On Fri, 20 May 2005 14:26:28 GMT, Jeff Cantwell
<jeff-cantwell@swbell.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
>On Thu, 19 May 2005 14:24:46 -0000, Derric
><derric1961@removethis.yahoo.com> wrote:[color=green][color=darkred]
>>> 1.014, which is a little higher than the predicted 1.009.[/color][/color]
>
>OG 1.033, adjusted for temp. A little lower than the expected.
>[color=green][color=darkred]
>>> From my calculations, my alcohol content is rather low. (2.5%)[/color]
>>List your ingredients and amount of water and the
>>starting gravity can be calculated pretty well.[/color]
>
>It was an American Amber kit of unknown vintage that came with my
>setup. The dry malt was a solid brick by now, having absorbed water
>from the air. Since it was old, and I figured the first batch to be
>iffy anyway, I started with it. (I still have an Irish Red and
>Guiness clone)
>[/color]
I found the same thing with some light dried extract. It sat in my
"beer room" for a year and was a dark solid mass. The ale I made had
a very distinct red hue, but was otherwise OK.
[color=blue]
>My bucket wasn't graduated, so I ended up with about 1/2 to 2/3 of a
>gallon too much water. (Explains the low OG)
>
>I mixed the Yeast that came with the kit with half a cup of wort, and
>sealed overnight, while I waited for the rest of the wort to come up
>to temp. (70 degrees).[/color]

You want to chill the wort down <~100 F as quickly as possible. It is
less important in "partial boil," techniques. Failure to cool it,
results in cloudy beer, but doesn't otherwise affect taste. Getting a
lot of air into hot wort is not good - that will affect taste.
[color=blue]
>
>Next morning, the cup had no action, so I presumed the kit was old
>enough for the yeast to be dead. I pitched with yeast from the
>Cooper's Irish Red kit.[/color]

If by no action you mean no froth - it could have acted and settled in
that amount of time. The bubbles last about an hour. Starter wort
should be weaker than your batch - rehydrating yeast don't tolerate a
lot of sugar. I use about a tablespoon of DME in three cups of water.
(boiled separately and well in advance of pitching time so I can do it
over if need be)[color=blue]
>[color=green][color=darkred]
>>> Which brings the last question...can I dump a fifth of PGA into the
>>> bottling bucket before bottling to get my alcohol back up where it is
>>> acceptable?[/color]
>>
>>It's your beer, you can do what you want. <snip> To me, the
>>alcohol level is secondary (or terciary) to taste.[/color]
>
>agreed, but I'm trying to salvage what may be a mess. I'd hate to
>wait another 2-3 weeks and find I'd wasted my time.[/color]

Waiting depends on the price of carboys and how committed to the hobby
one is. A "Crate and Barrel" store had glass carboys for $5 several
years ago - now they cost ~$20 from a brew shop or maybe a little less
at flea markets. I've a nephew in Colorado who claims he paid $50 for
his carboy.[color=blue]
>
>On the plus side, I seem to have sterilized sufficiently, as I don't
>see any extra growth in the carboy.
>
>Then again, maybe I'm just over analysing and worrying too much.[/color]

definitely

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