low of a temperature. I did not sparge, and my resulting OG was a very low 1.20..I dumped that batch, and refined my technique by adopting the BIAB method. With this batch I achieved an OG of 1.46, much closer to target. However, some new challenges have surfaced:

I made almost exactly 3 gallons, and put it into my carboy of the same size. However, I forgot to account for the fact that this recipe requires me to add .875 liters of limeade after 3 days of fermentation.

As my carboy is now overflowing (pushing beer into the blow off tube) I am wondering how to best accommodate the limeade addition. The way I see it, I could either:

1. Dump a portion of the beer to make room for limeade
2. Pour one gallon into a separate 1 gallon carboy with 1/3 limeade, and pour the remaining limeade into the original carboy.

I'm tempted to try option 2 to conserve all of the beer, but my concern is that there would be too much headspace in the 3 gallon carboy. I have read that increased headspace will increase the likelihood of an infected batch.

I wanted to see if anyone could lend their wisdom. Thanks!

 

[babaganuj]

Next time, make sure you have plenty of head space for primary fermentation. You'll be fine - your beer won't be oxidized piss water. That way you won't have to clean up the blowoff and waste all that beer.

For this time, if you can keep everything sanitized, try to GENTLY pour off at least a gallon into another fermentor before adding the limeade. Remember, the fermentation will start up again because of the sugar and you'll need the additional space.. Plus the shaking will release absorbed CO2 which will cause it to foam up. I say gently because your beer is now a prime candidate for oxidation. Bottle off the smaller fermenter separately and try to see if there are any differences.

 

[Sadu]

ya, as a rule you want to only 3/4 fill your primary fermenters. So a 3 gallon fermenter will hold a 2.25 gallon batch. You need that headspace to avoid blowoffs.

I has a RIS recently that came out at 29 litres instead of 23 as per the recipe. My fermenter is 30 litres, oops. I moved some of the wort to a glass growler for a few days then mixed it back in once the main fermentation slowed down. Worked great.

 

[madscientist451]

Your option #2 would be the best, but instead of pouring the beer out, get an auto siphon and gently siphon the beer off, about 2/3 of a gallon.
Having a separate gallon fermenter gives you an opportunity to try adding a different amount of the limeade to the beer. You'll have to figure the right proportion, but you could add more or less limeade to the gallon batch and when its done see what suits your taste.

 

[babaganuj]

Your option #2 would be the best, but instead of pouring the beer out, get an auto siphon and gently siphon the beer off, about 2/3 of a gallon.
Having a separate gallon fermenter gives you an opportunity to try adding a different amount of the limeade to the beer. You'll have to figure the right proportion, but you could add more or less limeade to the gallon batch and when its done see what suits your taste.

Yes, auto siphons are what I meant by pouring off gently. Good catch!

You also make a good point about experimentation - try adding fresh lemon zest (no pith) to the smaller fermenter to see what that does. Or try dry hopping with sorachi ace or lemon drop (or something more obscure). The options are limitless!

 

[matman89]

Thanks for your feedback everyone! I'll definitely go with option #2.