Too late to add amylase?

[Rowang]

It was somewhere between 1050 and 1060... It was supposed to be 1050 but i threw in a bit more sugar for good luck.

It was GW's batemans salem porter recipe and was supposed to finish <1010. I suppose as its that dark, maybe oit should just be left for a few months to condition before i do anything drastic. my only worry is that it might then be too late to rescue. i suppose since its clear at the moment, it may already be too late to rescue...

[coatesg]

I would generally ignore the FGs in the book - You're much better off taking your general attenuation figures for your conditions and yeast and applying them. It's too highly dependent on other factors that you will not necessarily hit the brewery figures. (You didn't say what yeast you used - eg for S04, 75% is a fairly reliable figure for me, other strains attenuate more or less (recipe dependent too slightly))

So, 1014-1016 sounds more sensible for that kind of beer and so 1017 is not far off at all - it can easily chug on for a few points during conditioning in a keg. If the reading is stable for 4 days after rousing the yeast with a clean paddle, then it is most likely done.

If you are bottling, use reduced priming (if any). If you are kegging, then I would rack now and just keep an eye on the pressure in the keg/barrel, and release the pressure as necessary.

[Rowang]

Thanks for the advise...

... but what can i do if i come back in a month and its still undrinkable?

[gnorwebthgimi]

You could always use the Dry beer extract at a later date. You may need to pitch a bit more yeast, in case there is only a few hundred yeast cells alive at that point.

I think it will mellow, just give it time.

[boingy]

I've never used DBE and from the reports on this forum I am unlikely to ever choose to use it. It seems to be a substance that takes a beer that has finished a bit high and turn it into a beer that has finished way, way too low. On one level it's a very impressive feat but ultra-dry beer is just not nice stuff.

If you want to try it, why not rack off a gallon into a demijohn and treat that. Leave the rest to mature for a while (it will probably drop another point or two over time).

[coatesg]

It won't be undrinkable at all, it will just be balanced slightly towards the sweet side - I would not expect or want that beer to finish lower than 1010-12 at all or it will be very thin and dry. As Boingy says, DBE will make it ultra dry and really not very nice.

Assuming 1055 SG, 1017FG (which, as Boingy rightly points out as well, will probably slowly drop to 1015-16 over thhe conditioning period which would probably be be at least 3 if not 5 weeks) gives 70% attenuation which is very normal for some strains. As per earlier, what yeast did you use?

[gnorwebthgimi]

I have a beer that's gone down to 1.005 (no DBE) and it's just coloured bitter tasting water.

[JammyBStard]

Coming back to this a bit late I know; but I've just been listning to the Brewing Networks - Brew Strong podcast series on High Gravity Beers.
They're big on in these in the Americas at the monment.
They were talking about the problem of high FG which is common especially in really high OG beers. Some of the things they do made me think of this old thread.
Particually
They often areate the wart a second time eight to twelve hours after pitching to get the yeast out of a slump.

Rather than adding at the boil, they add the additional simple sugars slowly over the fermentation to give the yeast time to work on the more complex malt sugars first. (Brew dog dog this with Tokyo).

And interesting to this thread particually, they somtimes add a lager yeast after the primary fermentation as lager and ale yeast have different strengths and weakness with different sugars and they use the Lager yeast to mop up the sugars the ale yeast missed!

I'm not exactly sure who "They" are, but I thought that last one was interesting, i'd never heard it before!

[coatesg]

All true - I sometimes make my wine in this manner, slowly feeding it, but in this case, 1050-60 isn't high gravity, at least not in my book anyhow (and 1017 isn't a high FG really for a beer of this OG either).

[SMASH3R]

I added dry beer enzyme to a brew that was supposed to be about 3.7% pale ale, and stopped fermenting at about 1.022. Chucking in a bit of brewing sugar and the yeast kicked off again, but adding new yeast would not drop the gravity. I went with the enzyme in the end and it worked a treat. I am lucky that the brew was originally intended to end up at about 3.7%, because after the gravity dropped to about 0.994 it was high-5% ABV.

It will convert all the unfermentables over a few days, so I suggest letting it do it's thing and then prime once you have reached terminal gravity unless you are putting it in a barrel and you trust your pressure relief valve.

I now keep a sachet of the dry beer enzyme on standby for such future events, because getting hold of it at short notice (and, invariably over the weekend) can be a real pain.

Good luck

What does a beer that hits 0.994 taste like? Numbers are just numbers, but what is the effect on the final product?

Because I was brewing a pale, moderately hopped (cascade) ale, I found that this was no issue. Infact, as a light, thirst quenching summers day guzzler it worked really well. Some of my american friends thought it was really great (is that a complement?). I could see how it might ruin the body in a porter though.

[Rowang]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but just to share my experience...

My porter was far far too sweet for the first few weeks of conditioning.. Contemplated tipping it...

...2 months later, its actually the best thing iv ever brewed!! perfect condition, mouthfeel, taste, balance - the lot!!

lesson learned, never tip a brew!!!