Kit stout OG 1035. Tip it out and do a new one with less water?

[janicetheblack]

I started my second brew and the OG was 1035, I might end up with a 3 - 3.5% ABV stout. Should i do it again and only top up to 20L instead of 23? And maybe add a bit of dextrose too. Just dont wanna waste two weeks fermenting a useless no bodied beer lol want 4.5 - 5%

 

[BigRob]

No. You likely didn't have a fully mixed sample if you topped up with water on a partial boil. If the kit called for 23L of wort in the bucket, then you should have 23L there.

 

[Jwin]

Was this a kit?
Did you top off with some water already?

 

[janicetheblack]

Yeah this was a kit. Does thismean I should stir it more now? Its been a couple days fermenting already. I did mix it pretty well at the start.

 

[Jwin]

When did you check gravity?

 

[BigRob]

No, don't stir it now. Fermentation and time will mix the extract and water homogeneously on its own.

 

[d3track]

If it's extract and you topped up to the correct amount, you hit the gravity.

Let it rip away, you're fine.

 

[Jwin]

If your 1.035 eas measured when u pit ched you yeast, I'm inclined to think that you got more top off water than wort. It's highly unlikely that a kit would be that far off. Now, if it was all grain, there could be a few different possibilities. But I assume it was an extract kit, since you have instructions and are topping off. If you are taking gravity readings now, as in two days into fermentation, it's going to be lower as the yeast are eating the sugar and the gravity is dropping...

 

[janicetheblack]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I checked the gravity straight after pitching the yeast. The thing is I needed to add 1kg of liquid malt extract but I could only get a tin of 1.7kg. So I put what looked like more than half in and added 100grams of dextrose just too boost it up a bit incase it wasnt enough. What I should have done was not rushed in and waited to get a 1kg brew enhancer for it. Oh well its a learning process lol I will just leave it and see how it turns out

 

[Kharnynb]

brew enhancer is crap generally, lme is usually beter.

I'm guessing this is a coopers kit as you are saying 23 liters.

most coopers kits i've seen do fine with a full 1.5kg can lme extra to end up around 1.050 OG

 

[janicetheblack]

Its a mangrove jacks kit. Damn maybe I should have put it all in. Or maybe the kit has more malt already in it than other kits do? It does say add 1kg on instructions.

 

[Jwin]

Generally, if I comes in the kit, it all goes in. If you still have the extract, you can still add it. Just boil water, remove from heat, combine, bring to a simmer for 10 minutes, cool to room temp, add to fermenter.
Just do it in The largest pot you have, because stove top boil overs suck.
Sorry, but I'm metric defecient outside of liters to gallons...
No idea of scale here.

 

[Jwin]

Just be sure not to splash b it into your current fermentation as it could lead to some unwanted oxidation, depending on the current state of the fermentation. If it's still at full krausen, no worries

 

[btbnl]

Looking at the Mangrove Jack kits, they provide about 2.1kg of a liquid extract mix and you're supposed to augment it with 1kg dextrose (which seems to defeat the purpose of a kit, if 1/3 of the sugar isn't included, but I digress).

If I understand correctly, the OP used all of the kit contents and augmented them with roughly 900g of a 1.7kg can of LME and 100g of dextrose.

 

[janicetheblack]

was adding malt ontop of the already decent amount of malt a big mistake? If thats gonna make it not nice I would raher just start again lol. Maybe I should have used dextrose.

 

[Kharnynb]

LME doesn't ferment out as much as sugar.
It is a bit light on fermentables, but should make beer, if light beer.
1 kg sugar should equate about 1.5 kg lme

In your kit's case, you would need the kit+ 1kg sugars or 1.5 kg lme.

 

[Kharnynb]

Let it run, it shouldn't be bad, you can always boil half a liter of water and dissolve about half a kilo of sugar in, cool to room temp and add to the beer.

 

[Hanglow]

Add some dissolved light spraymalt or LME or if you still have the part of the can, that. OR just drink it as it comes out

 

[Gnomebrewer]

A full tin + 900g of LME + 100g of sugar (or dextrose) in 23L gives about 1.047 and and alcohol content of about 4.5% (depending on how far it ferments).

EITHER you didn't add as much LME as you think, OR your gravity reading wasn't correct. I suspect the latter - sugars tend to sit on the bottom unless the solution is boiled. Did you take wort from the top of the fermenter to measure gravity?

You can still add sugar/LME (I'd recommend LME) if you want a higher alcohol content.

 

[janicetheblack]

I ended up boiling 1lb of dextrose in some water, letting it cool and puring it in. 3 days into fermentation.
Might end up with a 6% beer if my inituial reading was wrong, but if not it will atleast be in the average range.
Hopefully it tastes decent, will definately do the next one better.

 

[BigRob]

There's nothing you did wrong that can be done better, if you can't do full boils you will always have skewed gravity reading. For a kit, as long as you measure your water volumes properly, you don't really need to take an OG reading, it will always be correct if your volumes are correct (and provided the kit isnt missing some extract).