High OG

[Brewer #229698]

Made a batch of Pizza Port Shark Bite Red fro More Beer, all grain recipe. OG was above target (1.057-61) at 1.072. Considered diluting it to get closer to target, decided to go ahead and pitch the yeast. Check SG five days after brewing, SG is 1.014 and it tastes a bit sweet, which it did before fermenting. Should I worry about how much sugar to add when bottling, or will it have no effect? Unfortunately it's above the ideal temp, too, about 75 F when it should be 66-68.

 

[Minbari]

That's why you dilute it. Your yeast will reduce sugar by a certain amount (attenuation). if you start way too high, it's gonna finish way too high and be sweet

 

[Zambi]

I would have diluted as well
But since you didn't....
Make sure fermentation is fininshed. Check SG again after a couple of days.
If still the same, then bottle
The remaining sugars are non-fermentable

 

[Sandy Feet]

1.072 to 1.014 would not be sweet. If it is sweet, than the measuring tools are probably off. 1.014 for that style would probably be ideal. 5 oz of corn sugar will not add to alcohol when bottling (At least not enough to make any difference). Probably lots of off flavors at 75 for an English yeast.
If you don't have good tools, let it ferment for 14 days in total. If you bottle after 5, you might blow them up.
You can pitch at 75 for many yeast styles, but you probably want to ferment around 68 for most ale yeast and a little lower for an English yeast.

 

[Brew Cat]

Well a couple things
It may not be done
It shouldn't be sweet at .014
What hops and how long did you boil them
By the way you can still dilute at bottling
A bit tricky but can be done
That beer should come in at maybe
5-6%
It will still be beer and could be good beer but different from the recipe designed
That said you can't judge a beer at this early stage


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[jschein]

What are you measuring gravity with?
Was your sample within the temperature range of the device? If not you need to do a correction factor for temperature

 

[Minbari]

What are you measuring gravity with?
Was your sample within the temperature range of the device? If not you need to do a correction factor for temperature

Not to be contrary, but you have to be WAY off for temp to matter much. Most hydrometer are calibrated at 68F. If you measure at 100F you are only off by 4 pts. +/- 10 degrees and you are only off by 1pts

 

[Sandy Feet]

If 1.014 is supposed to be sweet, then Mia has risen again.

 

[Donoroto]

Sweet is subjective to a degree.

 

[Bigbre04]

Sweet is subjective to a degree.

i dont think a humming bird would find 1.014 very sweet so you are def correct.

but also that isnt crazy high for a big >7% abv beer which this likely is with almost 18p starting grav. The marzen that is fermenting out will likely finish around 3.5-3.7 but that is to be expected for the style.

but if the beer was supposed to be 6% that extra booze combined with the finish grav and probably too little hopping will end up tasting boozy and sweet compared to the recipe it was based on.

you could offset some of the booziness and sweetness with a dryhop but that may be a waste.

 

[Brew Cat]

Actually I'm more concerned about the starting gravity
That is where you need to make the adjustments
Let us know
I'm following this

 

[Bigbre04]

Actually I'm more concerned about the starting gravity
That is where you need to make the adjustments
Let us know
I'm following this

i adjust my batches when i need to. I use dextrose to adjust my batches up and water down.

i generally use the calculator on here. but i also just adjust the recipe sometimes by guestimating my eff and adding dextrose into the calculator.