Cold Country Brewery

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Hi all, I'm fairly new to all grain brewing (about 5). Last brew day I did a 10 gallon batch and divided it up between 2 boils. OG on both was 1.054.

Pot 1) Essentially a weak dead guy with English ale yeast - almost 2 weeks later FG 1.022

Pot 2) Pale ale with American Ale yeast - almost 2 weeks later 1.008!

What happened here? I used the same grist in both beers, only difference was the yeast and the hopping schedule. I've used American Ale plenty of times before and it's never gotten that low before. The Pot 1 @ 1.022 had a nice fullness to it with some sweetness. Pot 2 @ 1.088 was very empty tasting, thin and dry.

What went wrong with Pot 2 (wild yeast?), and is there ANY kind of solution? Could I put some Campden in there now, add DME (to put back some sweetness that won't ferment out) and force carbonate it?

I tested it last night, I'll test it again for the next couple days to see if it's done fermenting (I sure hope so).

david_42

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The first thing I'd try is 8 oz of maltodextrin. That will add body, mouthfeel, and some sweetness. Boil the MD in a pint water before adding, unless you are into foam volcanoes.

May take a pound, but start with 8 oz.

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surfingpl

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What temps did they ferment at? Exact same for both? How do you control fermentation temp?

Cold Country Brewery

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I'll try the maltodextrin.

I fermented side by side in my kitchen (SWMBO hates it ). I don't have any kind of fermentation chamber, so it wasn't a controlled ferment, other than my house is always between 65-68. But they were side by side. Note the two different yeasts though.

SailorTodd

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What american ale yeast? Wyeast? Did you use a starter? I haven't had direct experience with Wyeast, but I've had similar experience with high attenuation using White Labs California ale yeast.

I had a 1.065 gravity amber ale that mashed at 154 ferment down to 1.008. I would have called it a fluke, but I've always had pretty high attenuation with it when I fermented at room temp.

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Cold Country Brewery

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Wyeast, no starter. I've used Wyeast American Ale before and it has never gone that low.

pabloj13

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There are lots of reports of it going that low. My last 1056 ferment went to 1.008 too. Kinda surprised that it went that low with your mash temp, though. My last brew I used 1056 on a stout mashed just under 154 and it stopped at 1.014. Are you sure of your thermometer?

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Polboy

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funny, i was just checking my notes as im drinking homebrew brown that is lacking a body and with 153F start to 150 after 1h mash US04 took it down to 1.008, im really disappointed by this, this beer had great potential but turned out low mediocre

Cold Country Brewery

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99% sure, but I'll double check anyway. Thanks

But if my thermometer was off, you would think both would ferment quite low.

I just checked this morning and the gravity has stayed the same, I think it's safe to assume they are done fermenting. At least it won't go lower than 1.008!

Cartsky

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Did you conduct a mash out before sparging? If the second pot cooled w/o a mashout to denature the enzymes, the wort could have become more fermentable than your mash temps would indicate.

This happened to one of my recent brews when I didn't get my mash out water hot enough and then got delayed between sparging and boiling.... Went down to 1.008 in about four days and didn't have much body at all.