First off, thanks to this site for already having all the answers to my beginner questions so far...
I've brewed a few extracts and a few all grains (5 imp gal) so far and they've turned out decent. My most recent all grain batch of porter (the sample porter recipe from the Beersmith 2 software) didn't go quite as planned as few days ago. After pitching the WYEAST and waiting two days nothing happened. And I mean NOTHING - my porter looked like flat coke after over 48 hours. I assumed the WYEAST was a dud and found the only place open that day and bought Coopers brewers yeast and pitched it in. The next day (the 3rd day) it looked more like the new yeast was swollen and was floating at the top rather than the foam that you'd expect, so I threw in yeast energizer. Now it's day 4 and there's a bit of foam on the top, but it definitely isn't what my previous batches looked like - maybe 1/4 the height that the foam usually reaches. Specific gravity is at 1.025 which I'm assuming is too low for this stage of the fermentation - but I'm a newbie so I may be wrong.
All this to ask:
- Did I ruin my batch by adding more yeast (and probably the wrong type of yeast) and yeast energizer?
- Is it possible that the sugar conversion didn't work properly (despite having my mash temperature right on for one hour straight)?
- Is it possible that the WYEAST package was no good? It's the first time I tried this kind of yeast.
- Can I still intervene with DME or LME? If so, how much would be safe and do I need to boil it?
- Will my beer turn out to be okay, but with very low alcohol content?
Thanks again - this site is amazing!
Ryan
I've brewed a few extracts and a few all grains (5 imp gal) so far and they've turned out decent. My most recent all grain batch of porter (the sample porter recipe from the Beersmith 2 software) didn't go quite as planned as few days ago. After pitching the WYEAST and waiting two days nothing happened. And I mean NOTHING - my porter looked like flat coke after over 48 hours. I assumed the WYEAST was a dud and found the only place open that day and bought Coopers brewers yeast and pitched it in. The next day (the 3rd day) it looked more like the new yeast was swollen and was floating at the top rather than the foam that you'd expect, so I threw in yeast energizer. Now it's day 4 and there's a bit of foam on the top, but it definitely isn't what my previous batches looked like - maybe 1/4 the height that the foam usually reaches. Specific gravity is at 1.025 which I'm assuming is too low for this stage of the fermentation - but I'm a newbie so I may be wrong.
All this to ask:
- Did I ruin my batch by adding more yeast (and probably the wrong type of yeast) and yeast energizer?
- Is it possible that the sugar conversion didn't work properly (despite having my mash temperature right on for one hour straight)?
- Is it possible that the WYEAST package was no good? It's the first time I tried this kind of yeast.
- Can I still intervene with DME or LME? If so, how much would be safe and do I need to boil it?
- Will my beer turn out to be okay, but with very low alcohol content?
Thanks again - this site is amazing!
Ryan