Went way over mash temp now og is horrendously off can I fix it?

[u/erenaslankur]

Hey!

I'm trying to brew a festive / winterwarmer lager I had a planned abv of 8.5-9% so I used around 8.5 kilos of malt (can share the recipe if it helps) I added around a kilo of brown sugar after boil for the taste + alcohol bump also have added spices with hops to stop it from being too sweet

I ran a new heating system for the first time this brew, I basically made a diy fermentation controller/inkbird and upgraded my heating system this brew, I'm using 2 2 kilowatt submersible water heaters and a 2kw electric stove a total of 6kws of heating power, I very very underestimated this number and set my thermostat to 67c with a sensitivity of 0.5 degrees.

I ended up mashing at 80 degrees for the first 2-3 minutes and 65-75 degrees for the rest of the boil. I tried to mash for longer to try and fix it but even with a sparge I was way under my planned og, I was shooting for a 1070-1090 og, ended up with 1055 even with the added sugar.

After checking the hydrometer I gave it a taste and it's very very sweet, sweeter than the regular worth taste if that makes any sense.

Is there anything I can do? I have been thinking about doing a staggered feeding like you do with meads, wait for Krausen to form and slowly add around a kilo of sugar / brown sugar mixture

Would adding sugar like this ruin the mouthfeel? Do I need to add extra yeast? I originally bought 2 to help with the fermentation but only added one pack since 1055og.

I also have pure alcohol at home, 97%. I can add a bit of that?

3 kilos of München malts 3 kilos of Vienna malts 1kg of wheat malt 1 kg of pale ale malt 250 grams of dark coffe malt 250grams of dark crystal malt 350grams of oats 1 kilo brown sugar

[u/BeerBrewer4Life]

Get amylase and add it . Simple. It will break down the complex sugars .directions on the container

[u/erenaslankur → u/BeerBrewer4Life]

Thanks for the suggestion, the worth is in the fermenter with the yeast would adding amylase now work? Wouldn't it ruin the mouthfeel?

[u/BeerBrewer4Life → u/erenaslankur]

Yes you can add amylase during fermentation. Your mouthfeel will be bad now, too slick , full and sweet with all that dextrin sugar. Amylase breaks the bonds so the yeast can eat the sugar. Read direction carefully and dose appropriately.

[u/Brief-Gene-4094 → u/BeerBrewer4Life]

amylase is the play here, that high mash temp made a ton of unfermentable sugars which is why it tastes so sweet. adding sugar now will just boost the abv but wont fix the sweetness or body problem.

i would avoid the pure alcohol idea, that will thin it out too much and might taste hot. the amylase should dry it out proper without messing with the mouthfeel like extra sugar would

[u/Warscythe115]

not sure if 80 (Celsius I take it) for a few minutes will matter, but unsure. I have had mine in the early days that high before no issues. Now the rest of the mash was up and down between 65 and 75 or did it rise to 75 and how long did you mash for. 1.070 to 1.090 is a big jump for 'I guess' did you use any software to give you numbers?
Also even the best systems can run into extraction efficiency problems aiming that high.

[u/erenaslankur → u/Warscythe115]

Hey, it was moving between 75 and 65 for the rest of the mash, I mashed for around 90 minutes. I didn't use a software since where I'm from we don't really get brand malts and malts we get are not consistent. I calculated it using the theoretical info from the brew shop and book I use to get recipes.

I gave such a big gap because I am using a brew in a bag method and im still new to this method. For reference my recipe was: 3 kilos of München malts 3 kilos of Vienna malts 1kg of wheat malt 1 kg of pale ale malt 250 grams of dark coffe malt 250grams of dark crystal malt 350grams of oats 1 kilo brown sugar

[u/outlaw2019]

How long did your mash temperature take to decrease from 80C to under 70C?

[u/erenaslankur → u/outlaw2019]

Around 5 minutes. I added room temp water on top to chill it fast