Is my IPA jacked or can it be saved?

[kejsport]

I steeped approx. 14lbs of malt @ 162 degr. for 1 hour and 10mins in about 5 - 5.5 gallons of water. It was mostly two row.

Then I boiled in the hops, 1 hour 10 mins total. Start with 2oz. Magnum, 40mins for 4oz centenial, and 10 mins for 2oz more centenial.

I added 3.5-4 gallons of wort and 1.5-2 gallons of water to fill the 5.5 gallon corboy and let it cool.

At a temp of 90 degr. my gravity was 1.038. I was told it should be about 1.067. Do I need to do anything to boost it up before I add my yeast, or should I just wait until the temp drops to under 80 and add the yeast anyway?

If I do need to boost, what do I buy and how do I do it. Also, when it finishes fermenting and aging? How do I carbonate it for 5 gallons. I will carbonate in the bottles

 

[kevmoron]

I'm not sure what kind of procedure you were using for this. Were you attempting to do a full mash? It would seem so with 14 lbs of malt.

The temp range for this should be somewhere in the range of 150-158. You can go longer and lower if you want a very dry, attenuated beer. You don't really want to go over 158 for a saccharification rest, even for a very full-bodied beer. You will not get very good conversion above 158.

Did you sparge? It isn't clear how or if you separated the grains from the wort.

Also, you want a preboil volume of 6-6.5 gallons, as you can count on losing a gallon to evaporation during the boil. I see you had significantly less than 5 gallons going into the fermenter, and then you diluted it.

At this point, you can't do much to boost the gravity. You could have boiled some malt extract and added that to the fermenter before diluting it with water, but it is too late for that.

Carbonate with priming sugar. Dextrose is probably the best to use. You will want to boil about a 1/2 to 3/4 cup for 5 gallons, and mix it thoroughly but gently in the bottling bucket.

I'm not sure how you got to this point without knowing the basics (e.g. mash temps, bottle priming, fermentation schedule). It would do you well to read the following in its entirety. You might also want to consider getting the basics down with a few extract batches before jumping to all-grain.

http://www.howtobrew.com

 

[SmugMug]

Just my $.02, but 3/4 cup of dextrose has worked out really well for me when it comes to bottle carbing. No bottle bombs yet and the last batch sat in a dark closet around 74F. I'm not sure what method you used to brew, but in the end you should still come out with beer. It may not be the result you were hoping for, but I bet it still tastes good (at least to you).

 

[kejsport]

Can I add any sugar to it? Maybe, just a touch before adding yeast? SmugMug, so I can expect a really hoppy Ale, just just not a true IPA?

 

[SmugMug]

I'd say leave it alone, pitch the yeast and let it ride. It's probably too late to do much else. If you're going to use a secondary, you could dry hop to get more of your hoppy goodness into the beer. I'm not a hophead, so that's not my area of expertise though.

 

[ChshreCat]

In the meantime, read this:

How to Brew - By John Palmer - Introduction

It will really help you understand the entire process.

 

[SmugMug]

In the meantime, read this:

How to Brew - By John Palmer - Introduction

It will really help you understand the entire process.

Don't forget:
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
By Charlie Papazian

That book has saved my butt several times. All except the part on how to scrape wort off a popcorn ceiling. For those of you who are interested, the quickest way is to take a damp (not wet) soapy washcloth and very carefully wipe all that you can away. Go ahead and plan on re-painting the ceiling when you've cleaned all that you can off. As for the walls, Mr. Clean scrub pads and some touch up paint.