I messed up. I could use some advice.

[bababooey]

I'm pretty new to brewing and this is my first time posting a question. So far I've been pretty successful brewing DME with specialty grains. Last night I decided to brew 2.5 gallons of an IPA I put together on beersmith. It was supposed to get 5 lb. of light DME (2 lb. at beginning of boil and remaining 3 lb with about 15 minutes left). For some reason that I can't explain, I accidentally used a total of 7 lb. I didn't realize this until I took my hydrometer reading. I was expecting an OG of around 1.075, but ended up with 1.120. I quickly started retracing my footsteps and realized what I've done. I'm planning on just dumping it out in the back yard but was wondering if I just added an additional 2.5 gallons of water and re-pitched the appropriate amount of yeast if I could somehow turn this into a "kind of" hoppy pale ale. Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

[fatnoah]

Do not dump. This is totally salvageable. Just add some sanitized water (Brita filtered or boiled and cooled) to the fermenter until you get your OG down. Then pitch more yeast. The worst thing that will happen is that you'll have slightly under hoped IPA or APA. But I bet it will still be great.

 

[Waynep005]

It should be good. You might want to taste it and up the dry hopping a little bit to make up for some of the hops you are missing.

 

[bababooey]

Man, I was really hoping I'd get responses like this. Do you think it'd be okay if I waited until tomorrow which would be approximately 48 hours later?

 

[guldalian]

Yeah do that. You can also throw some dry hops in after primary ferm is done. Won't add any bitterness, but at least it'll bring the hop presence back up where I'm guessing it was supposed to be.

 

[guldalian]

The yeah do that was for diluting. Do not wait if if you've already pitched.

 

[TheCollector]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but adding more DME will just boost your gravity and make a higher ABV beer. I would only be concerned about your yeast being able to finish it out completely but definitely don't dump it. It will be beer none the less.

 

[mikescooling]

If it were me, I'd keep it the way it is. Find some place to stash it for a long time and use a yeast that can handle this high of a ABV about 10%. IMHO

 

[bababooey]

This is the first time brewing has been stressful to me. I guess I kind of have 2 options. Either add more water to get a lower OG with a much lower IBU, or leave it and repitch yeast that will handle the high gravity. I guess I'll drink a couple of my homebrews that actually worked and make a drunken decision. Thanks guys.

 

[TheCollector]

Leave it be add stronger yeast and your next hard homebrew decision will be even more drunken LOL!

 

[Chattan]

Don't dump!

 

[TANSTAAFB]

RDWHAHB!!!

I would split the difference. Right now you have a very strong barleywine/ double IPA strength brew so folks are right that you should be concerned about pitching enough healthy yeast of an alcohol tolerant strain. But if you dilute too much you will have an unbalanced overly malty beer. So try diluting it to 3.5 or 4 gallons. Can you post your recipe with as accurate and complete info as you have, especially hops w/ alpha acid content? With dry hopping (you might want to do it a couple times) you can get a good, balanced pale ale. Worst case scenario, you could reboil with more hops, chill, aerate the hell out of it, and pitch fresh yeast. You're beer is fine but make a decision pretty quick and go with it...you still made beer!

 

[bababooey]

Here is the original recipe I was going off of.

Type: Extract
Date: 1/21/2013
Batch Size (fermenter): 3.00 gal
Brewer:
Boil Size: 2.75 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Pot (3 Gallon Boil)
End of Boil Volume 2.25 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 2.50 gal Est Mash Efficiency 0.0 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 1 7.7 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 7.7 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.7 %

5 lbs Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 4 76.9 %

0.75 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 42.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 45.0 min Hop 6 28.3 IBUs
0.55 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 18.6 IBUs
0.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 27.0 mins) Fining 8 -
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 6.0 IBUs
0.30 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min Hop 10 0.6 IBUs
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast 11 -
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 14.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 14.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.075 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.120 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.8 %
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 14.8 %
Bitterness: 96.3 IBUs
Calories: 424.8 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 8.2 SRM
Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out Total Grain Weight: 6 lbs 8.0 oz
Sparge Water: 0.83 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.20


Sparge Step: Remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Bottle Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Pressure/Weight: 1.79 oz Carbonation Used: Bottle with 1.79 oz Table Sugar
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 70.0 F Age for: 30.00 days
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Storage Temperature: 65.0 F

 

[TANSTAAFB]

OK. I plugged your numbers into Beersmith and if your hops were close to the preset alpha acid content (check that if possible...AA can vary greatly) you would have about a 66 IBU and 1063 OG even if you diluted to 5 gal. That is a bitterness ratio of about 1...perfectly good IPA and a hoppy APA. Just dilute with a couple gallons over water. It would be good if you could aerate. Oxygen is ideal, aquarium pump and diffusion stone next, shake the **** out of it if those aren't options! How much yeast did you initially pitch?

 

[bababooey]

Thanks TANSTAAFB. I initially pitched 1 packet of rehydrated US-05. I'm going to grab 2 additional packs today, top off my wort to 5 gallons, aerate as much as possible, and re-pitch. If this works, I shall call it "Resurrection Pale Ale". I'll post back with results.

 

[SteveM]

Yeah, and if anyone asks, tell them you brewed a batch of Imperial IPA.

Our job as brewers is to set up conditions for the yeast to do their thing. That's it. Just keep that in mind as you brew. They do the heavy lifting. It sounds like nothing you've done so far will bother them in the least, whether you add more water or not.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

No problem! Folks on this forum helped me out when I got started...hell, they still help me out. Always someone with more (or different) experience. One pack of US-05 would normally be fine for a normal strength beer. If you leave it as a big ass beer then pitch another pack. If you are diluting you should be fine with what you have but it won't hurt to toss another in. No need to use two more right now. Just make sure everything you do from here on is uber sanitary and good luck! Gotta let us know how this turns out.

 

[andy6026]

"Your beer is ruined. Best give it to me for proper disposal."

I don't know originally said that but it still makes me chuckle.

 

[bababooey]

Well I just re-pitched the yeast. I dumped the wort into a new (sanitized) bucket and topped it up to about 5.25 gallons with 66 deg. purified water, aerated as much as I possibly could, and re-pitched 2 packets of rehydrated US-05. Right now she's bubblin' away so I'll continue to watch and post when everything's done. Thanks again.

 

[climateboy]

Dumping is almost never the answer.

 

[bababooey]

So far so good.