Mangrove Jack's American ipa abv issues

[jondi11]

I recently done a MJ ipa with an extra MJ malt extract booster, used yeast it came with. Og 1.040 yesterday's was 1.012 so roughly 3.6 abv, was hoping for higher, could I kick-start it with dextrose to raise abv? It air lock bubbled for a few days before coming to a stand still.

 

[DavidDetroit]

Sounds like you had a good fermentation. Did you get the expected OG? You can kickstart it but there are considerations to take into account. Use a beer calculator like Brewers Friend. I wouldn't up it more than a 1%.
Some of the Belgian recipes add sugar in steps so you could add some more sugar, dried or liquid malt extract, etc.
You have to make sure your yeast can handle it which it probably can in this case.
You're exposing the beer to more oxygen which isn't ideal and you could find the beer a little stale after two or three months.
You won't get the flavor the recipe was meant to produce. Depending on how much sugar, the beer will be dryer and, possibly, too dry. From experience, too much sugar can make the alcohol flavor prominent.

 

[jondi11]

It tastes nice, but lacking omppfff

 

[MrRook]

I recently done a MJ ipa with an extra MJ malt extract booster, used yeast it came with. Og 1.040 yesterday's was 1.012 so roughly 3.6 abv, was hoping for higher, could I kick-start it with dextrose to raise abv? It air lock bubbled for a few days before coming to a stand still.

You're not going to get much more with an OG of 1.040.

 

[jondi11]

You're not going to get much more with an OG of 1.040.

I did add more dextrose yesterday anyway, lively today.
So I should try for more like 1.050 as a starting abv? I'm not great at working out what's needed to pump up the sugar content. Can't trust what box says anyway.

 

[MrRook]

I did add more dextrose yesterday anyway, lively today.
So I should try for more like 1.050 as a starting abv? I'm not great at working out what's needed to pump up the sugar content. Can't trust what box says anyway.

To get a lower final gravity you need to replace some of the extract with sugar which is more fermentable.
The dextrose you added will ferment and give you more abv, but your final gravity probably won't change much, if any.

 

[Clint]

I recently done a MJ ipa with an extra MJ malt extract booster, used yeast it came with. Og 1.040 yesterday's was 1.012 so roughly 3.6 abv, was hoping for higher, could I kick-start it with dextrose to raise abv? It air lock bubbled for a few days before coming to a stand still.

What were the exact products you used? Sometimes you can get an inaccurate OG reading using extracts if they're not mixed thoroughly to start with. It's no big deal but quite common.

 

[clib]

Clint could be right. If the IPA kit was 2.2kg extract in weight, then you used 3.4kg extract in total. Top all this up to 23 litres and the OG would have been 1.046, regardless of what the hydrometer told you. Mixing extract and water in a bucket with water does not always provide an even mix, it could be denser at the bottom. What weight was the IPA kit?

If you prime the beer with sugar that would add around 0.2% to the ABV.

 

[jondi11]

I used this.

 

[jondi11]

I used this.View attachment 59847

 

[Tanglefoot]

That says it should finish at 1.006 for an abv of 4.4% which means your OG of 1.040 was correct.

Did you manage to get it restarted ?
If it tastes ok I'd just drink it and get another brew going !

 

[jondi11]

That says it should finish at 1.006 for an abv of 4.4% which means your OG of 1.040 was correct.

Did you manage to get it restarted ?
If it tastes ok I'd just drink it and get another brew going !

Didn't drop below 1.010.
Was it not enough yeast to finish the job maybe?

 

[MrRook]

Didn't drop below 1.010.
Was it not enough yeast to finish the job maybe?

If the beer stopped at 1.010 it was because the wort was done fermenting. You had enough yeast.

 

[Tanglefoot]

Didn't drop below 1.010.
Was it not enough yeast to finish the job maybe?

Lots of kits have 'optimistic' abv's.
To work out realistic fg you need to know the potential attenuation rate of the yeast.
You'd need a rate of 85% to get the advertised 4.4%. As it is your rate was 74% which is very respectable.

 

[jondi11]

Hi again, I injected co2 in with cartridge, it's puts a head on it put tastes flat, how can I rectify this issue please?

 

[jondi11]

I used ptft tape on king keg, still lost pressure, transferred to reliable keg,
Tastes OK but a bit thin.