Coopers Ashes Ale Brew - Forgot Dry malt

[Smeato]

Hi there, yesterday I brewed the Coopers Ashes Ale that has the following recipe:

1 .7kg Australian Pale Ale
1kg Coopers Light Dry Malt (2x 500g)
25g East Kent Goldings Hop Pellets
50g Bramling Cross Hops (2x 25g)
11g Nottingham Yeast (or english ale yeast of your choice)
200g Crystal Malt Grains (optional)

Now I made a bit of an arse of it by using only 500g of Light Dry Malt instead of the recipe 1kg. I picked up one box instead of two, I just wasn't paying attention.

I checked the OG and got a reading of 1.030. That was what clicked me on to my mistake when I double checked the recipe as I was expecting somewhere over 1.040. However I swirled my FV around a little and took two more readings which were 1.035 and 1.032 which leads me to believe the brew isn't mixed correctly anyway leaving my gravity reading worthless.

(I also calibrated my hydrometer before anyone asked: it's absolutely fine)

So my main question is; has the missing Dry Malt reduced my gravity or is my clumpy solution giving false readings? And what effect will this lack of ingrediants have on the taste and mouthfeel of my beer.

Thanks a lot. Other than that I'm not actually that worried. It's foaming away nicely with a solid krausen and has a cracking golden colour. I can deal with a lower abv beer.

 

[unionrdr]

Besides lower ABV it will have a bit less flavor & mouthfeel. The DME clumps up in the kettle & has to be stirred till completely dissolved.

 

[2drunk2]

My first attempt at all grain got poor conversion, and I ended up with a similar gravity reading. You'll end up with a very light beer, that's great for drinking ALL DAY LONG.

 

[Smeato]

I take it adding another box of DME would be out of the question?

 

[unionrdr]

You could. I've never had to do that though, so I can't speak for infections or not. It depends on the conditions where it was packaged.

 

[Smeato]

I think I might just go for it. It's the coopers stuff that comes sealed in a plastic bag. Anyone else got opinions?

 

[2drunk2]

It might be easier to add LME. Just a thought.

 

[unionrdr]

I've read on here that some folks avoid clumping of DME by dissolving it in cold water first. So dissolving it in cool wort should be OK, as long as it was kept sealed up to the point you stir it in.

 

[Smeato]

So I went for it. Poured it in slowly and evenly while stirring it with my large sanitised spoon(TM). Assuming I didn't open it up to infection, I reckon this should be fine! It may only be my 3rd batch but if there's one thing I've learned is you can **** up a lot of things and still end up with beer at the end.

 

[2drunk2]

True!