EvilGnome6
Well-Known Member
I brewed this recipe on 8/9/2009:
The Golden Dragon
Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Ingredients:
Amount Item Type % or IBU
12 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 75.00 %
12.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 4.69 %
4.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.56 %
1.00 oz Sterling [7.50 %] (60 min) Hops 20.0 IBU
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (30 min) Hops 4.1 IBU
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (5 min) Hops 1.1 IBU
3 lbs Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 18.75 %
1 Pkgs Flanders Golden Ale (Wyeast Labs #3739) Yeast-Ale
Measured Original Gravity: 1.095 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.024 SG
This batch got a stuck fermentation. It stalled out at about 1.048. I added some yeast energizer and it stopped again at 1.046. Then I pitched a 1L starter of washed yeast from the primary. It got going again and stopped at 1.024 and stayed there for at least a week. Since BeerSmith had an estimated FG of 1.027, I figured it was within range so I bottled it.
I had a similarly slow-fermenting batch a few months before and it failed to carbonate so I decided to pitch some fresh yeast at bottling time. I made another 1L starter, let it ferment out and dropped 100mL from the starter in with 5 oz. of cane sugar for priming. The batch was bottled on 10/18/2009.
Half the batch was bottled in 500mL swing tops and the other half was bottled in 12oz bottles and capped with a Colonna capper (First time using the Colonna). One of the oddities with the Colonna capper is that it leaves an indentation in the middle of the cap. Last week I noticed this:
The one on the left is a bottle from a different batch I capped two days ago. The one on the right is a bottle of The Golden Dragon. When I saw that, I remembered a post by BigKanhuna:
Uh-Oh...
Sunday night I opened one of the swing tops and it had a pretty good pop (not much greater than some of my other beers) and good carbonation but it didn't seem excessive.
I'm getting worried. The popped up indentation is a bit of an ominous sign but I don't have any other carbonated Colonna-capped bottles for comparison to know if it's normal (at least with these caps - I'm using the oxygen scavenging type).
The other fact that concerns me is that my attenuation was 71.58% and that's below the rated attenuation of 74-78% given by Wyeast.
Am I being paranoid? Should I wait it out a few weeks to see if the indentations pop up on the new batch to verify if it's normal? Should I gear up and dispose of the whole batch? Should I carefully open and recap them? Help me HomeBrewTalk.com, you're my only hope.
The Golden Dragon
Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Ingredients:
Amount Item Type % or IBU
12 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 75.00 %
12.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 4.69 %
4.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.56 %
1.00 oz Sterling [7.50 %] (60 min) Hops 20.0 IBU
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (30 min) Hops 4.1 IBU
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (5 min) Hops 1.1 IBU
3 lbs Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 18.75 %
1 Pkgs Flanders Golden Ale (Wyeast Labs #3739) Yeast-Ale
Measured Original Gravity: 1.095 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.024 SG
This batch got a stuck fermentation. It stalled out at about 1.048. I added some yeast energizer and it stopped again at 1.046. Then I pitched a 1L starter of washed yeast from the primary. It got going again and stopped at 1.024 and stayed there for at least a week. Since BeerSmith had an estimated FG of 1.027, I figured it was within range so I bottled it.
I had a similarly slow-fermenting batch a few months before and it failed to carbonate so I decided to pitch some fresh yeast at bottling time. I made another 1L starter, let it ferment out and dropped 100mL from the starter in with 5 oz. of cane sugar for priming. The batch was bottled on 10/18/2009.
Half the batch was bottled in 500mL swing tops and the other half was bottled in 12oz bottles and capped with a Colonna capper (First time using the Colonna). One of the oddities with the Colonna capper is that it leaves an indentation in the middle of the cap. Last week I noticed this:
The one on the left is a bottle from a different batch I capped two days ago. The one on the right is a bottle of The Golden Dragon. When I saw that, I remembered a post by BigKanhuna:
Uh-Oh...
Sunday night I opened one of the swing tops and it had a pretty good pop (not much greater than some of my other beers) and good carbonation but it didn't seem excessive.
I'm getting worried. The popped up indentation is a bit of an ominous sign but I don't have any other carbonated Colonna-capped bottles for comparison to know if it's normal (at least with these caps - I'm using the oxygen scavenging type).
The other fact that concerns me is that my attenuation was 71.58% and that's below the rated attenuation of 74-78% given by Wyeast.
Am I being paranoid? Should I wait it out a few weeks to see if the indentations pop up on the new batch to verify if it's normal? Should I gear up and dispose of the whole batch? Should I carefully open and recap them? Help me HomeBrewTalk.com, you're my only hope.
