Pliny clone low OG should I dry hop?

Was this an extract kit or all grain? Also, two points isn't much, so are you talking the difference of 1.070 vs. 1.068 (or similar 3-digit numbers after the decimal), or the difference of 1.07 vs. 1.05?

 

Dry-hopping now without any other changes would add to the imbalance due to the lack of a malt character. Since it's well past brew date it doesn't seem practical to try to fix this beer to be a Pliny, although you could consider boiling some DME and then blending at the time of packaging to get something close. It would take using a calculator to figure out how much DME & water to use to come close, and you'd end up with more beer than planned, but there's nothing wrong with having too much Pliny.

 

Don't add more DME at packaging...that'll make bottle bombs! If you add a DME solution, then add it into primary to safely kick fermentation in again and just wait for it to completely finish.

At this point, it is what it is IMO...cut your losses, dry hop it and see how it turns out.

Do you usually have such low efficency or is this a first?

 

That's 20 points, not 2

 

Oops, can't believe that I said that. Thanks for the correction, Doc. I meant to say fermented DME solution to blend with what is already fermented at the time of packaging.

 

The problem is the bitterness from the boil kettle hops now, not so much the dry hops. What do you think about adding in some boiled and cooled dextrin solution with the dry hops to add some body? Perhaps the boosted body will support the IBU & dry hops.

 

I figured it was just a momentary lapse of reason...you've always given great advice!

 

Dextrins won't raise gravity much, if at all...dextrose will though. 2 pounds of honey or dextrose would raise your gravity by almost 20 points (in a5 gallon batch), but it will change the beer noticeably IMO.

 

Maltodextrin. It's a polysaccharide that won't ferment out, thus leaving residual body and mouthfeel.

Honey is a monosaccharide and is fermented almost fully by yeast.

 

Last thing you want to do imo is add any more simple sugars, the beer will just dry out even more.

I would go with some maltodextrin. Boil it briefly, cool it, add it to beer with as minimal O2 exposure as possible.

 

Would the maltodextrin add any malt character to the flavor, or could it leave an overly-sweet beer because it doesn't ferment out?

 

my experience with maltodextrin is mostly adding body, not really any additional sweetness or flavor, but adds a fullness

 

Your beer was not well mixed when you took the gravity reading. You said it was all-grain. Was it full-boil, or did you dilute to get to final volume?So why do you think your gravity was off by 20 points? You don't see 30 percent swings in efficiency for no good reason. The things I can think of:

• You were considerably short on grains.
• Your grain was not crushed.
• You overdiluted your beer considerably to get to final volume.
• You did not boil off 2 gallons of water that weren't supposed to make it to the fermenter.

Of these, the least noticeable one seems to be the crush. The only reason I bought my own mill is that I once ordered grains that arrive uncrushed. I only noticed as I was prepping for the brew day.