Messed up my first all grain brew

[Megalodon77]

Was doing a 13 lbs all grain brew and ended up with a sg of 1.030 with a target of 1.055. Saw some threads on using dme to fix the brew. Would this work.

Edit. Did the brew late Tuesday

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

That's for adding at the boil to up your gravity. Are you already fermenting?

 

[Megalodon77]

Yeah

 

[brewguyver]

You could pull some wort off, boil it, and add DME, or if you have room boil a gallon of water and add DME to it. This will throw off your hops a bit, so adjust accordingly.

 

[Testudoed]

Is this gravity reading an pre-boil gravity or a post-boil gravity? Also temperature can throw off hydrometer readings

 

[Megalodon77]

Reading is post boil and the temp was 76

 

[Terek]

Reading is post boil and the temp was 76

at 76 its more like 1034 to 1036, which is still low. I wouldnt worry too much. It just wont mess you up after 4 or 5 of them. All grain can be a beast and little things will throw you off. How much ended up in the fermenter? If you got like 6 gal in there, that could throw it off like that. Mash temp and sparge time also can throw your gravity off as well.

 

[JimRausch]

Oh no. 25 points low, and it's now 2 days into fermentation? This may turn out to be a tosser and learn from your mistakes. Not only is it going to be weak and watery, but if you used all your hops, then it's liable to be much more bitter than expected. But, if you want to try and fix it, 3lb. of DME will raise the SG of a 5G batch by about 25 points. You could substitute 1 lb. of sugar for 1lb. of DME and get about the same rise. The problem is going to be how you get all that into your fermenter. I'm going to say, cross your fingers, say a prayer and dump it dry into the bucket. Or maybe try dissolving it in a small amount of preboiled water. I don't know how successful you will be, but Good Luck!

 

[Megalodon77]

I think adding to much water is what are I went wrong. The recipe called for the batch being 6 gallons so I added enough water to get there. I think it would have turned out for if I stuck with 5 gallons. I'm so depressed over it. Was trying to clone one of my favorites and I'm a beginner and I want ready for the all grain.

 

[JimRausch]

P.S. This is the perfect reason to take a preboil SG, doing the math, and figuring out what your postboil SG will be. That way, if you are low, you can correct it by adding some DME late boil.

 

[JimRausch]

I think adding to much water is what are I went wrong. The recipe called for the batch being 6 gallons so I added enough water to get there. I think it would have turned out for if I stuck with 5 gallons. I'm so depressed over it. Was trying to clone one of my favorites and I'm a beginner and I want ready for the all grain.

Wait a sec. Did you add the extra water after the boil, maybe topping off like it was an extract batch? If so, then maybe you got some stratification and the SG is not as low as you think. Can always hope..........

 

[Megalodon77]

If I'm gonna go down adding the dme road how much water should I use and should I siphon some out and add to the brew or should I use purified water.

 

[Terek]

P.S. This is the perfect reason to take a preboil SG, doing the math, and figuring out what your postboil SG will be. That way, if you are low, you can correct it by adding some DME late boil.

Or boil it longer. You will end up with less in the fermenter, but it will taste how you want it. Just make sure if you boil for say 90 min as an example, dont put your hops in until the normal 60 min mark. The extra time is just to boil off more water.

 

[wardens355]

I wouldn't bother adding DME at this point since fermentation is likely pretty far along. Next time grab a sample of the wort before you fire up the burner, cool it, and see what your gravity is pre-boil. Compare to what you expected pre-boil and add any DME at ~10 minutes left in the boil. Chalk it up to a learning experience to have under the belt for next time.

 

[JimRausch]

If I'm gonna go down adding the dme road how much water should I use and should I siphon some out and add to the brew or should I use purified water.

Wondering that myself, as I don't know how dissolvable DME is. I've always added it at the boil stage. I know you can dissolve sugar in a fairly small amount of water, but DME? My guess is that it might take a gallon to dissolve 3lb. DME. Just a guess though. Will at least partially depend on how much headspace you have. You have 6G in there already and sure don't want to add another gallon or so. Maybe your idea of siphoning out a gallon is the best idea. You could even boil that and add the dme. Sure you'll kill the yeast in that gallon but there will be tons in the rest.
I'm very interested in how this turns out. Hoping for the best.

 

[motobrewer]

If I'm gonna go down adding the dme road how much water should I use and should I siphon some out and add to the brew or should I use purified water.

i'd advise against throwing good money after bad. The best you can hope for is to make a mediocre beer slightly better than mediocre.

take this as a learning experience and rebrew.

