split batch gone wrong, help pls!

[tomaso]

I've just finished brewing BierMuncher's Cenntenial Blonde (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=42841) and had the nice Idea of doing a split batch to test differents yeasts.
In the big batch (14L) I put Wyeast's liquid Whitbread yeast and in the small batch (4L) I put Safale-04 Dry british ale yeast.

So far so good, just that at the end, when topping up with water I forgot to shake well before pitching and afterwards have ended up with two batches with completely different gravities:
the big batch has an OG of 1,032 (should be 1,040); so way to low for such a small beer.
the small batch has an OG of 1,067 so way to high.

The gravity before topping up with 50% water (i.e. 9L) was 1,083 and according to beersmith should have come in at 1,041 after topping up.

What should I do?
One option could be to just mix the batches which would even out the gravity somewhat but then I mix the two different yeast strains... what would the result be?

guess the only other option is to let it ride but not really happy with that.

Would be very happy with some good suggestions, thanks!

 

[dwhite60]

You will have a light, session beer.

You will also have a pretty robust blonde ale.

Not a bad combination though I understand the frustration.

Good excuse to make some more.

Could boil up some DME and add it to the lower gravity batch.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[Aonghus]

I've just finished brewing BierMuncher's Cenntenial Blonde (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=42841) and had the nice Idea of doing a split batch to test differents yeasts.
In the big batch (14L) I put Wyeast's liquid Whitbread yeast and in the small batch (4L) I put Safale-04 Dry british ale yeast.

So far so good, just that at the end, when topping up with water I forgot to shake well before pitching and afterwards have ended up with two batches with completely different gravities:
the big batch has an OG of 1,032 (should be 1,040); so way to low for such a small beer.
the small batch has an OG of 1,067 so way to high.

The gravity before topping up with 50% water (i.e. 9L) was 1,083 and according to beersmith should have come in at 1,041 after topping up.



What should I do?
One option could be to just mix the batches which would even out the gravity somewhat but then I mix the two different yeast strains... what would the result be?

guess the only other option is to let it ride but not really happy with that.

Would be very happy with some good suggestions, thanks!

You could just use that weak batch as a yeast starter; your gravity is right in the sweet spot for that. So make up another batch in a week and save off a portion of your yeast cake for later usage. Then pitch right on top of the rest of the yeast cake. I bet you would get a really great result. You could then use the weak beer as slug bait.

 

[mrdail87]

If you mix the two batches, you'll get a mix of the two yeast strain flavors. But adding two yeast strains 50%/50% won't necessarily guarantee that the flavor will be 50/50.

US-04 is a pretty hardy yeast strain. But after reading the description of Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale, it actually sounds pretty similar to the US-04's flavor profile. I'd expect you'd mostly get the flavor profile of the US-04, with a little character from the Whitbread mixed in. Ferment on the colder end to avoid any excess tartness.

TLDR; If you decide to mix the two batches, it should come out just fine.

 

[tomaso]

You will have a light, session beer.

You will also have a pretty robust blonde ale.

Not a bad combination though I understand the frustration.

Good excuse to make some more.

Could boil up some DME and add it to the lower gravity batch.

All the Best,
D. White

Adding some DME sounds like a nice idea. Does it work as easy as that though? according to Beersmith I should add 300g of DME to get that batch up to a gravity of 1,040.

It's been about 12hrs now. Safale batch is bubbling away with a big krausen. Whitbread one no activity yet. Should I wait with adding the DME when the Whitbread one is at high krausen as well or add it immediately?

Thanks for you help!

 

[tomaso]

Maybe it would be even easier to just add some sugar to get it up to the desired gravity!!??
Would avoid having to add more water which makes the calculation for adding DME more difficult...

Just at what stage?

 

[tomaso]

It's been 24hrs now and while the higher gravity, small batch is fermenting away well the bigger, lower gravity batch with the Whitale yeast shows now activity and there isn't even any yeast in suspension so I think the yeast was dead.

Therefore my idea now is to wait for another few hours and then pour the smaller batch into the bigger one as a 'starter' and like that probably get one big batch with about right gravity and safale-04 character.

Any suggestions on that?
Thanks for your help!

 

[dwhite60]

Adding some DME sounds like a nice idea. Does it work as easy as that though? according to Beersmith I should add 300g of DME to get that batch up to a gravity of 1,040.

It's been about 12hrs now. Safale batch is bubbling away with a big krausen. Whitbread one no activity yet. Should I wait with adding the DME when the Whitbread one is at high krausen as well or add it immediately?

Thanks for you help!

I would boil it for 20-30 minutes, cool it, and pour it in.

Have to remember your diluting further with the water
you boil the DME in so you might want to adjust your
calculation.

All the Best,
D. White