boswell

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Brewed Midwest's Hop head double IPA in a new cooler set up. Went wrong every which way. The false bottom became 'unhooked' when the locking nut and elbow came apart, had to pour the mash into a couple buckets, put everything together, pour mash back into the cooler. . .. this happened TWICE. Now to my questions, I mashed high 155ish, for 75 mins, and ended up around 1.070ish going into primary, used two packets of s-05, sat for two weeks, the gravity before going into secondary (dry hopping) was 1.006-.008. The beer smells very boozy and thin (to be expected with FG).

Malt bill:
14 lbs. Domestic 2-Row barley malt, 4 oz. Aromatic, 12 oz. Caramel 60L, 8 oz. Victory

Any reasons why? I assumed it would finish sweet because my mash temp was too high. I will report back with any other details I remember, just can't get my head around what happened.

hoppymonkey

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HOw did you manage to keep the temp at 155 thru all that? I bet the temp fells both time you did that and resulted in a very fermentable wort. Did you mash out as well? Are positive both gravity readings were correct? That is crazy dry.

motobrewer

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i'm gonna venture a guess that the mash temp dropped quite a bit while you were monkeying around

spriolo

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Your actual mashing temp was below 149*F for most of the "fixing and breaking mash tun" and pulled mostly fermentables out of your grain. no?

Although I've heard of others using S-05 an getting 85%+ attenuation (yours is closer to 88%).

Two packets of s-05? What was your volume when you pitched? 8 GAL?

boswell

Recipes 

Strike water was a little hot, even with pouring back and forth, twice(!) the mash was still between 153-155 even at mash out. Sparging was a pain in the ass as well, ended up collecting around 6.5 gallons for 70 minute boil, ended up with just at 5 gallons in the bucket. Prepared two packets ahead of time because I had predicted the SG to be a little higher than the 1.070, so pitched the whole measuring cup. Will report more details as I think of them.

edit: My bucket was sitting in a plastic keg bin with water half way up, down in the basement. The temp strip read 73 the whole first week.

GuldTuborg

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Have you calibrated the thermometer and hydrometer? Are you adjusting for temp in your gravity readings? 2 dry packets is also a pretty heavy overpitch. That might help net the extra attenuation as well.

The real question is, though, how does it TASTE?

wyzazz

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Are you saying it's too dry for you? If so then you can add MaltoDextrine when you bottle/keg, that will up the FG and give you more body without affecting the taste of the beer. I usually add 4oz for a 5gal batch if a beer is too thin for me.

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lalnx

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I also had a similar experience with an APA I brewed using S-05. 1.006 gravity while racking to secondary for dry hop. Really made the bitterness come across. I to was wondering if I could add something to tame it a little when kegging. Lactose came to mind right away, but I didn't know what that would do to the style. Would the MaltoDextrine be better, and the 4 oz you spoke of was that by weight or volume. This is a five gallon batch that I will be sugar priming in the keg in about another week

Thanks,

Noob, first time poster, long time lurker!

wyzazz

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MaltoDextrine adds no taste to the beer, just body & mouthfeel. 4oz is by weight.

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WPStrassburg

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I did the same kit a few months ago and wish mine had come down a little more from 1.010-12 as the only bad comment I've had on it is that it's a bit sweet, so you may be fine. Used the Wyeast 1056 with a starter. Not that it makes much of a difference, but I split the dry hop into 2 1 oz additions. One going into the secondary at 1.013 and the second about a week and a half later. Really good beer