So i made a Honey Ale last week. It got down below expected FG pretty quick. currently sitting at 1.009 for last 2 days but still lots of bubbles. and its only day 9. Tasted last 2 gravity samples and it is really dry. Can i fix this prior to bottling?
How much honey did you use? Fully fermentable sugars like honey will do exactly what you're describing. You need plenty of crystal malt or base malt mashed at higher temps to give body and residual sweetness.
Maltodextrin can be added at bottling time to add body, but next time using honey malt instead of honey can give you a honey flavour without drying out the beer too much.
Second both of the above: Maltodextrin to increase body and less simple sugar (read honey) in the beer. Simple sugars thin body and dry out beer.
Your best bet would be to make a strong solution of maltodextrin and test dose a measured amount of beer, then scale that up to dose the rest of the batch before packaging.
Absent any other specs and assuming a mid-range beer of 1.050, that's nearly 20% adjunct sugar. No wonder it's dry. If I was you, I'd just bottle it and see how it drinks. It'll be crisp and light and crushable. You'll be able to tweak the recipe next time for something with more malt flavor and body. If you experiment with stuff you're not familiar with in an effort to "save" it, you're almost certainly going to make it less enjoyable.
Yeah definitely have taken notes. To me it's absurdly dry right now. But I'll try a small amount of maltodextrin
What was your OG? An FG of 1.009 really isn't particularly low. I have pales that finish to 1.007 and are still malty and balanced. When you start seeing 1.002 to 1.004 with some of the Belgian yeasts, for instance, that's really quite dry, but 1.009?...not so much. Don't forget that once you foam it up, the mouthfeel changes drastically and the impression of sweetness changes. I wouldn't jump to conclusions based on unfinished wort.
That's a pretty reasonable OG for that finish. On the crisp side, for sure, but should still be relatively balanced if its not highly hopped and bitter. If you're looking for honey sweetness in the finish, try about 5% Honey Malt. It'll lend a lot of residual malty/honey sweetness, especially in a blonde.
I think it be will fine once it is packaged, carbed, and given time to come together. As noted, 1.009 is not very low for a beer with that much fermentable sugar.
That is an excellent point, carbed beer can taste way different than still beer. Carbed it up and taste it, if you still don't like it, than doctor it up or just drink it. It's okay to make mistakes as long as you learn from them.
Just an update, added some maltodextrin and carbed with Honey and came out really nice. very slight Honey taste but very good overall balance and not dry at all.
