I brewed a RIS today, and badly missed my OG. 1.077 instead of 1.096. The source of the problem seems to be that my mill gap drifted. An easy enough fix for future batches. But for this batch . . .
I’m thinking of boiling up some DME and adding it to the wort, otherwise the finished beer will be too bitter. Anyone have any other ideas?
I think you’ve got the solution.
Yeah, but that’s the boring answer. 
Um, okay then, how’s this…since you’re a super scientist, invent a machine to de-hopify it…
There…less boring? ;D
boil it down more?
Call it an American Stout?
+1
Go with an American Stout…use a supercharged hop flavor and aroma schedule.
Could have done that . . . but I didn’t check the gravity until after chilling, and I hopped it with Sonnet Goldings.
Your idea is interesting Denny, there is probably a few things that would make iso-alpha acids precipitate but I wouldn’t want to drink them
This is a post I never ever thought to hear from Tom Schmidlin. How in the hell did you miss your gravity? Distracted ??? ;D
Add the extract. Why not. You’re a Doctor! Not what you originally planned for but the die is cast. It is what it is.
Or age the BU’s out…
There’s a little bit of disarray in the garage right now :) Rather than clean and organize I decided to brew. I didn’t check my crush, and that’s all it took. I check the gravity of the mash runoff as it gets toward the end, but I never check the kettle gravity, I just wait until it’s chilled.
The list of brewing tasks I neglected in favor of actually brewing:
Clean carboys and kegs
Find leaks in the kegerator
Run new gas line for the kegerator
Keg 15 gallons of beer
Rack a new batch of flanders red to bugs and fruit
I think that’s it. All of those things can be done in stages over a few weeks or months if needed, but brewing is a big chunk of time.
No, no, no… K.I.S.S.
Just realign the gravity plates to 1.25G and you’re good to go! ;D
That’s why I check the pre-boil gravity, not post-boil.
You could brew up a one gallon batch of 1.19 wort and add it in to 5 gallons of 1.077 to get pretty close to 1.096.
or add candi sugar and call it a belgian imperial stout
Would you even have to call it Belgian? I’ve been looking at that a bit lately and it seems something like D2 would be not out of place in an Imperial Stout. The syrup is described as providing “flavors of dark fruit” and the BJCP guidelines for Imperial Stout call for flavors that “can take on a dark fruit character (raisins, plums, or prunes)”. Anyone use D2 in their Impy Stouts?
I haven’t used D2, but I have used molasses.
I was going to suggest molasses or maple syrup. Russian Imperial -insert one- Stout. ;D
Or maybe Dark Brown Sugar. Brown Sugar RIS a la The Rolling Stones?
Dave
Belgian stouts are more about the yeast and not the sugar. Do we call Imperial IPAs that have a sugar addition Belgain IPAs? BTW, I think Belgian stouts are bad tasting combo. The roasted malts and yeast phenols clash, IMHO. I have not impressed with any of the commercial examples I have had.
I think D2 would be a better choice than molasses or brown sugar, IMHO. There are really no flavor contributions from brown sugar.
This is why I always check my initial boil gravity with refractometer so that I can add DME or dilute with H20 depending on my gravity after 5 minutes of boil so that I hit my OG prior to yeast pitch. A little tip I learned from Mike “Tasty” McDole on the BN. ;D
Did you recycle the left-over parts of the moles?
Sure, that’s what white sugar is made from. everyone knows that moleasses are the left overs from white sugar production. and brown sugar is just white sugra with moleasses added back in! ;D
I agree completely.
I used to do this, but it’s one of those things that when it’s never a problem, why bother continuing to check? Oh yeah, now I know why
In the end I used some DME and LME in a quart of water, boiled it for 5 minutes, and added it to the carboy. I calculated it will be close enough to 1.097 now that I’m not going to worry about it. But I won’t be sending any data from this one to Sean for his refractometer spread sheet.