Rookie mistake...

Jason42 · Jan 17, 2020

Hi all,
Confession time... I recently put together my first beer kit (Festival Old Suffolk Ale) and I had decided to replace the 1kg of dextrose included in the kit with DME. However, when I checked the OG I realised I had added 1.5kg of dark DME giving me an OG of 1.080 :tinhat: . I didn’t want to waste the kit so carried on regardless. It’s now been in the FV for 14 days and is now down to 1.025. It’s still fermenting and looks, tastes and smells fine if a bit malty.
Any ideas what I should do here? Do I leave it until it’s finished or put it in the pressure keg now and have a maltier beer than I was hoping for?

MmmBeer · Jan 17, 2020

Most brews will have finished fermenting and be ready to bottle / keg by 14 days. The high strength and possibly a cool fermenting temperature may have extended the time. The best advice is to wait until all airlock activity has stopped for a couple of days, then keg, carbonate and enjoy.

Graz · Jan 17, 2020

The high OG means it's likely to take a bit longer to ferment out. Leave it to finish. Putting it in a keg now means it will likely just carry on fermenting in the keg.

MrL73 · Jan 17, 2020

The only real way to check if it is still fermenting is to take gravity readings. If it is stable over a couple of days then the chances are it is done. Having done the numbers, the attenuation you have is currently under 70% which to me seems a little low - but I guess this depends on the yeast. There's no harm in leaving it in the FV for a little longer, and maybe raise the temperature a degree or two to encourage the little yeasties to finish off and clear up after themselves.

Personally, I'd rather leave a beer in the FV for longer, than keg it too early.

Richie_asg1 · Jan 17, 2020

It's sitting at 7.2% ABV now and may get to 7.8% when it's done - then you need to add priming sugar to carb it, so may get close to 8% when finished. I wouldn't call it a balanced brew and would be malt heavy.
If you have another smaller FV bucket I would be tempted to add 500g of dextrose then split it into two and top up with water. You could even dry hop one then to see the difference.
Or ride this one out and see what the results are.

terrym · Jan 17, 2020

@Jason42
Leave it to ferment out. Use your hydrometer to tell you when its finished not the airlock. And when its bottomed out I would also leave it for another 2/3 days for the yeast to clean up. And due to the high OG the FG will also be high. If your yeast is capable of 75% attenuation you will 'only' get down to 1.020. Less attenuation, higher FG.
And due to the gravity and the type of beer you may find it needs a longer conditioning period. I read on here one week for every 10 points of OG, so using that expect 8 weeks.

Jason42 · Jan 17, 2020

Thanks all
The consensus is clearly to leave it and keep an eye on the SG.
When I do keg it, I’m guessing I still need to add the priming sugar supplied with the kit?

terrym said:
And due to the gravity and the type of beer you may find it needs a longer conditioning period. I read on here one week for every 10 points of OG, so using that expect 8 weeks.

So 8 weeks in the keg. Would that be 2 weeks for secondary fermentation and 6 weeks in a cold place for conditioning?
FYI... the mistake was caused by late night brewing and several bottles of Chimay Blue

And stupidity... there’s always room for that.

terrym · Jan 17, 2020

Jason42 said:
Thanks all
The consensus is clearly to leave it and keep an eye on the SG.
When I do keg it, I’m guessing I still need to add the priming sugar supplied with the kit?

So 8 weeks in the keg. Would that be 2 weeks for secondary fermentation and 6 weeks in a cold place for conditioning?
FYI... the mistake was caused by late night brewing and several bottles of Chimay Blue And stupidity... there’s always room for that.

If you have a plastic PB the maximum amount I would normally add is 95g sugar for 22ish litres. This will still give good carbonation but won't overpressurise the PB.
In my book conditioning is on top of carbonation. But if it were me I would probably leave it 6 weeks from bottling then try one expecting it to better at about +8/9 weeks. No harm though in sampling the odd one along the way to find out how it improves.
And read this for what drinking on brewdays can do, far worst than getting the ingredients wrong.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/dont-take-your-eye-off-the-boil.82773/
All under the heading of Safe brewing
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/safe-brewing.82795/

An Ankoù · Jan 17, 2020

FYI... the mistake was caused by late night brewing and several bottles of Chimay Blue And stupidity... there’s always room for that.[/QUOTE]
Several gallons of Chimay Blue and a bit of downright cretinosity is never a mistake; it's what makes life worth living.
Live life, love life, wake up with a smile.
Curious sentiment coming from the Reaper!

Jason42 · Jan 17, 2020

terrym said:
If you have a plastic PB the maximum amount I would normally add is 95g sugar for 22ish litres

The kit came with 90g of dextrose so all good there. Checked the SG just now and it’s been at 1.025 for 3 days now so I’ll keg it tomorrow I think. BTW, the temp has been a constant 22*c all through the fermentation.
Having read Gerryjo’s story (https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/dont-take-your-eye-off-the-boil.82773/) I think next time I brew the beers will stay in the fridge until the jobs done asad1

Jason42 · Jan 19, 2020

So, quick update... The SG had levelled off at 1.025 and after 3days I’ve now kegged it with 90g of dextrose. After 12 hrs it blew the pressure relief valve briefly but has now settled down. Having tasted it, I have to say it wasn’t half bad. Not a session beer, certainly, but the phrase”full bodied, demands attention” springs to mind. Probably would have been better in bottles, but live and learn. Incidentally, I have also decided to get a much better siphoning system. Took a while to clean up the mess.
Thanks to all for the advice acheers.

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