So this is whats up...

First All-Grain. Pretty Excited. I am moving really fast into this hobby. I got a Mr. Beer for Xmas, came out ok but I wanted more. I moved to 5 gallon UME/DME w/some grain steeping. That has been bottled and came out great for my first time. I am happy with it. Still I want to know more.


So my friend works for a small brewhouse. A restarunt with its own beer. They produce about 5 beers with a seasonal always available. He scored about 28 pounds of grain. What is the grain bill? I have no clue. I am going to get him to write it down for me. He says he formulated a "Bach". We were shooting to produce about 10 gallons of wort, but ended up with about 9'ish.


My concerns are, that I did not hit 1.070 (we hit 1.061) and this is not being lager'ed. The boil was done properly (or so I think) with an alpha and beta rests. Sparge was done. Plenty of time was devoted to it. haha. Atleast 5 hours from start to finish.


Another concern. This is not really a Bach, I guess. Since I do not lagering conditions, I have to ferment as an ale. I choose White Lab's "Klosch German Ale" yeast. He choose Wyeat's "Belgian Strong Ale". Currently it is fermenting. Its been 15 hours since I pitched.





I am interested in seeing how this comes out. Any thoughts are welcomed. Just sharing what I am doing.





Thanks for dropping by.

it's "Bock"....but close enough

Sounds good to me. No rules on what kind of yeast has to be used for a certain grist....it's all about experimenting!

ahhhh, baaacchhh

"aaahhhh'l be bach!"

if you only got 1.061 at 9g, instead of 1.07 at 10g you got some pretty bad efficiency (like 50%). due to the associated bump in ibus that came with it, even if you used the appropriate yeast this wasn't going to be a traditional bock anyway. with that said, it sounds like you had an interesting experience and good luck with it.

Ahhhh, yeah, bock. I for some reason keep spelling it that way because when I was a child, I played a trumpet and the brand was Bach and pronounced the same way. The composer Johaan Sebastian Bach is one of my favorite composers which makes me think to spell it the same way. Last time I make that mistake...

if you only got 1.061 at 9g, instead of 1.07 at 10g you got some pretty bad efficiency (like 50%). due to the associated bump in ibus that came with it, even if you used the appropriate yeast this wasn't going to be a traditional bock anyway. with that said, it sounds like you had an interesting experience and good luck with it.

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So yeah 50% efficiency? I am not entirely positive that there was 28 pounds of grain then. I can only think that was the problem. It was milled. It was rested. It was sparged. And plenty time was allowed for appropriate rests. I can only think there was not enough grains for the amount of water.


So this will not taste like a bock, should I expect it to taste more watery well hopefully, just lighter?

well typically bocks are pretty malty, and if you missed your OG by that much its going to swing your balance towards the hoppy side. i'm sure it'll still taste good, but just won't be entirely bock like

dcp27 said:

well typically bocks are pretty malty, and if you missed your OG by that much its going to swing your balance towards the hoppy side. i'm sure it'll still taste good, but just won't be entirely bock like

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I figured that. Good to know that I am at-least thinking like a brewer...now if I can get the brewing like a brewer down.....haha. I read up on this subject a little more. There is a few things that could have gone wrong that put me at such a low gravity.


I think I might go on a smaller scale next time when I decide to do this entirely by myself. I will do a two gallon all grain for my mr. beer fermenter just for sh!ts and giggles. A simple Klosch would be easy to do for the first time.

::this is an UPDATE::


So I racked into a secondary fermenter, I had a TON of sediment...See this link https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/lot-sediment-165295/ . I did not expect that much.

I tested my gravity. I am sitting at 1.012ish give or take .001 SG. The color has not changed much. Still dark redish brown. Clarity has improved a little. Well drastically since all that sediment fell out, but has not cleared otherwise.



One thing...I did something different. I am not using an air lock. Its not open. I have it sealed with plastic. My rational behind this is to keep oxygen out, while allowing 'beer gases' to occupy the volume and slowly pushing out oxygen and just 'beer gases' to interact with the beer. Less oxygen, less oxidation. Or should I just used an air lock? I don't know, just a thought...

One more thing...have you guy ever used TOO much hops? I know for some of you guys, you cannot ever have enough and your budget limits you. I tastes like a d*mn IPA. Its like sucking on a hop pellet. Well not that bad, but still pretty bitter.

Has that happen to anyone? Will it grow on me?

The boil was done properly (or so I think) with an alpha and beta rests. Sparge was done. Plenty of time was devoted to it. haha. Atleast 5 hours from start to finish.

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Did you actually "boil" your grains?? The MASH is where you perform differetn temp rests but never boiling.

IrregularPulse said:

Did you actually "boil" your grains?? The MASH is where you perform differetn temp rests but never boiling.

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good question. you could be confusing hop bitterness for astrigency from tannins

IrregularPulse said:

Did you actually "boil" your grains?? The MASH is where you perform differetn temp rests but never boiling.

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oops. sorry. I missed up on the terminology....no I did not boil the grains. I know thats a no-no. sorry for the confusion.

dcp27 said:

good question. you could be confusing hop bitterness for astrigency from tannins

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lol. i know tannis from hop bitterness. no confusion there.

from what i understand is that people that have homebrewed IPAs and the like said that with time some of the characteristics of the hoppy/bitter-ness will subside with time. i do not know this from personal experience, only with what i've read on this website though.

Omegagodly said:

from what i understand is that people that have homebrewed IPAs and the like said that with time some of the characteristics of the hoppy/bitter-ness will subside with time. i do not know this from personal experience, only with what i've read on this website though.

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Ahh, well thats good to hear! Thanks for the good news. Though I would drink it with a smile anyways...:fro: