Pale Ale undershot gravity by 12 points

[permo]

Had a long brew day yesterday where I made a batch of what was supposed to be 1.057 pale ale while I was shoveling and snowblowing out from a storm here in ND. I wasn't paying all that good attention to water volumes and ended up with an extra gallon of beer 16.5 gal vs 15.5 gallon but by gravity is 1.045-1.046.....this ale has 55 IBU and was supposed to be almost a light gravity IPA.

Now with 1.045 OG I am concerned it will be way out of balance......I am considering a supplemental addition of honey or inverted sugar to increase the original gravity to at least 1.050......

thoughts?

 

[55x11]

Had a long brew day yesterday where I made a batch of what was supposed to be 1.057 pale ale while I was shoveling and snowblowing out from a storm here in ND. I wasn't paying all that good attention to water volumes and ended up with an extra gallon of beer 16.5 gal vs 15.5 gallon but by gravity is 1.045-1.046.....this ale has 55 IBU and was supposed to be almost a light gravity IPA.

Now with 1.045 OG I am concerned it will be way out of balance......I am considering a supplemental addition of honey or inverted sugar to increase the original gravity to at least 1.050......

thoughts?

I would frankly leave it as is - it will be a bit more sessionable. Most people cannot perceive a difference between say 4% and 5% ABV.

Alternatively, you could add sugar. Up to ~10-20% of grain bill is also fine and won't be perceived. Belgians use it all the time to lighten the body, so why not in a pale ale.

 

[JonM]

Oh, THAT storm - I heard about that one. Sounds like it was a doozy even by northern prairie standards.

Same here - I'd leave it as is. I bet it'll be just fine. I'd caution against adding sugar, though. That might dry it out TOO much. I have a really dry IPA on tap right now and I wish I hadn't added sugar to it.

 

[permo]

I will let it ride and proceed as normal and call it a "session IPA"....should be excellent I suppose. Massive amount of centennial and citra late in the boil and dry hop

 

[ncbrewer]

From what you wrote, it seems to be an extract brew? If you added the recipe amount of extract and hops, but diluted with too much water, the balance won't change. BU:GU (bitterness units to gravity units) is still the same. This relationship might not be perfect, but it's widely accepted. The beer should be fine.

 

[Sadu]

I have done this before in an IPA and APA. Both came out good but not great, just not what I was aiming for. I think there were some balance issues but the hoppy ales tend to be quite forgiving in that respect and your APA turns into an IPA then so be it.

 

[permo]

I couldn't help myself. I had two jars of golden inverted sugar syrup in my fridge that I added for a total of 2 pounds 9 oz of sugar syrup. Here is the final recipe so you all know what I am talking about. With all the flameout hops my fermentation rooms smells like heaven right now.

16 gallon batch

36 pounds pale ale malt
2 pounds crystal 20
2 pounds 9 oz golden sugar syrup
1 oz summit at 60
2.5 oz Columbus at 10
4 oz citra steep whirlpool for 45 minutes
4 oz centennial steep whirlpool for 45 minutes
4 oz citra dry hop
4 oz centennial dry hop
wyeast pacman 4 liter starter
Mash at 151
fermenting at 55 degrees
Gravity before sugar 1.045
Gravity after sugar 1.052 (PERFECTO!)
Expected final gravity 1.008-1.010