I need help Please!!

[SmokeyDog]

So I was brewing a session Lager... I was aiming for 1.040 OG... turns out I had only 1.031... What should I do?? caould I add honey in about a week or two after fermentation? ( I kinda have a feeling, I'm gonna be told just to dump it..)

 

[kosmokramer]

why would you dump it? im pretty new but as far as i know there are very few reasons for dumping a batch. A low og def not being one of them.

 

[Brewham]

Add fermantables of some kind and you will be fine. The sooner you add them the better as your yeast will be healthy and active.

 

[pd230soi]

Leave it alone, please.

It will be fine and drinkable.

Really, back away from the beer!

 

[TopherM]

Sounds like you added too much water somewhere along the line.

Yeah, I don't think you wanna artificially inflate the ABV if you ended up with a low OG on a lager. The lager might not have enough body to cover the alcohol burn.

Just finish it out as is. It will still make beer, and in the general proportions the recipe intended.

 

[PT Ray]

I'd have to go with leave it alone. What was the recipe and do you know what went wrong?

 

[DosGatosBrewing]

My $.02 - leave it alone, and enjoy a couple more during each session.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Leave this one alone. It will be fine.

For the future, do some research on calculating gravity units of wort, and have some light DME / distilled water on hand to increase or decrease your GU's to hit your target.

 

[BaddogBrewing]

Just let it ferment. Did you do temperature correction for hydro? I know i still have a hard time reading one. It will be fine.

 

[rycov]

yeah. no reason to dump. you're just making a session beer. wait till its done then pound those suckers!

 

[SwampassJ]

So I was brewing a session Lager... I was aiming for 1.040 OG... turns out I had only 1.031... What should I do?? caould I add honey in about a week or two after fermentation? ( I kinda have a feeling, I'm gonna be told just to dump it..)

Was this an extract batch? Is it possible that you topped off with water to reach a mark? It's damn near impossible to miss the OG for extract unless you're over/under shooting your water amounts.

Do not add honey or any kind of sugar, they will all ferment out and leave you with a thinner bodied beers. 1.031 is not a terrible starting place, you'll get a 3% beer that might turn into a house favorite.

 

[TrueNorth]

DO NOT DUMP!

OG is off but (if this was a partial boil) are you sure you mixed the wort and top-off water really really really well and corrected for temperature if your gravity sample was at anything but 60F?

Either way, DO NOT DUMP

 

[bigbeergeek]

9 points ain't the end of the world. If you want to recover the gravity points you could always boil a little more light malt extract and water, cool it a bit in the sink and add it to the carboy at high krausen. I'd just enjoy the light lager you've already got on the way, but if the gravity/body/alcohol level are critical features for you, add a few more points with malt, not sucrose.

 

[JLem]

Do not dump it. Do not add anything now. If this was an extract batch and you added the correct amount of water your OG is not off - no matter what your hydrometer told you. It is near impossible to thoroughly mix the dense, sugary wort from the kettle with the less dense, pure top-off water. You may think you mixed the snot out of it, but you didn't. Your real OG is probably very close to the estimate.

Now, if this was an all-grain batch...or you added too much water...well, that's a different story. Still I'd probably leave it alone for now.

 

[SmokeyDog]

Thanks everyone!! I was just worried its going to taste a little thin, or watered down.

 

[SwampassJ]

Thanks everyone!! I was just worried its going to taste a little thin, or watered down.

So was it an extract batch or all grain?