Parti-gyle small beer thin and watery -- dump it?

[JayDubWill]

I brewed a big RIS last week and used the third runnings for a small brown ale. The original gravity on the small beer was 1.037 and it's down to 1.010 today, however it tastes like water ran through used coffee grounds; if you've ever done that by accident you know what I mean. It's not a good flavor, thin and watery with some astringency. I was debating on adding a lb of honey to up the abv to about 4.5% and calling it a honey brown but at this point i'm not sure if it's worth it. Does anyone else have any experience in this situation? I'm thinking the honey will thin it out even further and not do much in the flavor department. What are your thoughts?

 

[LakeErieMonster]

Honey will thin it out more. And that is your problem with it now. I wouldnt think honey would be the right move.

 

[kmcrae]

What about adding something like Munich LME to it?

 

[Hello]

It sounds like an uphill battle not worth fighting. I'd dump it.

 

[OleBrewing]

Once carbed the carbonation will add a little bit of mouth feel. Kinda depends on your standards of what you will drink and what you would toss. I haven't tossed a batch yet but I drink my mistakes, gives me the reminder if I would have done this or that it could have been great.

 

[LakeErieMonster]

What about adding something like Munich LME to it?

Not sure about adding LME during fermentation. I would assume you would need to boil it with some water and then add it, if you were going to do it. Again, I am not sure about adding it. The LME would add both fermentables and unfermentables so it would probably help.

 

[ong]

I've actually helped out a similar beer by doing a very small, very strong stovetop mash (collected around 2 quarts of 1.100 wort from ~3 quarts of strike water) and adding that to the fermenter.

I did this in kind of a reverse BIAB fashion, mashing in a pot and pouring through a grain bag. I boiled the wort for a couple minutes with a couple hop pellets before adding.

 

[paperairplane]

At this point it is what it is - I would carb it maybe a little hard and maybe think about a dry hop for a few days.

Other options would be to blend it with something else - or just call it a session beer and drink it.

 

[crazyirishman34]

I like the above idea. I would boil it for 15 min and leave out the hops unless you are looking to add aroma.

 

[Arrheinous]

Would lactose or maltodextrin add some body to it?

 

[Ramitt]

Would lactose or maltodextrin add some body to it?

It should.

 

[JayDubWill]

I've actually helped out a similar beer by doing a very small, very strong stovetop mash (collected around 2 quarts of 1.100 wort from ~3 quarts of strike water) and adding that to the fermenter.

I did this in kind of a reverse BIAB fashion, mashing in a pot and pouring through a grain bag. I boiled the wort for a couple minutes with a couple hop pellets before adding.

I think i'll give this a try. Maybe throw in some honey malt for added flavor. Thanks for the tip, i'll keep you all posted.

 

[ong]

I like the above idea. I would boil it for 15 min and leave out the hops unless you are looking to add aroma.

Yeah, I was just trying to maintain the IBUs of the original wort.

 

[JayDubWill]

I ended up mashing 3lbs of grains in two gallons of water followed by a 20 minute boil and adding that to the carboy (after dumping two gallons of water). I think the PH must of been off and the yeast died since it's been a week and I have zero activity and the hydrometer hasn't dropped a single point. The taste is beyond repair and i'm dumping this one. I don't think it's feasible to get a small beer on a 5-gallon scale unless the big beer is north of 1.100, there's just not enough sugars left and you end up over-sparging releasing acrid tannin's. On a good note, I will now be able to tell you if you an overabundance of tannin's in your beer.

 

[cernst151]

I recently bottled a parti-gyle that was pretty crappy too. Your description was very apt. It was also a second runnings from a stout. I think if I were to do another one I'd use the grains from an IPA or an amber or something instead of a stout. The great thing about a parti-gyle is that if it doesn't work you're not out much. Just the sugar for priming and maybe some yeast.