Another Coopers Problem

[AnOldUR]

I tried stealing a couple hours out of my workday to brew yesterday. I just got some new equipment and was impatient. First mistake, don’t rush your brew. It was a Coopers Heritage Lager kit that came with LME. Should have been simple.

The new fermenter I got was a 6.5 gallon glass carboy. The Coopers kit makes 6 gallons and I thought that would be too much. I did an eyeball measure and made a small batch in another fermenter. Tweaked it with some other fermentables and ended up with a 1.060 OG. Not bad. Pitched it with some of the Coopers dry yeast and moved on to the main batch. That is where my trouble started. I must have done a poor job of dividing up the mix. The OG was only 1.036 (temp corrected). Out of time, I pitched it with liquid yeast and went back to work, hoping for the best.

After work I checked the progress. The small batch was bubbling fine, but the main batch was dead. That’s when I noticed that I had set out and used the wrong yeast. It was a ale yeast instead of the lager yeast I had planned to use. This morning it has started to bubble, but I’m still worried. Here are the questions:

What do you do with the 6 gallon recipes and a fermenter made for 5 gallons?
What am I making, now that my lager has become an ale?
Is the low OG brew worth keeping?
If not, is it possible to bump up the gravity once fermentation has started?

 

[mgt2000]

Is the low OG brew worth keeping?

I wouldn't give up on it yet. If the gravity gets down to .01, I think that you'd still have roughtly 4% alcohol.

 

[AnOldUR]

Yeah. It kept me awake last night thinking about it. I had all but decided to dump it in the morning, but when I found it had started a slow ferment I let it go. Looked in on it at lunch time and it is going strong now. If the FG gets low enough it may not be too bad.

Can't help but wonder what the ale yeast (Wyeast 1335 / British Ale) will do to the taste of an Australian Lager. Any ideas?

 

[zoebisch01]

What do you do with the 6 gallon recipes and a fermenter made for 5 gallons?
What am I making, now that my lager has become an ale?
Is the low OG brew worth keeping?
If not, is it possible to bump up the gravity once fermentation has started?

Well you can play the ball where it lies, but you should add more hops if you boost the gravity.

You are probably making something akin to a Pale Ale.

Keep the OG brew for a 'light' beer type. It may surprise you.

Yes you can bump the gravity, the sooner the better. I would suggest adding some pale malt extract.


....question....are you fermenting at the lager temp? Bring the temp to around mid to high 60's if you are to get the Ale yeast going.

 

[AnOldUR]

I had it in the basement (60-63 degrees) for the lager yeast, Wyeast California Lager (works at 58-68 degrees), but moved it upstairs as soon as I realized the yeast mistake had been made. That may be the reason for the slow start.

If I were to add more LME how would that work? Take out the bung, pour in the extract and stir it up? Should the LME be boiled?

When it was moving slow this morning I was considering doing this, but now with the ferment in full swing I'm leaning toward leaving it alone. May be dry hop it in the secondary. A light pale ale may come in handy this summer.