I'm starting to think I have a dumper here

Well I brewed my 7th AG batch on Sunday and I'm thinking I may have to cut my loses and dump this

A little back story...

I picked up my grains from my LHBS on Saturday morning. I was going to use a vial of WL yeast I had at home but while in the store I saw they has Wyeast's Ringwood strain and since that was what the recipe called for I picked a pack up. We ended up running the grains through the store's mill twice because the crush didn't look too good. I thought even after the 2nd time that they didn't look very well crushed only cracked maybe. The owner said they were fine and rolled some in his hand to show they were really broken up. Got home and made up a quickie starter for the yeast and was a bit upset to see the sell by date was 11/06. Decide to brew with it anyway. Brewday went ok no problems untill I went to take a OG reading before pitching the yeast. The recipe called for it to be in the 1.060 to 1.070 range and I came in at 1.024 Now after 2 days I am seeing nothing as far as any activity in the carboy. Trying to decide if I want to pitch some dry yeast I have around for backup when I get out of work this afternoon if there still is no activity or just dump it based on the gravity reading since it doesn't look like there will be much to ferment anyway Oh well this would be the first batch I'e had to dump in a few years so maybe I was due.

This is by far my longest post. King of the run on sentence.

I am personally a bit confused as to why you are going to dump it?

I mean other than not being highly attenuated, does it taste bad?

Oh wait never mind! Your SG was 1.024...gotcha. Well it might be a good Kinderbier. Either that or you can save it for blending.

Uh, well...do you have any extract? If it hasn't fermented, then just add it back to your kettle, add more water, bring it to a boil, add more hops and enough extract to get your OG up to where it needs to be, then go through the whole process of cooling...then pitch a new yeast on there and see what happens. Unfermented wort is unfermented wort. I'm not sure if the presence of the first bum yeast in the boil will cause any off flavors, but you never know until you try. My thought is that the boil will kill them all and you won't have any worries about autolysis.

...wow, this is the second time today I've tried to talk someone out of dumping unfermented wort. weird!

Hadn't thought about extract. Only have a small amount around for starters and carbing and I don't really have time to swing by there after work. Maybe I can work it out though

First thing I'd do is go back to said LHBS and riase some hell about the sh!tty crush and out of date yeast.

what about getting in touch with the guy in the store and tell him the crush and the out of date yeast were a pile of pants. I would expect him to replace both for nothing after wasting a good deal of your time with this rubbish.

I'm shocked by the 1.024 gravity reading. Hell, I would expect to get that much gravity without even cracking the grains! Did you taste the wort? Is it sweet?

I've been wondering if Hennesy hasn't been crushing the grain enough - my efficiency has been pretty mediocre, overall (but not 1024-bad).

1024? Really?

I'd take a sample of the wort and double-check the gravity reading, then sample. I've got to believe that a 1024 wort is going to taste markedly different from what you're used to. Toss a pack of dry yeast in there, what's another $1.50 at this point? If it IS bad, ***** and complain to Roger, he should take care of you...

I was going to mention the yeast to the owner the next time I was in anyway. He's a good guy and very friendly so I don't want to ***** too much.Bird, I was going to take another reading before doing anything. When I saw the hydrometer Sunday I was like, WTF had to look at it twice, checked my wort temp, did my adjustments and came back the same. All my other AG batches have been right on the OG to within a point or two so I am figuring this is a one time thing.

Well got home, took another reading and at 64 deg F it was 1.026. It is showing no activity what so ever after just over 48 hrs. Even if I do get this to ferment it will never be beer. Wouldn't be able to pick up enough DME until Friday at the earliest so it's bye bye

On a good note however. My first months shipment from the beer of the month club I joined came today Two beers from Shipyards in Maine that I have never had and 2 from Brooklyn Brewery which I have had and liked. Got the Shipyards in the fridge for after dinner.

That is really, really odd. Were the grains THAT much less cracked than they usually are? I'm going down probably this Saturday to get ingredients for 777, I'll have to be extra-careful to check how well they are crushed before leaving.

This is why crushing your own works so good. You would have no one to blame except yourself!

the_bird said:

That is really, really odd. Were the grains THAT much less cracked than they usually are? I'm going down probably this Saturday to get ingredients for 777, I'll have to be extra-careful to check how well they are crushed before leaving.

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To be honest bird, it's the only thing I can think off. I had been hitting my OG's pretty closely up til now. I was a little over my mash temp at first but not by much. I even did a longer mash than usual, 90mins as apposed to 60.
The grain just didn't look very broken up, even after a second time through. It would break up if you rolled it around in your hand but thats it.

What time do you think you'll be over Sat? I still have your 3 beers from the FF bet to pay off. That and I want to talk to Roger.

boo boo said:

This is why crushing your own works so good. You would have no one to blame except yourself!

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My next purchase is going to be a mill, just pricing them out and trying to decide what to get.

I'll probably get up and over the mountain fairly early, I have a lot to get done at the house this weekend. I'll shoot for 10:00. I'm *hoping* he has the stuff that I'm going to need for the 777 Rye IPA; I should probably just order the yeast online, though.

Well as a follow up I decided to pitch the dry yeast I had. After a week the SOB finnally finished it's fermentation Go figure with that OG. I'm going to rack it to 2ndary as soon as the wife gets home from visiting her stepfather at the nursing home and I'll take a gravity to see where it ended up. I have no idea what this is going to taste like but I hate to waste beer.

In theort, cracked is all you need. Did you sparge with enough water at the 170f? You should get at least 60% efficiency with cracked grains vs crushed.

Throw a high atten dry yeast in there like nottingham, add a kilo (2.2 lbs) of disolved Corn Sugar. And you'll at least have a drinkable beer. Er.. once it ferments out.

Well while racking this brew to the 2ndary I finally think I figured out where I went wrong. I never boiled the wort down far enough. I was figuring on collecting about 5.5 gals or wort in the primary. I noticed while racking that I had almost 7gals in the primary I really need to either put a site gauge on my brew kettle or mark it some how.

It doesn't make the beer taste any better but at least I think I know where I screwed up for next time.

Add some Corn sugar and to bump up the alchohol. You'll still have a beer.