I screwed up

[Gravelscratcher]

I had an unplanned opportunity to brew (Dry Irish Stout), but I had to scramble, due to a late start.
Mashed with 1 gallon less than I should have (misread my recipe), & came up short on my post boil volume.
Filled up the fermenter with water to get correct volume.
Gravity is lower than it should be.
Outside of this being lower in ABV, do you think it'll be alright?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

It'll be fine. How low was the gravity?

 

[Gravelscratcher]

I'm embarrassed to say.
I added 2 gallons, instead of 1 gallon. (Ended up w/ 6 gallons instead of 5, in fermenter.)
Should have been 1.039...was about 1.022.
Going to be a very light beer.
I should have written it all out, but I felt rushed.
I was just doing it off of my BeerSmith app.
Totally pissed.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

The normal reply in these threads is 'RDWHAHB, it'll be beer'. Well, I'm sorry to say that with an OG of 1.022, it will barely make it into beer territory! IMO you should get a few pounds of DME in before the ferment is too far along to boost the gravity.

 

[Gravelscratcher]

No dme... will be ultra light draught I guess.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Redefining session beer.

 

[Gravelscratcher]

Stout flavored tea.

 

[Gravelscratcher]

Do you think tomorrow evening is too late to add some DME?
...or should I just dump it?

 

[deadwolfbones]

You can definitely add it tomorrow. (Just be sure to dissolve it in some hot—170F+—water first.)

 

[Gravelscratcher]

Thanks

You can definitely add it tomorrow. (Just be sure to dissolve it in some hot—170F+—water first.)

 

[Gravelscratcher]

How much DME?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Yep. Get it in there. The worst that happens when you add extra sugars late is oxidation, because the yeast have gone beyond the lag phase in to full on ferment phase (they'll have probably nearly finished by tomorrow evening in this one). If you don't add any though, you'll have a beer with too much hop for the malt, which is not very nice.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

How much DME?

Three pounds will get you somewhere near your intended OG.

 

[Gravelscratcher]

I have nothing to lose at this point. I think it'll be less than 2%...which is pointless/gross.

 

[Gravelscratcher]

What temp is safe to pour in, after hot?

 

[deadwolfbones]

This was a 5gal batch, right? If so, yeah, 3lbs DME in enough hot water to dissolve it. Cover with foil and let it cool to room temp before adding it to the fermenter.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I prefer to make stronger beers, but a super low gravity dry Irish stout isn’t a bad thing. I agree that adding DME will help you accomplish the goal of making what you intended, but even if you let it ride, I wouldn’t dump it. Definitely wouldn’t have turned out gross.

 

[Gravelscratcher]

6 gallons right now...added too much water. That's why the gravity is so low.

 

[deadwolfbones]

Eh, still use 3lbs. Should be fine. You'll get about 7pts per lb in a 6gal batch, so that'll take you from 1.022 to 1.043.

 

[andrewmaixner]

You can use LME also. pour in 3 lb and mix well. 3lb LME in 5gal of 1.022 wort will get you to 1.044, great for a dry stout.

 

[Gravelscratcher]

All right, I added about 4 pounds of LME with about 1/2 gallon of water.
Hopefully it'll work out. Thanks for all your advice guys.

 

[bpgreen]

To clarify, you started with 6 gallons of weak wort, then added 4 lbs of LME (1/3 gallon) and 1/2 gallon additional water.

Is that correct? If so, that's almost 7 gallons. Not that that's a bad thing, necessarily. But make sure you've got enough keg space and/or bottles.

 

[deadwolfbones]

(Or get ready to throw some away. Or transfer the extra to another fermenter and add fruit/spices/etc and let it sit until you've collected more bottles.)

 

[Gravelscratcher]

Yes, that is correct...about 7 gallons.
I used Breiss dark LME.
Fortunately my new fermenter is a 30 liter, or this would not have worked.
I'll keg 5 and bottle the rest.
Hope its good... I have my doubts.

 

[Gravelscratcher]

I'm guessing my revised OG would be around 1.050?

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

Have you pitched yeast yet? Before you added the DME I mean I dont recall seeing that...

Would it have been possible to put this back into a kettle and boil off some of that extra water?

 

[Gravelscratcher]

Yes, pitched yeast about 27 hours before LME was added.

 

[Gravelscratcher]

Picked up some peanutbutter flavoring.
Plan to use it for the excess bottles.

 

[hawkbox]

Ah let er buck, she'll be right.

 

[Gravelscratcher]

Hey y'all,
Just want to say thanks.
Kegged this beer, and bottled the excess.
When I pulled some samples, it was fantastic… despite my mistakes and over thinking/panicking.
Thanks for your advice/help...looks like this one is gonna be good.
Busted my hydrometer, so I couldn't check the gravity.
Body and Mouthfeel tells me the ABV is about right, and everything appears to be true to the style.
Put some peanut butter flavoring, in the bottling bucket for the excess. Sampled it too...I'm a little concerned that it'll have that extract flavor.
If I try that again, I'll use peanut butter powder in the mash.
In all, I was just shy of 7 gallons. Ended up with a 5 gallon keg, 13 extra beers, and the little slop at the bottling bucket that I poured out.

 

[hawkbox]

It's surprisingly hard to truly wreck a beer so I'm not surprised it turned out.

 

[NineMileStyle]

These little mistakes and their fix offer a lot of education.
Just think how much new stuff you've been able to stuff into your "Homebrewers Degree" since you first posted this!

 

[Gravelscratcher]

Good learning experience...killed the keg in 1 week btw.

 

[NineMileStyle]

Outstanding!!!

 

[neverfadeaway86]

looks delicious !! I have been lucky and to this point the worst thing i've done is mashed about 10 degrees to warm and it took about 20 min to get it back down. Like everyone else said its a learning experience and you still got a quality beer !