Did i kill my beer?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by jageraholic, Oct 18, 2013.

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  1. jageraholic

    jageraholic Maven (1,378) Sep 16, 2009 Massachusetts
    Trader

    So I was all excited and brewed my DIPA. Then took my O.G. And it was at 1.020 ish. At first i just thought maybe i didnt stir up the topping water enough. Then it dawned on me i forgot to add the remaining 6 lbs of DME. My beer was already topped at 5 gallons in the carboy and added the yeast. so i boiled the remaining 6lbs of dme in just under 1.5 gallons of water, cooled it and added it on top of the carboy, put a blow off tube on it and am hoping for the best. Whats the possible issues with it?
     
  2. dgthrasher

    dgthrasher Crusader (400) Dec 27, 2008 Connecticut
    Trader

    If the glass is empty, then yes....oh to answer the question in your post... you probably will be fine. it will be a bit more dilute than expected (6.5 gallons vs 5), in both hops/alcohol... if its not hoppy enough dry hop it.

    Won't be exactly what is expected, but should be fine.
     
  3. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,502) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah

    No real issue. You'll have some hop utilization issues, and some issues with the fact you've got more volume there, but.. all that aside.. should still be beer in the end.
     
  4. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,043) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    You basically made a 'smaller' version of your original recipe. Less bitter, less hop flavor/aroma, less body and malt flavors, and lower gravity/ABV. You can (sort of) remedy the hop flavor/aroma issue though higher dry hopping, but you may get a better balanced beer by changing nothing at this point. And on the bright side, you're getting extra beer.

    I'd expect lots of blowoff though...sounds like you have damn near 6.5 gallons of wort in a 6.5 gallon carboy.
     
  5. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,326) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I did the exact same thing once, did a pretty big partial mash, then got all the way to the "pour through the strainer" phase before I realize I had a jug of LME sitting on top of the fridge that was sposeda go into this beer. Gravity check (to confirm that either I wasn't crazy, but that I WAS an idiot) was thirty points low. :grimacing:

    Hyperventilated into a paper bag for a while, then said to myself, "just do a separate boil, then dump it on top." Did a second boil for the LME, cooled it, dumped it on top. FINAL OG (there's an oxymoron for ya) was off by about ten points to the low side, but the beer was sposeda be about 1.07-ish, so this did not translate into a major tragedy. Recall the advice of one of the world's most highly respected, yet notorious brewers...

    phrase coined by al capone junior
     
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  6. bgjohnston

    bgjohnston Initiate (0) Jan 14, 2009 Connecticut

    Funny thing, on an early all-grain batch I did, I ended up very low with my expected OG. I did the same thing you did with a small amount of water and as much DME as I had on hand (originally intended for making yeast starters) to get the gravity into the ballpark.

    I ended up very satisfied with the hoppiness of the beer, and overall it was fine. Not outstanding, but considering the problem, not a disaster, either.
     
  7. LosDiggity25

    LosDiggity25 Initiate (0) Jul 3, 2013 Pennsylvania

    I too have done this, this is where a refractometer really comes into play. Extremely helpful on brew day
     
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