Wow, I really eff'd this one up!

[casesensative]

So I was brewing a small 1 gallon batch today and somehow ended up only getting like 45% effeciency and was INCREDIBLY low on my intended OG. So to compensate I obviously had to boil for much longer (100 minutes, hops were added 30 minutes into boil) and still didnt hit my intended OG but came much closer. Of course in doing so I also increased the bitterness to exorbant amounts by boiling for far longer than intended. Not only that, but I realized the recipe I made estimated my willamette hops to be at 5% aa, when in actuality they were 9.3%aa.

Needless to say I now have a Porter with roughly 1.046 OG and 120 IBUS.

Is there any saving this batch at all? Can I just call this a black IPA and everything will be ok?

I was thinking maybe doing some bourbon oak cubes could help try and balance it out some...dunno...

any ideas? anyone else ever have this happen to them?

I'm still baffled at how I managed to get such low effeciency when I did absolutely nothing out of the norm. Maybe my LHBS measured my grains out wrong and I ended up with much less than I should have...dunno..

 

[casesensative]

OG is actually 1.052, so not as low as id originally posted, but still lower than the intended 1.060 after a 100 min boil.

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[nate191]

can't think of what your LHBS could have done to wreck your efficiency up. any adjuncts? BIAB? batch sparge? If the IBUs were not to your liking I would bottle it, maybe wax the cap and forget about it until next year... could turn out amazing.

 

[EoinMag]

Think positive, it's what...five pints of beer...maybe bad, maybe good, who cares at those volumes?

 

[Hopinista]

Think positive, it's what...five pints of beer...maybe bad, maybe good, who cares at those volumes?

Seriously, if it's okay just drink it in between other beers. If it's truly undrinkable just use it as a marinade or something.

 

[Thedutchtouch]

you could always try to blend it if undrinkable, though you run the risk of making an even larger volume of beer you don't like...

 

[masskrug]

Would adding some coffee cloak the hop bitterness?

 

[MrCrabby]

How about adding some honey? Should bump up the gravity and mellow out the hop profile a bit (please correct me if I'm wrong). Or you could just bottle it and let it sit until the bitterness fades away.

 

[Beernik]

It might end up delicious. I made a bitter and had carried over an old (very high) OG measurement from a previous batch. I ended up with 2.5 x the IBUs I had planned.

It was a very delicious beer.

 

[JonM]

Eh, I say drink it. If it's good, ya learned something. If it's not good, ya learned something. Can't lose either way. One thing's for sure, I learn a heck of a lot more from my mistakes in this hobby than I do from my triumphs.

 

[biertourist]

you could always try to blend it if undrinkable, though you run the risk of making an even larger volume of beer you don't like...

This: Just brew a 1.065 porter with 15 IBUs and blend the two together.

 

[jbaysurfer]

This: Just brew a 1.065 porter with 15 IBUs and blend the two together.

Ding!!!!

Or dump it. Isn't that the point of doing small batches? Swinging for the fences and not stressing it if you get it wrong?

 

[OaklandHills]

I had a robust porter that I made from a friend's recipe. It had a LOTTA hops in it. My friend doesn't use brewing software so when I punched it in, Brewmate predicted 120 IBU. I said to my friend, Jim, is this really the way you make this? He said yes, yes, just make it. So I did. Whooeee! Was that bitter. I sampled it periodically for several months and was just blown away by the bitterness. So I forgot about it. 6 months later I pulled out a bottle and sampled it. Now it was pleasantly strong, with lots of coffee and chocolate notes. My favorite porter!

So, bottom line, put them bottles away for a while. Aging will only improve the taste!

 

[mister704]

Seriously, if it's okay just drink it in between other beers. If it's truly undrinkable just use it as a marinade or something.

thank you for giving me an idea. Totally never thought of using as a marinade.

 

[Hopinista]

thank you for giving me an idea. Totally never thought of using as a marinade.

Haha np! I have a batch that came out bad from a few years back that I use for BBQ chicken.