Low OG on first attempt at Barley Wine

[sdm519]

So just sealed up my first barley wine in the primary fermentor. I was a little surprised I didn't get the OG I was expecting (got 1.088 @ 4.5gals instead of 1.11 at 5 gals.)

I was following a recipe I saw in my homebrew store (with altered hops choices.)
My notes are below, can someone let me know if my OG after all of this makes sense?

Steeping grains (30 mins at 160-170F)
-290g crystal 120
-290g cara munich 60
16.5 lbs LME added once I brought it up to boiling temps
Hops added after 15 mins or so after it boiled over, 60 min count down begins
-60 mins - 1oz chinook whole leaf, 1oz german magnum pellets
-20 mins - 0.6 oz Horizon pellets
-0 mins - 0.75 oz Horizon pellets
=~3 gallons wort
Put in ice bath and brought down to 80*F

+1.5 gals distilled water and checked OG
=4.5 gals @ 1.088 OG

Much lower than I expected so I didn't add any more water and left at 4.5 gals.
Was at 70*F already so added my starter and sealed it up.

I have included some things that either did not go as planned or I would do different next time:

-Watch for boil over after adding extract (made such a mess....)
-Don't use bags with hop pellets, when removing bags, it seemed to clog and trap large amount of liquid in hop bags, burnt myself getting liquid out so quit and definitely lost volume here.
-Shake starter well (when cleaning I noticed gunk at bottom of the growler I made my starter in.)

Also, I was constantly straining the the 'scum' that appears on the top during the boil as it bugs me. Would that remove lots of the sugar?

 

[Calder]

If you used 16.5 lbs of LME in 4.5 gallons, your gravity is 1.132 before any contribution from the grains (which may be .003).

Sugar is sugar, and the sugar from the LME is in the wort. It probably wasn't fully mixed, and you took a sample from the top (heavy drops to the bottom).

At 1.132 you are liable to kill the yeast; too high a sugar content can kill yeast due to osmotic shock. I'd go and dilute it ASAP. Even if the yeast survive the initial shock and ferment, they will stall eventually due to reaching their alcohol limit leaving a sweet beer.

Even at 5 gallons you have 1.118, which will be a lot of work for any yeast.

I think you had a false reading. Trust your recipe, and dilute it, otherwise you may have a problem. At 1.118, you may have a problem anyway.

 

[sdm519]

Thanks for replying.

It's been about 24 hours and there is krausen blowing through the blowoff tube so I am a bit too late. Should I put the 0.5 gal in as soon as it dies down enough to safely open the lid?

I was worried about it not being mixed enough so I swirled and reopened the lid about 30 mins after pitching. It still showed the same reading, but maybe I did not mix well enough... This is my first attempt at a high gravity brew...

Any help in salvaging this one would be much appreciated.

 

[Calder]

What yeast are you using?

If you have 4.5 gallons of 1.132 wort, 75% attenuation will get you down to 1.033. You may be OK with that, but for me that would be too sweet.

If it gets down to 1.033 you will have a 13% beer. The yeast may opr may not get there. Many will not, so it could end up sweeter.

You can dilute the beer at any time if you want. However, you need to use cooled boiled water. You need to boil it for several minutes to get any O2 out of solution. All water has some O2 in solution which is damaging to beer after fermentation has started.

 

[skunkfunk]

Did you get this recipe from a book? Sounds like an expensive disaster to me, but I guess to each their own.

I think you just didn't get it mixed up good enough for your initial reading. With a wort like that, I'm not surprised, either. In any case, sounds to me like Calder is giving great advice.

Are you bottling or kegging? You will have trouble getting this thing to bottle condition.

 

[sdm519]

Thanks Calder. I am using white labs London Ale Yeast 013.
I boiled a little under a gallon of water for about 20 mins, cooled it down and poured it in the bucket. Great tip in getting the O2 out.

I'll make sure to remember to really mix it up next time on these heavier beers. I was planning on corking in bottles and letting a large portion age for a while. Is there a benefit in kegging it instead?

Is there anything else I can do to maximize my attenuation?