On the 12th of Jan I brewed a very simple 2.5 gal all grain BIAB batch of English ale with 4.5 lb of Maris otter, 7 oz. of crystal 150 and 3.5 oz. of dextrose/ maltodextrine brewenhancer. Hopped with magnum and EKG hops. And chose S-04 for my yeast This was my 6th all grain BIAB batch. I Brewed with extract before.
I thought my mash went very well. mashed in @ 154F kept it quite consistent in my ghetto mash kettle but temp still dropped a little over the hour to 150-151F. Then I raised the temp toward the end to 156F. Added some yeast nutrient 10 min. Before flameout.
Pitched yeast ( dry, sprinkled on wort as per instructions)in the evening and put my fermentor on a heatpad cause the house gets very cold at night. Next morning saw action in the fermentor and in the evening high krausen. 24 hrs. later it fell silent. I had forgotten to turn the heatpad on at night... 2 days later I decided to check the gravity. It was still @ 1.020. Tried rousing the yeast a few times but nothing. Another 2 days later rechecked SG: still at 1.020. Decided to re- pitch another pack of s-04, this time rehydrated. Still nothing...
So, my 2 questions as in the title of this thread: why? My mash temps weren't that high were they? I checked my thermometer. It's o.k. And with my previous 5 batches I had no problem. And the maltodextrine I added wasn't enough to keep the SG this high, was it? So was it the drop in temperature because I forgot the heatpad the 2nd night?And then, what to do about it? What would you do? Sample tasted O.K. Of course a bit on the sweet side. In this 2.5 gal batch I used .42 oz of magnum(14.7%) @ 60 min and .35 oz of EKG(6.4%) @ 15 min. And .35 oz @ 5 min. Should amount to about 40 IBU's? I guess it's sufficiently bitter to offset the sweetness but would like it a little drier. Any suggestions?
I thought my mash went very well. mashed in @ 154F kept it quite consistent in my ghetto mash kettle but temp still dropped a little over the hour to 150-151F. Then I raised the temp toward the end to 156F. Added some yeast nutrient 10 min. Before flameout.
Pitched yeast ( dry, sprinkled on wort as per instructions)in the evening and put my fermentor on a heatpad cause the house gets very cold at night. Next morning saw action in the fermentor and in the evening high krausen. 24 hrs. later it fell silent. I had forgotten to turn the heatpad on at night... 2 days later I decided to check the gravity. It was still @ 1.020. Tried rousing the yeast a few times but nothing. Another 2 days later rechecked SG: still at 1.020. Decided to re- pitch another pack of s-04, this time rehydrated. Still nothing...
So, my 2 questions as in the title of this thread: why? My mash temps weren't that high were they? I checked my thermometer. It's o.k. And with my previous 5 batches I had no problem. And the maltodextrine I added wasn't enough to keep the SG this high, was it? So was it the drop in temperature because I forgot the heatpad the 2nd night?And then, what to do about it? What would you do? Sample tasted O.K. Of course a bit on the sweet side. In this 2.5 gal batch I used .42 oz of magnum(14.7%) @ 60 min and .35 oz of EKG(6.4%) @ 15 min. And .35 oz @ 5 min. Should amount to about 40 IBU's? I guess it's sufficiently bitter to offset the sweetness but would like it a little drier. Any suggestions?