Tried my hand at my first IPA and my OG is only 1.031. The yeast was added and fermentation has begun. Here is my question...Can I just boil some pale DME, cool it down and add it to my bucket? I am planning on a Pineapple IPA so I also thought that honey might work. The honey would taste good with pineapple. Whatever the addition is, can it wait for the secondary or should I get it in NOW!
Original gravity is too low. What can I do?
- Thread starter Ranman481
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paperairplane
Well-Known Member
I would probably leave it alone, check your notes and figure out what happened. What was your target OG?
Honey won't add much flavor, but will spike your abv. You could add DME, or dextrose, sucrose, etc.
I'd just let it ride and call it a session beer.
Honey won't add much flavor, but will spike your abv. You could add DME, or dextrose, sucrose, etc.
I'd just let it ride and call it a session beer.
meatcleaver
Well-Known Member
all grain or extract?
How about posting your recipe and procedure, then we can fix all your problems at once
Aristotelian
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I think the DME would work and I would add it to primary.
I tried all grain this time. I realize now that 6 1/2 lbs. of grain wasn't enough. I was basically "winging it"! 6 lbs 2-row, 4 oz. crystal 60, 6 oz. pilsner. Mashed at 155 degrees for 45 minutes, cooled, sparged, added water to 5 gallons, added yeast, had to leave for work. Thinking about it during my commute led me to believe that I should have used more grain or added DME during the boil. Fermentation has now begun and I want to ramp it up.
Yeah 6.5 lbs of grain would get you about a 1.035 OG beer, so a nice session beer. What did your hop schedule look like?
tooldudetool
Well-Known Member
So you sparged, then added plain water to get to 5 gallons? I assume you must be used to doing that from extract brewing. With batch sparge all grain brewing you have your mash water, which is run off into your kettle after the mash is complete, then you determine how much more liquid you need to get to your preboil volume, add that to the mash tun (this is your sparge water), mix, vorlauf, then run those second runnings off into your kettle as well. You should never add plain water to the kettle unless you are trying to lower the starting gravity as it only dilutes the sugars you've extracted. Any additional water needs to be run through the grains so it can pick up sugars as it drains...
Thank you all for the tips and advise. I'm never too old to learn from others. I have added malt extract to the brew which I'm sure will help. I will also be looking into the appropriate equipment to go all grain. After being an extract/partial mash brewer for over 5 years it's time to take the next step!
