Please help, Americal Lager, ended up with 1.065 OG

[fender1983]

Hi all,

I was given Brewers Best Kolsch kit, but decided to make American lager instead using same ingridients plus rice solids.

I got recipe from How to Brew by John Palmer:
Typical American Lager Beer

Malts:
3.5 lbs. of pale DME
1.5 lbs. of dry rice solids (powder)
BG for 3 Gallons 1.070
OG for 5 Gallons 1.042

Hops
1 oz of Tettnanger (5%) Boil for 60 minutes
1&Mac218;2 oz of Tettnanger (5%) Boil for 10 minutes
Total IBUs = 17


I entered it in the Beer Smith and ended up with 1.026 or 1.036 gravity.

Instead I used

3.3 lbs LME
2 lbs DME
2 lbs rice syrup solids
2 oz of Tettnanger for 60 minutes (2.4%alpha, 4.5%beta)
1 oz of Tettnanger for 10 minutes

Beer Smith was predicting 1.052ish gravity.
After boiling I tested the gravity and it was 1.070!
I couldn't find parameters for rice solids and assumed it couldn't be sweeter than sugar and used sugar information for my calculation instead.

I ended up adding 3/4...1 gallon of boiling water to the wort and it dropped gravity to 1.062...1.065.

Not sure where I screwed up, but now I am concern about the beer taste. It is high octane with not enough hops to hide alcohol.

Any ideas how to save it? I am afraid it will taste like gasoline...
Dry hop it?

 

[wardens355]

If you ferment it on the cool side of the temp range for the yeast, it won't taste like gasoline.

 

[jdauria]

An extract brew being too high, first thing I would look at is that you boiled off too much. How much wort were you expected to have after the boil and what did you have?

I get 1.052 when I pop it into BeerSmith too, but it also gives me a preboil volume of 1.071 because it expects top off water to be added after the boil. Were you suppose to add water and forgot or did you do a full volume boil?

 

[chickypad]

An extract brew being too high, first thing I would look at is that you boiled off too much. How much wort were you expected to have after the boil and what did you have?

I get 1.052 when I pop it into BeerSmith too, but it also gives me a preboil volume of 1.071 because it expects top off water to be added after the boil. Were you suppose to add water and forgot or did you do a full volume boil?

^This. Either your volume was off your your measurement was off from inadequate mixing or something like that. It's not possible to have 1.071 OG at 5 gallons with those ingredients.

 

[jdauria]

^This. Either your volume was off your your measurement was off from inadequate mixing or something like that. It's not possible to have 1.071 OG at 5 gallons with those ingredients.

Could be...I do all grain, so not used to putting extract recipe in BS, may have missed some setting. Did do a double take because I was like isn't pre-boil usually around 10 points lower than OG! Figured it was an extract thing!

 

[chickypad]

Could be...I do all grain, so not used to putting extract recipe in BS, may have missed some setting. Did do a double take because I was like isn't pre-boil usually around 10 points lower than OG! Figured it was an extract thing!

You're figuring it correctly - I'm agreeing with you. I was saying that if the OP measured 1.071 "OG" then he/she did not have 5 gals, i.e. hadn't topped off properly as you suggested, or there was something off with the measurement.

 

[fender1983]

You're figuring it correctly - I'm agreeing with you. I was saying that if the OP measured 1.071 "OG" then he/she did not have 5 gals, i.e. hadn't topped off properly as you suggested, or there was something off with the measurement.

Well I used my bottling bucket to measure 5 gallons. Than I added extracts and rice. Usually it would bump the amount to 5.5 gallons. Typically I boil off 0.5 gallon in 60...70 minutes. So the water amount going in was correct.

I might screwed up calculation in beersmith. I think it was calculating extra water added after the boil, but I did the full boil (always do).

Anyway, my question is how to save it.
Right now it is fermenting with Saflager S23 at around 50+-3 degrees.

 

[WayFrae]

Well I used my bottling bucket to measure 5 gallons. Than I added extracts and rice. Usually it would bump the amount to 5.5 gallons. Typically I boil off 0.5 gallon in 60...70 minutes. So the water amount going in was correct.

I might screwed up calculation in beersmith. I think it was calculating extra water added after the boil, but I did the full boil (always do).

Anyway, my question is how to save it.
Right now it is fermenting with Saflager S23 at around 50+-3 degrees.

Maybe dry hop the crap out of it?

 

[wardens355]

Well I used my bottling bucket to measure 5 gallons. Than I added extracts and rice. Usually it would bump the amount to 5.5 gallons. Typically I boil off 0.5 gallon in 60...70 minutes. So the water amount going in was correct.

