Bookem15

Recipes 

Have done several batches of AG and now I have an issue. On 4-9-12 I put this recipe together....

11 lbs 2 row
8 oz crystal 80
8 oz carapils
2 oz special B
2 roasted barley
1.5 lbs honey (5 minutes left in boil)

1/2 oz northern brewer (60 min)
1 oz fuggles (5 min)
Will be doing 1 oz fuggles dry hop

Us 04 with a 1000 ml yeast starter

Post boil gravity reading 1.072

Fermented at 64-66 degrees F

As I was getting ready for dry hop addition ( my first time trying ) and I decided to take a gravity reading so I knew where I was at after 9 days fermenting. The fermentation was very vigorous and it is still very slowly going.

Here is where my problem is, I took a reading and it came out to 1.033 after 9 days and I really thought it was going to be lower than that. Should I rack to secondary and add more yeast or just let it be?

Any help would be appreciated......

Waterboy42

Recipes 

What was your mash temp?

Hanso

Recipes 

It's either the honey yeast combo (unlikely) or too high mash temp. Us04 definitely tolerates high alcohol in my limited use of it (barleywine) so there are probably unfermentable sugars in there.

rpres1977

Recipes 

No no no no......never move a brew in the middle of fermentation! If you still got activity let it ride and don't rack to secondary vessel till gravity is stable and no fermentation activity present. Be patient and let the yeast do their job. There is still a lot of misconception about secondary fermentation vs. secondary vessel. Your secondary vessel is a bright tank or clearing vessel, shouldn't be any ferm going on in secondary unless you add adjuncts such as fruit or something. I'll actually even add fruit to primary and let it ferment out before racking since its also less cleanup

Bookem15

Recipes 

Mash temp was 151-152 and I never have done a secondary but this is the highest abv I have attempted and was not sure

rpres1977

Recipes 

Mash temp looks perfect for good fermentability. I'd wait it out another 7days at least with that high a gravity brew

Bookem15

Recipes 

After looking at calendar I am going out of town on Tuesday so I guess it sits until next Sunday. I will just have to wait and see.

jagg

Recipes 

I'd give it at least 3 weeks in primary, then bottle or keg, assuming all fermentation is complete, and I am sure it will be, good luck.

Bookem15

Recipes 

Ok I kegged this batch and the big issue is that it has alcohol taste to it. If I just let it sit for a few weeks in the fridge it might be drinkable but it isn't yet. We will just have to wait.

tennesseean_87

Recipes 

What did the FG come out to? Ferm temps? If your thermometer is off by a few degrees that can mess up your mashing.

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