Too much crystal 60L?

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jeepmarine71

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Northern brewer sent me a mistake batch of grains, I figured, I'll just brew it. I should have done a little more research first.

I received 12 lbs of Rahr Pilsner malt and 4 lbs of Bries Caramel 60L. I mashed it all. I fermented with Safale 05. It fermented for a little over a week. I kegged it and am hoping that it will turn out ok. I tasted it and it is very sweet. I didn't do an OG, ( I should have, and I will in the future). I did do a FG and it was near 1.020. What can I do, could I pitch some more yeast and bring up the temp? Or leave it set for a few weeks to see if it rounds out? I feel dumb, I should have made a style with it.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to fix it. Thanks:mad:
 
with that much crystal, you might just be stuck with a ton of unfermentable sugars..
 
It will, but I don't know if it'll help the sweetness. That's alot of crystal. You might get a lower SG, but I think the Beano would ruin the beer instead of improving it.

I guess I would liken it to adding 12 teaspoons of sugar to your coffee instead of 1. It'll be sweet no matter what you do, unless you make more coffee and mix it. You could brew up a batch of not-sweet beer and mix them.
 
You could try steeping 4 oz. Black Barley and 10 oz. of chocolate malt in a quart of water and turn this into a big porter.
 
save it for blending, you may even get away with just cutting it with water but than the alcohol level would drop too. Though with 12 lbs of rahr and 4 lbs of crystal, a little bit of water probably won't hurt anything. I'm assuming this was for a 5 gallon batch?
 
With 4 lbs of crystal, this is probably not the problem, but I have had beers that were not fully fermented after a week. What I would do is move it to a secondary and waiting another month, take another hydrometer rating and than make the decision than whether to cut it with water or to blend it with a lighter beer.
 
Thanks for posting this. I wonder how a different mash temp or yeast strain would have changed this (if at all).
 
How does it happen than the crystal is unfermentable, but mash temps will influence adjunct utilization?
 
Because the hotter the water, the more flavor and color you'll get into the mash water. Also, some adjuncts are mashable and their starches convert to sugars.
 
I think if you let it age for a while it might turn out OK. I know my wife would probably like it (big sweet tooth). Time heals a lot with beer, may not be the best batch ever... but shouldn't be too bad.

I don't think you'll get it below 1.020, don't add beano, just age it.
 
It might have been OK if you increased the bittering hop addition to help balance it out.

I agree 4 lbs crystal in 12 lbs of grain is alot. I also agree with Bobby_M that more hops would have amended this glitch. I am interested in answers as I have a brown ale (grain was ordered already crushed and mixed) with 17% crystal 60 (2 lbs in 12 lbs total grain bill). Two questions:

1. What IBU would you shoot for to balance out the 4 lbs of crystal in the OP's recipe?
2. Is it better to answer #1 in terms of BU:GU?
 
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