 

[joshesmusica]

you didn't really answer where you added all the extra water. was it pre-boil, post-boil, in the mash? what method did you use when mashing? it could be that you didn't get full conversion.
going off of what motobrewer said, i would invest that good time and money in Beersmith instead of dme (not the same cost i know). it does take a bit of time and effort to tweak it to the right settings, but i just did my first all grain batch today and basically hit every number that i was supposed to. i was high on my OG by 2 points, but volumes and mash step temps were dead on each time.

 

[okbecker]

Chalk it up to a learning lesson, many of us have gone through quite a few bumps. I personally would not bother messing with it....attempting to pull wort, add DME, boil, add hops..jees...Alot of risk here for infection and oxidation issues which would really render the beer useless...I would let it play out as you may be surprised by the outcome. It may just be a small sessionable beer, which is fine. Alot of good things have come from accidents and mistakes..

 

[Megalodon77]

Decided not to mess with it. Thanks for the advise

 

[Brauer]

I would pull off 1.5 gallons use it to make another beer with some DME wait for them both to finish and blend them before packaging.

 

[GoldDiggingBrewer]

Was doing a 13 lbs all grain brew and ended up with a sg of 1.030 with a target of 1.055. Saw some threads on using dme to fix the brew. Would this work.

Edit. Did the brew late Tuesday

Not a problem. It's happened to all of us from time to time.

I think if you start messing with DME post-boil, you will mess it up completely!

You can solve this problem very easily. Brew another partial extract batch, and aim for an OG of 1.080. Then mix your 1.080 beer with your 1.030 beer in secondary. I've done this twice, and got a decent beer. If you want to get creative, brew a different style and make a hybrid style beer.

 

[madscientist451]

Agree with GoldDiggin, make a 3 gallon imperial (higher gravity) version of the clone you were going to make, but use the appropriate amount of hops, and instead of adding to secondary, I would ferment the second version until its done and then blend the two using taste tests to find the right amount to add.
Another option would be to add vodka or bourbon to the low gravity beer to bring the alcohol up.
I make a large amount of hard cider and sometimes blend cider with beer.
Somewhat radical would be to draw off 1.5 gallons of the existing beer, heat it high enough to sterilize the DME or LME, chill it and add back to fermentor.
You don't have to boil it, 160-175f should be enough.
Another option is to put the beer in 1 qt to 1 gallon square containers (when its done fermenting) freeze it and then pull the block of ice out, leaving a higher alcohol "beer". Would be an interesting experiment, but you'd have to take steps to avoid contamination, like pasteurizing before bottling.
Someone said just dump it, but I'd tinker with it, maybe split it up and try 3 different things, but you need some extra jugs or carboys to do that.
Good Luck, Cheers!!

 

[naturebrew]

Did you figure out where you went wrong, mash temps, grain crush? This should be sorted so the same thing doesn't happen on your next brew.

 

[Bobby_M]

Call it a loss and move on. If you really want help to get on track, describe in gory detail what steps you took and what your equipment is like.

 

[russell58]

I am in agreement with letting the batch ride. My suggestion is to review your whole brewing process to figure out where things could have gone astray. Use this as a learning experience that will help improve the next batch. One thing I have learned is that taking good notes while brewing helps figure out the good and the bad results. Sometimes it's the little things that have a large impact. Keep brewing and you will pick up on things that will improve every next batch.

Cheers

 

[joshesmusica]

actually now that someone mentioned it, ever heard of ice beer? no, not that ****ty ploy by BMC to make their beer sound enticing. I mean eisbock. check into it. it could be an option with this one.
http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/Eisbock.html

 

[BowAholic]

I'd be more concerned with the next batch and why that much grain didn't yield a way higher gravity...almost sounds like the grain wasn't crushed...
What was your procedure?

 

[ratinator]

I did the same thing my first all grain. I tried to add the dme and it turned out bad, dumped most of it. Your better off to just leave it, won't be as high % but it'll be drinkable. Also when checking your gravity make sure your temperature isn't top hot or cold because that flux ates reading

 

[Megalodon77]

Just an update. My partner and I bottled it and everything. We got a1.002 reading so we ended up with about 3.7 A/V. I tasted it and I was the exact flavor I wanted just lighter. I'm gonna call it a session saison. Lesson learned hopefully