kegged unfinished beer

[kpd85]

Tricky problem. Been brewing at a friends place and fermented in his fridge. The warmest it gets is about 56, and leaving it out is 80. So we opted for the colder side with s-05.
We brewed a blond at 1.043OG. After 3 weeks we needed to keg it. Pulled a sample but we were also brewing so in the midst of it all we forgot to actually measure the gravity. We did a pale ale right before with the same yeast and conditions that finished out in 2 weeks. Anyways, I used priming sugar to carb the keg. After racking I saw that we didn't test. Checked and it was only at 1.023.
I suppose I can leave it be for a few weeks and have a low abv sweet beer. But I also cropped yeast from it, so could I throw that back in and rack to another keg later on?

 

[dinnerstick]

it's tough to get yeast to restart in a half-fermented beer. if you are going to do that you will have better luck adding active yeast, dormant yeast generally will tend to remain dormant.

 

[Gameface]

Agree with above. The amount of cropped yeast isn't going to make a difference.

I haven't tried this but heard that it is a good way to get a stuck fermentation to finish, rack the beer onto a fresh yeast cake.

Now, I personally wouldn't do that because I have a rule about not "fixing" beer because in my experience the cure is often worse than the disease.

 

[riderkb]

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Now, I personally wouldn't do that because I have a rule about not "fixing" beer because in my experience the cure is often worse than the disease.

This is better advise than you would normally get on a forum. If you keep fooling around with your beer it will eventually be undrinkable.

 

[schematix]

I had a similar experience once. Racked then measured after. 1.056 down to 1.030! Drank 1 keg (mixed with vodka) and it wasn't good.

So the next batch I checked first, 1.052 down to 1.012, so I kegged it. I then pushed the carbonated sweet keg onto the cake I just racked. It ended up finishing down at 1.016 and while not perfect, wasn't bad, and certainly better than 1.030.

1.023 is borderline. I'd have to taste before deciding whether to repitch.

 

[kpd85]

Alright thanks guys. I think I'll leave it a few weeks and let the yeasty taste clear up and call it a lesson learned.

 

[dinnerstick]

Now, I personally wouldn't do that because I have a rule about not "fixing" beer because in my experience the cure is often worse than the disease.

this is a useful bit of advice

 

[schokie]

I had a similar problem with a cream ale attempt recently. I kegged it early (6 day primary) because I was impatient. Turns out I had some diacytal that hadn't been cleaned up yet. Since the beer was was a bit darker and had more hop aroma then I wanted, I just relabeled the tap handle from "cream ale" to "bitter". While it's not a perfect example of a bitter, it makes me feel better about my mistake. It also took no effort on my part to turn a mistake into an enjoyable beer.

I wouldn't worry. It may not turn out exactly like you wanted, but as long as it's drinkable, enjoy it and learn.