lone_wolf
Well-Known Member
Fellas, for sh*ts and g1ggles I decided to try something last brewday that I have been wanting to try for sometime now in an attempt to really shove a solid malt backbone into my Best Bitter - and that is the idea of boiling a small subset of wort down to a caramel syrup and then adding back to the main boil.
My mash params were also pretty standard - 1 hr 30 mins at 155f.
I think my quantities for the caramel extraction were pretty standard too - I started with 2 litres/quarts and I'm proud to say I got it down to a thick tar-pit consistency by the end and about half a cup available.
OG once the syrup and wort were reacquainted was 1055 in 23 litres.
Now fermentation was interesting. Started super quick and...finished super quick. No airlock activity after about 3 days. not usual for my conditions
2 weeks later (gasp) FG is 1020... 63% attentuation. ?! Without the caramel syrup Beersmith had me up for a FG of 1012..
Now the complicating factor is that because LHbS was out of my house yeast (wyeast 1968), I had a crack at a cheap dry yeast (Sterling Ale Yeast - some cheap australian manufactured crap). Anyway, point is the spec sheet for this yeast brags about its attentuation capabilities (so I'm going to assume its a high attenuator).
So what the hell happened here - I just cannot believe that half a cup of caramel syrup in 23 litres of wort can add a whopping 8 points of FG? Or is that exacly what it is intended to do..?
My mash params were also pretty standard - 1 hr 30 mins at 155f.
I think my quantities for the caramel extraction were pretty standard too - I started with 2 litres/quarts and I'm proud to say I got it down to a thick tar-pit consistency by the end and about half a cup available.
OG once the syrup and wort were reacquainted was 1055 in 23 litres.
Now fermentation was interesting. Started super quick and...finished super quick. No airlock activity after about 3 days. not usual for my conditions
2 weeks later (gasp) FG is 1020... 63% attentuation. ?! Without the caramel syrup Beersmith had me up for a FG of 1012..
Now the complicating factor is that because LHbS was out of my house yeast (wyeast 1968), I had a crack at a cheap dry yeast (Sterling Ale Yeast - some cheap australian manufactured crap). Anyway, point is the spec sheet for this yeast brags about its attentuation capabilities (so I'm going to assume its a high attenuator).
So what the hell happened here - I just cannot believe that half a cup of caramel syrup in 23 litres of wort can add a whopping 8 points of FG? Or is that exacly what it is intended to do..?