Maltodextrin ruin my beer?

[jason4bc]

Hey gang
I brewed a partial extract kit Belgium pale ale. Original Gravity was supposed to be 1.050 and I ended with 1.051.
In an effort (misguided?) to increase body/mouth feel I added 1.5 tsp of maltodextrin at the beginning of the boil.
After two weeks in the secondary I have a FG of 1.022. Target FG should be much much lower.
I used Danstar Windsor dry yeast. The ingredients were a little old (Lme and some steeping grains), but the yeast was bought right before brew day. Is there a way to drop the gravity? Or am I just going to have to bottle it? Will my ABV be low?
Thanks
Jay

 

[jschein]

How long in primary?
That is a very small amount of maltodextrin, in a 5 gallon batch you would add between 2-8 oz.
To bring the gravity down you could add amylase

 

[Yooper]

The maltodextrine didn't do anything- it's such a tiny amount. It's a "thickener", but a teaspoon won't matter.

The real culprit for a high FG is windsor ale yeast- it's notorious for that, and is used for beers where you want a very low attenuation.

Between the low attenuating yeast, and using extract, it'd be very surprising if the beer got lower than 1.020.

 

[jason4bc]

thanks beer people
ya.. just happen to read that i did use a very small, perhaps inconsequential, amount - contrary to what a local brewer told me.
the LME and steeping grains were also almost a year old, but i figure its better to brew than to chuck it.

thanks.

 

[FarmerTed]

You should post the recipe, but since you used an English ale yeast, you pretty much made an English pale ale or best bitter (not a Belgian pale ale).

 

[lumpher]

Windsor is a good English yeast, but for a Belgian, you have to use a Belgian yeast to give it that funky taste. Windsor is good for low gravity English beers where you want low attenuation. For an example of what Windsor is good for, tomorrow I'm brewing a Dark Mild using Windsor. I'd agree the culprit is the yeast.

 

[Calder]

You could try adding a higher attenuating yeast, something like S-05 to bring it down some more. Since there is roughly 4% alcohol in there already, any new yeast will work slowly, but something like S-05 should bring it down somewhere around 1.013 - 1.015.

If you add more yeast, DO NOT aerate.