Dumbfounded...or just dumb

Hello all,

I wanted to get some feedback on why the FG of my American Pale Ale recipe came out so high. I am out of reasons. OG was 1.055. After 1 week gravity dropped to 1.032 where it still sits 3 weeks later. Tasted the beer today and it is not sweet like I expected, pretty bitter and very thin. All 4 of my thermometers are calibrated and read the same. Here's the recipe.

Recipe volume 5.5 gal

10 lbs US 2 row
1 lb 12 oz Crystal 60
6 oz Crystal 75
1 oz Magnum
.75 oz Ahantum
1 oz Cascade

1 qt yeast starter with WLP 001
Fermented at 68

Mashed 60 mins at 158
Mash out at 168 for 10 mins
Aerated 1 hr with aeration stone


Any input is GREATLY appreciated! Thanks everyone

Hi Lostfish,
Without knowing every detail of your process it's difficult to have a definate answer but, the first thing that caught my attention was your mash temp. of 158. At that temp. you probably denatured enzymes responsible for provided fermentable wort. That would be my first guess. Regarding the bitterness- in a 60 minute boil, you're getting about 55 ibu's with that first charge of hops and depending on the timing for the second and third hop you're getting into the 60-70 ibu range which is pretty bitter for a pale ale even with the residual sugar in the beer. Also, your mash efficiency is below 70%, that could be improved on in a couple of ways. Not sure about the thin mouth feel.Hope this is helpful.
mark
www.backyardbrewer.blogspot.com

lostfish said:

Hello all,

I wanted to get some feedback on why the FG of my American Pale Ale recipe came out so high. I am out of reasons. OG was 1.055. After 1 week gravity dropped to 1.032 where it still sits 3 weeks later. Tasted the beer today and it is not sweet like I expected, pretty bitter and very thin. All 4 of my thermometers are calibrated and read the same. Here's the recipe.

Recipe volume 5.5 gal

10 lbs US 2 row
1 lb 12 oz Crystal 60
6 oz Crystal 75
1 oz Magnum
.75 oz Ahantum
1 oz Cascade

1 qt yeast starter with WLP 001
Fermented at 68

Mashed 60 mins at 158
Mash out at 168 for 10 mins
Aerated 1 hr with aeration stone


Any input is GREATLY appreciated! Thanks everyone

Click to expand...

All I can offer are more things to consider. What was the age and handling condition of the WLP001? Did the starter show any signs of propagation? 158F is on the high side, is it possible it was even higher? On a related topic, did you really mean thermometer above or did you mean hydrometer. If it tastes thin then it seems unlikely it could be 1.032.

Did you calibrate your hydrometer? If you're not tasting sweetness, 1.055 -> 1.032 doesn't make all that much sense to me.

One other thought. Why aerate for an hour. Seems excessive, not necessary.
mark
www.backyardbrewer.blogspot.com

mbird said:

Hi Lostfish,
the first thing that caught my attention was your mash temp. of 158. At that temp. you probably denatured enzymes responsible for provided fermentable wort.

Click to expand...

158 will not halt conversion. It's a common mash temp for producing a dextrinous wort, but not so much that you would reach only 1.032 from 1.055.

Have you checked your hydrometer as bwarbiany said? See if it reads 1 in distilled water.

Yeah, bad hydrometer, you mashed higher than 158 or your yeast was not too healthy.

The 2+ pounds of crystal malts has a lot to do with it.
Way way too much.


_

Thank you all for your input! I used my refractometer for the readings, which read 0 with distilled water. I think with your advise I have narrowed it down ( I think) to having a little too much crystal along with too high of mash temps making the wort too dextrous. I'll re scale the recipe next time along with LESS hops Thanks!

If you're using a refractometer you have to correct the reading due to the alcohol. Try this webpage

http://www.brewheads.com

If your original reading was around 13.5 and you're reading 8 now, you are actually around 1.017.

Spartan1979 said:

If you're using a refractometer you have to correct the reading due to the alcohol. Try this webpage

http://www.brewheads.com

If your original reading was around 13.5 and you're reading 8 now, you are actually around 1.017.

Click to expand...

+1. 10.17 is actually pretty good for all the crystal and high mash temp. Let it age for a good while and I bet it will taste much better.

I don't know why that didn't cross my mind. Even though it fermented to 1.017, lesson learned on the specialty malts. Thanks, you guys rock.

lostfish said:

I think with your advise I have narrowed it down ( I think) to having a little too much crystal along with too high of mash temps making the wort too dextrous.

Click to expand...

IMO, that's the above is the solution.

Wait, it was at .032 for three weeks, now it's at .017? Something doesn't jive.


_

He was advised that you have to use a correction algorithm to use a refractometer for FG and that he's probably at 1.017.