Was tying to make a basic lager with this recipe: https://www.morebeer.com/products/amber-lager-grain-beer-brewing-kit-5-gallons.html
I buy 50lb bags of two-row grain and then the rest of the ingredients individually for a five gallon batch. When measuring out the specified 9 pounds of two-row my scale must of crapped out or I misread it. I first noticed something was off when my mill hopper level was almost to the top. When I mashed in with 3.5 gallons the mash was as thick as oatmeal. I added another gallon for 4.5 to the mash and the consistency looked about right. I then backed in to estimating that I had about 15 pounds of two-row with one pound of Crystal 40L. I heated up an additional two gallons of sparge water. I also upped my 60 min hops from 0.5 oz of Magnum to a full 2 oz of Magnum. My original target original gravity was 1.049 as my system with this size grain bill runs around 88% brew-house efficiency. With the extra two row I hit 1.094 for my original gravity. I had made a two L yeast starter of Wyeast Bohemian Lager and pitched it at 65f and then waited about 5 hours and saw a few bubbles in the air lock and then dropped the fermenter down to 56F and the bubbler is now going slow but steady after about 24 hours.
I have made many ales and barley wines with an original gravity in the 1.095 range and had them finish out around 1.018 or so for around a 9.6 apv. I often pitch champagne yeast near the end of fermentation with these and then bump up temp a little to get them to finish more cleanly. I have never heard of a high gravity lager but that is what I have accidentally started.
Few options here I can think of but would love some advice:
1. Keep it like it is and hope for the best - Run my typical temp schedule for a lager and if it stalls out bump the temp a little. The Wyeast Bohemian Lager yeast is listed as having a 9% apv tolerance and a temp range of 45F - 68F. With my 1.094 OG if I have a FG of 1.018 that will work out to a apv of 10. Perhaps once the lager yeast dies off I could bring the temp up and pitch a champagne yeast?
2. Try to convert it to an ale - Make a new ale starter, maybe WLP001 and bring the temp up to 68F. Hope the Wyeast Bohemian Lager that is already in there goes somewhat dormant and I end up with a decent high gravity amber ale.
3. Thin the batch - I could split the wort into two fermenters and then add OR water to bring the gravity to around the 1.05 mark. The hop profile would also be split also but I added extra hops at the start.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
I buy 50lb bags of two-row grain and then the rest of the ingredients individually for a five gallon batch. When measuring out the specified 9 pounds of two-row my scale must of crapped out or I misread it. I first noticed something was off when my mill hopper level was almost to the top. When I mashed in with 3.5 gallons the mash was as thick as oatmeal. I added another gallon for 4.5 to the mash and the consistency looked about right. I then backed in to estimating that I had about 15 pounds of two-row with one pound of Crystal 40L. I heated up an additional two gallons of sparge water. I also upped my 60 min hops from 0.5 oz of Magnum to a full 2 oz of Magnum. My original target original gravity was 1.049 as my system with this size grain bill runs around 88% brew-house efficiency. With the extra two row I hit 1.094 for my original gravity. I had made a two L yeast starter of Wyeast Bohemian Lager and pitched it at 65f and then waited about 5 hours and saw a few bubbles in the air lock and then dropped the fermenter down to 56F and the bubbler is now going slow but steady after about 24 hours.
I have made many ales and barley wines with an original gravity in the 1.095 range and had them finish out around 1.018 or so for around a 9.6 apv. I often pitch champagne yeast near the end of fermentation with these and then bump up temp a little to get them to finish more cleanly. I have never heard of a high gravity lager but that is what I have accidentally started.
Few options here I can think of but would love some advice:
1. Keep it like it is and hope for the best - Run my typical temp schedule for a lager and if it stalls out bump the temp a little. The Wyeast Bohemian Lager yeast is listed as having a 9% apv tolerance and a temp range of 45F - 68F. With my 1.094 OG if I have a FG of 1.018 that will work out to a apv of 10. Perhaps once the lager yeast dies off I could bring the temp up and pitch a champagne yeast?
2. Try to convert it to an ale - Make a new ale starter, maybe WLP001 and bring the temp up to 68F. Hope the Wyeast Bohemian Lager that is already in there goes somewhat dormant and I end up with a decent high gravity amber ale.
3. Thin the batch - I could split the wort into two fermenters and then add OR water to bring the gravity to around the 1.05 mark. The hop profile would also be split also but I added extra hops at the start.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
