Save my beer, or RDWHAHB?

[swolfe]

I brewed my first batch (AG) on Saturday (2/12). My thermometer was faulty so my preboil SG was only 1.036 (target 1.056) and my OG was 1.046 (long boil; target was 1.060). The final volume was 4.5 gal (target 5.25 gal). The beer is a porter (Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald clone).

I'm wondering if I should boil some corn sugar in water to up the volume (thin it out since I boiled off so much liquid) and alcohol content.

1) Do it, or RDWHAHB? Is it too late?
2) How much corn sugar to add? I would add 0.75 gal of water to reach the proper volume (at least I think this would be the right idea).



Original thread here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/brewed-my-first-batch-almost-got-right-225367/

 

[kanzimonson]

Ferment what you got and fix it next time. I'm a big fan of not turning beers into experiments. I'm also a fan of shifting our focus from target volume to target OG, but I admit that when I started I was guilty of being greedy for every little drop of homebrew I could make.

If you reeeeeally want to improve it, you should boil DME in water for 10 mins, cool it, and then add it. Of course, increasing the volume will dilute the hopping... so do you add more hops? You probably should.

In any case, just adding corn sugar to increase the alcohol is going to make a pretty different beer than the one you set out to make. Alcohol is tasty but malt is tastier.

 

[rjwhite41]

Since you brewed last Saturday I would leave it be. I do agree with the above poster that if you really want to do it DME would be best. As far as hops go, I wouldn't worry about it because the original recipe called for a certain IBU in relation to a certain gravity. I'm guessing if you don't do anything this will be a slightly hoppy Porter.

 

[TheMan]

Chalk it up to a learning lesson and move forward with the next brew. I'm sure this one will taste great. You know what to watch out for next time.