I might screwed up calculation in beersmith. I think it was calculating extra water added after the boil, but I did the full boil (always do).

Anyway, my question is how to save it.
Right now it is fermenting with Saflager S23 at around 50+-3 degrees.

Your ingredients would yield 1.071 at around 3.8 gallons of wort, so I have to assume that you boiled off much more than 0.5 gallons. If you added 0.75-1 gallons to top it off, you should be around 1.056-1.059. Was the wort and top off water well mixed when you took a sample for the hydrometer?

The beer isn't necessarily going to be bad because the gravity is higher. If you ferment cool, then it should still taste like beer without solventy/hot off-flavors. Dry hopping is your choice but I don't think it is necessary.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Why not add some water if the gravity is too high.

 

[chickypad]

Well I used my bottling bucket to measure 5 gallons. Than I added extracts and rice. Usually it would bump the amount to 5.5 gallons. Typically I boil off 0.5 gallon in 60...70 minutes. So the water amount going in was correct.

I might screwed up calculation in beersmith. I think it was calculating extra water added after the boil, but I did the full boil (always do).

Anyway, my question is how to save it.
Right now it is fermenting with Saflager S23 at around 50+-3 degrees.

Doesn't look like you messed up with calculations, with those ingredients you should be right around 1.053 if you finished with 5 gals. With extract if your volumes are on you essentially can't miss the gravity that much. If you are sure your gravity reading is right then I am with wardens, you likely boiled of more than you thought and your volume is low, in which case the fix is to add the appropriate amount of water. 0.5 gallons is pretty a low boil off rate for a full volume boil. I boil off more than that on my little 2.5 gal batches. Also just for reference I have one bucket that is off by about 1/3 to 1/2 of a gallon. You might want to double check that.

 

[fender1983]

First time I used different brew kettle with no marking. Typically I use the other one which was measuring volume correct.
What parameters does rice solids have? It must be between DME and sugar, right?

I guess water is off and I didn't add enough.
I was afraid to add more, because of the little amount of hops it may taste watery.

All grain seems so much easier now, lol
First time screwed up extract

 

[chickypad]

Looks like rice syrup solids are 1.037.

 

[wardens355]

Looks like rice syrup solids are 1.037.

I have seen anywhere from 1.032 - 1.042. Beer Smith has Rice Extract Syrup at 1.032, apparently ProMash has Rice Syrup Solids at 1.042. So I guess it depends on the form.

 

[fender1983]

Syrup - LME equivalent
Solids - DME...

this would explain the difference between the two

 

[wardens355]

Syrup - LME equivalent
Solids - DME...

this would explain the difference between the two

It explains the 1.032 and 1.042, but not the 1.037 that Chickpad found, right smack in the middle. Just found another source stating 1.045 for the solids. There must just be some variability in processing. Would be nice if the packaging for adjuncts stated the potential.

 

[chickypad]

Yeah looks like there's some variability and not all the vendors report the ppg - I agree would be nice if they noted it. At any rate, for purposes of this recipe the range of OG is about 1.051-1.055 depending on what value you use, so not the root of the OP's issue I think.

 

[blackbeer]

let it ride as-is. it will probably be a bit on the sweet side but i'll bet its good. and RDWHAHB

 

[fender1983]

let it ride as-is. It will probably be a bit on the sweet side but i'll bet its good. And rdwhahb

rdwhahb?

 

[kh54s10]

rdwhahb?

Relax Don't Worry Have A Home Brew.:rockin:

 

[madscientist451]

When its done, have a taste and see what flavor you have before trying any dry hopping. Two options: #1 is to brew a low gravity beer and blend blend them together. #2 After lager yeast is finished, add a sour beer yeast blend (make a starter) and let it sit 9-18 months.
New Belgium's La Follie is done this way with a basic malt bill fermented by lager yeast then a sour blend later.

 

[fender1983]

Thanks for interesting advise!

 

[fender1983]

Gravity measured 1.020 today. I decided to pull it out of the basement for D-rest.
Taste boring. No bitterness from hops, no aroma from the grain (since it is extract). Kinda syrupy and heavy.
Hopefully warmer temperatures bring the gravity down.
Missing classic lager zing, but no ale yeast flavors as well. Just clean.
I may dry hop it with 0.25-1 oz of centennial just to bring some flavor.

P.S. Doesn't come close to the AG pilsner i brewed week early. That thing tastes so good, that I can drink all 5 gallons warm and flat.