Beer Forum

Don't ask why, but I used too much crystal in my recipe. OG was fine at 1.074 (perhaps a bit too high for style) and FG came in at 1.024. Taste is a bit too sweet. It has been in keg for almost 2 months lagering.

What would you do?

1 - drink it as is
2 - try to referment to get it around 1.018-1.020.

If #2 how would you approach this?

1 - pitch the same lager yeast
2 - pitch a workhorse ale yeast
3 - pitch brett and have a funky bock

If 1 or 2 should I preceed it with some amylase enzyme?


Thanks!

Blending or repitching an active starter of 001 is the direction I would go if you don't feel like pouring it.

Mills

I like options 2 and 3. This definitely sounds like a classic opportunity to experiment with Brett. And Mills's suggestion of a fourth option--blending with a dry batch--is a good one, too.

How much crystal, of what type and how big was the batch?

You are currently at roughly 66% attenuation. Lager yeasts like to get up into the 70's and even 80% range. I think the key question is whether the lager yeast really is truly finished. They can go on for a long time, slowly chomping away, but once they finish, there are no ale yeasts that will dry it out any more than it already is. (As it is, lager yeasts can ferment maltotriose, which ale yeasts cannot.)

If it's really a LOT of crystal that was added, then you have too many dextrins causing the sweetness, and maybe the only thing that might dry it out is to go funky. Again, that's assuming the lager strain finished.

If there was a more moderate amount of crystal, then I'd say it may need more time lagering and it may fix itself.

I'd either just throw it in the back of the kegerator and forget about it for a year, go for blending it, or funkify it. "I'll B-Rett Bock" might be a cool name for something like that.

Oh, for future batches, Traditional Bock really shouldn't have any crystal/caramel/caramunich in it. It should be all about melanoidan development, not caramel development. Any carmamel notes should be residual from the (traditional) decoction process (if any), not from caramel malts.

HTH-

Crystal made up about 7% of the grist. Most of it was 40L along with 160L.

If I carb it up, to see if the CO2 takes any edge off, will I have trouble pitching brett later?

Dude, don't fuck with it. Carbonate it up well (maybe 2.5-2.7 vol, a bit bigger than for a trad. bock), and give it a try. I recently kegged an old ale that only finished at 1.030. I tried adding champagne yeast with no luck, and an now really enjoying the malt within this beer. Everyone I have served it too has said that it does not taste overly sweet but rather was good drinking. I would just drink it as is and adjust for the next time you brew it to nail it good! 2 cents.

Whatever you do don't use amylase enzyme after the boil. It is not a sterile product.

you could try watering it down. Take a glass of it and see how much water to add to even it out.