Thermometer broke, lower OG than expected. What should we do?

[KevyWevy]

OK, so long story short, yesterday we were making an ESB, our 3rd all grain beer. we were using a digital oven thermometer like this one and apparently they're not meant for liquid applications, since it broke and was giving us off temperatures. Unfortunately we didn't realize it was broken till we were mashing and the temperature was going down. so obviously we missed our mash temp. weather we were higher or lower... we have no idea. it was reading high so we left the lid to our mash cooler open for a long time and stirred lots. and then finally realized that the thermometer must have broken.

so we used our old float thermometer and mashed/sparged for 30mins at the correct temperature and then did the second sparge as per usual. this was a 10 gallon batch. our OG came out to be 1.035 and we were supposed to be at 1.051. i haven't had the chance to taste the wort yet. the yeast starter wasn't ready yet so we haven't pitched.

so, if it tastes OK, what is the best course of action? boil it down till we get a higher gravity (we did a boil of 75mins)? add a few pounds of corn sugar in the least amount of water possible to the primary? add a few pounds of DME or LME to the primary once again with as little water as possible? ferment as is and just settle for a lower ABV?

any input would be great. i'll taste it in the morning and let you guys know if it tastes off. we'd just like to not waste 10 gallons of beer.

thanks for any help guys. oy.

 

[Yooper]

I'd boil up some DME and add it to get the desired OG. One pound of DME will give you 9 points in a 5 gallon batch. So, if you want to bring it up to 1.051, add 2 pounds of DME in about a quart of water. Boil that, cool it, and then add to your fermenter.

 

[KevyWevy]

and since its 10 gallons, we'd need 4# of DME then right?

are there any advantages of adding DME over corn sugar? would corn sugar change the taste?

 

[Yooper]

and since its 10 gallons, we'd need 4# of DME then right?

are there any advantages of adding DME over corn sugar? would corn sugar change the taste?

Yes, for a 10 gallon batch, 4 pounds would do it.

Well, corn sugar will boost the ABV without adding any malt. Since the beer is already going to be thin, boosting it with corn sugar will not be an improvement.