Sorrow
Well-Known Member
Hey guy, long time lurker, lots of great advice I've gotten over the last year or so. But now I'm hoping I can get some thoughts/input on my last two batches.
A little over a month ago I brewed up an AHS Pumpkin Ale and an AHS Northland Ale kit. Both partial mash recipes. Everything went according to plan, have brewed both many times before, Northland being one of my favorites. Got my wort down to around 72-74ish pitched my yeast, then moved the fermenters (Ale Pails) to the basement where it stays pretty consistant at 67-68.
Typically I start to see activity in the airlock within a day and know things have taken off. This time though, I didn't see anything. First couple of days nothing was going on, on the third day I took a reading, no change to OG. I checked on here, lots of threads say to give it time, be patient, so I did. On the fourth day, still no change. I hit the local LHBS and the owner there advised I repitch and everything should be fine. So I came home with new yeast (White Labs Liquid) and repitched. By the morning of day 5 there was activity and things were moving along.
I left the beer in the primary for 2 weeks, then moved to a secondary for a week and a half. After that I kegged the beer, hooked up the CO2 and let it sit for a couple of days before it was moved into the Kegerator. It's been in there 5 days chilling.
Had my first couple of glasses last night from each, and neither one tastes right. The pumpkin has great pumpkin smell, and looks good, but when you drink it, it's really thin in body with a really yeasty taste, and a hint of pumpkin after taste. The Northland, which is an amber ale and should have a touch of hops, tastes like stale water and yeast. No hop smell or flavors. Both are pretty horrible to drink. The yeast is just way to over powering.
So I'm hoping there might be some suggestions I could try to see if these beers can be saved. I thought about pulling them out of the kegerator, let them warm up a bit and age longer, see if that would clear it up. But I'm open to any other advice or suggestions. I've been brewing the last couple of years, but this is the first time I've had two batches do this. Only difference this time around in my process was I didn't make a starter. Ran out of time, and read enough threads that had me thinking just pitching the liquid yeast from the vial would be sufficient.
Thanks in advance. Appreciate any feedback.
A little over a month ago I brewed up an AHS Pumpkin Ale and an AHS Northland Ale kit. Both partial mash recipes. Everything went according to plan, have brewed both many times before, Northland being one of my favorites. Got my wort down to around 72-74ish pitched my yeast, then moved the fermenters (Ale Pails) to the basement where it stays pretty consistant at 67-68.
Typically I start to see activity in the airlock within a day and know things have taken off. This time though, I didn't see anything. First couple of days nothing was going on, on the third day I took a reading, no change to OG. I checked on here, lots of threads say to give it time, be patient, so I did. On the fourth day, still no change. I hit the local LHBS and the owner there advised I repitch and everything should be fine. So I came home with new yeast (White Labs Liquid) and repitched. By the morning of day 5 there was activity and things were moving along.
I left the beer in the primary for 2 weeks, then moved to a secondary for a week and a half. After that I kegged the beer, hooked up the CO2 and let it sit for a couple of days before it was moved into the Kegerator. It's been in there 5 days chilling.
Had my first couple of glasses last night from each, and neither one tastes right. The pumpkin has great pumpkin smell, and looks good, but when you drink it, it's really thin in body with a really yeasty taste, and a hint of pumpkin after taste. The Northland, which is an amber ale and should have a touch of hops, tastes like stale water and yeast. No hop smell or flavors. Both are pretty horrible to drink. The yeast is just way to over powering.
So I'm hoping there might be some suggestions I could try to see if these beers can be saved. I thought about pulling them out of the kegerator, let them warm up a bit and age longer, see if that would clear it up. But I'm open to any other advice or suggestions. I've been brewing the last couple of years, but this is the first time I've had two batches do this. Only difference this time around in my process was I didn't make a starter. Ran out of time, and read enough threads that had me thinking just pitching the liquid yeast from the vial would be sufficient.
Thanks in advance. Appreciate any feedback.