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CoopersGoose · 02-21-2013, 01:20 AM

What's up with the time stamp being off so much? Time is 9:20 pm.

mardbrown · 02-21-2013, 01:37 AM

i need to try an extract version of this. I will say it was mighty cool to stumble across this thread and see the JRHB shouted out in here. Been a member since December.

eulipion2 · 02-21-2013, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoopersGoose

Had a glass tonight. Bottles overflow with foam. Disappointed in that for sure. Flavor doesn't seem affected. My guess is that I bottled too early. Thinking about dumping remaining into keg to see if I can correct. I've read some having bigger beers take longer to carb, but it's been a while now since I bottled, have to chek notes. This beer has good flavor, not totally off target. Will debate next steps.

I've had this problem with my last few batches of stout, including Rhoobarb's Damned Kids Oatmeal Stout, Ó Flannagáin Standard, and my own session milk stout. Oddly enough, they all seemed to have reached terminal gravity by the time I bottled, and I used a priming calculator that has otherwise never failed me.

Wondering if some kind of bug got into my system, but I'm glad to know it's not just me.

**MadGus** · 02-22-2013, 06:29 AM

cooper & eulipion - FWIW, I had beerstone in my stainless conical from probably over a year's worth of batches, which took HOURS to scrub off with BKF and a scrub pad. I then cleaned (PBW or equivalent) and sanitized (StarSan or equivalent) all of my cold/post-boil side equipment. I only, finally did this after four consecutive batches of gushers... they were all infected. I believe I had bugs living in the beerstone deposits that weren't getting cleaned between batches

Good news is that all four batches since then have been fantastic, so I'm confident I got the root cause. Now, I hit my conical with BKF after each batch (which takes five minutes). May be you have a different issue, but what you're describing are exactly the symptoms that had me start troubleshooting (I wasted a lot of time thinking my volumes of priming sugar were off at first).

This GBS recipe is next up in my brew schedule... thanks all for posting info on this extremely tasty beer!

eulipion2 · 02-22-2013, 05:04 PM

I think if I have a problem, it's probably in the plastic transfer equipment. New bottling bucket, tubing, and bottling wand are probably in order. My Better Bottle is still fairly new and clean as a whistle. Steel conical would be nice. I find it curious that I only have this problem with stouts. IPA, Munich Dunkel, and a couple saisons came out great.

CoopersGoose · 02-23-2013, 04:02 PM

My final gravity reading was 1.024, so I think fermentation was pretty close to complete. This was my first batch in 7 years or so, so I admit I was a bit rusty. Sanitation is something I always take extra precautions with. Cleaned everything with one step - even pre-boil items. Fermenter was cleaned with one step and and sanitized with star sans. I'm confident up to fermentation I was good.

Bottling might have been problematic. Did clean equipment religiously. New tubing used, new bottling bucket, bottle filler was sanitized, following cleaning. That leaves bottles, and caps. Caps were unused but probably 8-9 years old. Sanitized in star sans. Likely not the issue, but worth noting. Bottles were recycled from empties. Definitely had some with mold in them due to them not initially being rinsed. Cleaned well and then sanitized.

If it were contamination in bottles, I'd expect some bottles to be fine, with others producing gushers. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case. Seems like the issue is with all bottles. Batch of BierMunchers Centennial Blonde Ale that I made following this batch came out great, although I did keg that batch. If i picked something up, it was likely in the bottling step. I'm going to leave what I have left alone for another 6 weeks and see what happens. Read this issue can happen with bigger beers. Not sure why, but maybe it has to do with higher alcohol content delaying absorption of co2.

eulipion2 · 04-01-2013, 12:20 AM

Well, finally pulled the trigger on this one yesterday. Wanted to chill it, but got a hole in my chiller tubing that was spraying into the wort, so I ended up pumping it into my no-chill container. Haven't transferred to primary yet, but the trub smelled amazing!!! Nice ginger and molasses character. I'll transfer and get stats on it and post tomorrow-ish.

eulipion2 · 04-01-2013, 07:13 PM

Transferred to primary and took my hydro sample. OG came in a little low (1.095, 68%), which I should have taken into account. Brew-in-a-bag with a large grain bill usually hurts your efficiency.

That said, hydro sample smells like gingerbread with a molasses-forward bite, and hints of raisins, prunes, and other dried dark fruit. Four ounces of peeled, sliced ginger is very noticeable, but no vanilla (2 beans, split & scraped) or cinnamon (2 tsp ground). We'll see how it is after fermentation.

eulipion2 · 04-01-2013, 07:17 PM

Recipe:
11 lb Maris Otter
1.5 lb Victory malt
1.25 lb Lactose
1.25 lb flaked oats
1.0 lb Extra Dark crystal
.75 lb Chocolate malt (UK)
3 oz Black Barley

3 oz Challenger (6.9% AA) 60 min
.5 oz EKG (5.9%AA) 60 min (ran out of Challenger, needed to make up the diff.)

4 oz Ginger, fresh, peeled, and sliced - 15 min
2 tsp Cinnamon, ground - 15 min
2 Vanilla beans, split & scraped - 15 min
2 lb Wildflower honey - 5 min

2 packs US-05

Mash: 156 for 60 min
Mash-out: 170 for 15 min
Boil: 60 min

CoopersGoose · 04-02-2013, 02:47 PM

Good luck! Didn't notice any lactose in your recipe. The one thing my initial attempt lacked was that thick full bodied richness and noticeable sweetness that the GBS has. I upped the recommended amount of lactose in the recipe to bring this out, hopefully. It will be interesting to see how it matures. I'm guessing this will be ready around the mid summer timeframe? Best of luck!