Low SG on Porter
Posted by Bernie - Tue 10/16/01 13:42

I read once that if you increase your grain by 30% you can brew an all grain batch without the sparge and still get the correct SG and also get a more full-bodied beer. Well, I tried it this weekend on a Porter and, it didn't work out so good. In retrospect, I probably should have stepped the steep up from 150 to 170 for another 15 minutes (I steeped at 150 for an hour) but, anyway, the end result was that I got an Sg of 1.040 instead of the 1.055 I should've gotten. So now, my question is, should I add some DME to bring the gravity up? If so, how much would I need to add to bring a 5 gallon batch from 1.04 to 1.055? If I don't add the DME, what effects will the low SG have on the beer, other than lower alcohol content?

Thanks in advance for any pointers!