My first batch a Dogfish 60minute Ipa clone came out TERRIBLE. I fermented for 2 weeks, its been bottled for one week, I just to a sip and spit it out. First off the beer is suppose to be fairly dark and its almost clear it looks about like a Micalobe Ultra. The beer taste like a nasty tea. The only thing i think i could have botched is cracking the grain, i didnt know the store had a grinder so I used a rolling pin and hammer to crush it and i dont believe it did the job. Any ideas?
Total Failure
- Thread starter Ukfan369
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
SporkD2
Well-Known Member
recipe? we need more info
scinerd3000
Well-Known Member
using a rollingpin deffinitly will not crush to a satisfactory level. Id say you ended up with very minimal extraction and a very low gravity brew. Also one week in bottle is not enough to judge. Give it three weeks and if it still taste nasty give it 3 more...What was your starting gravity and final gravity assuminging you even took a hydrometer reading
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Pacman (see note)
Yeast Starter: Absolutely
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.070
Final Gravity: 1.018
IBU: 67.4
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 4.8
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 at 63 degrees
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 at 63 degrees
13 Pounds 2-row (US)
6 ounces Maris Otter malt
EDIT- I've been using Amber malt instead, and it's great! Thomas Fawcett amber malt.
.75 Warrior hops 16.4% AA (60 minutes) SEE NOTES ON HOPPING!
.50 Amarillo Gold 8.5% (35 minutes)
.50 Simco 12% (30 minutes)
.50 Simco 12% Dry hop
1.00 Amarillo Gold Dry hop
Irish Moss ( 1 tsp with 15 minutes left in the boil)
Pacman yeast used- took the f.g. to 1.010!
Hops were added as continous- first warrior only for the first 25 minutes just a few pellets at a time, then remainder all mixed together and continuosly added, starting at 35 minutes. Starter used, as pacman was reused. Fermentation started within 3 hours, at a nice steady rate for 6-8 days. F.g. was a bit low- ?temperature problems in the mash? I wanted the f.g. to be a bit higher and tried to mash at 153-154. Still, the f.g was a bit lower than I wanted at 1.010. I wanted it to be around 1.018.
Dry hopped 2/13/07 (pellet hops). Bottled 2/24/07.
Beer turned out fantastic!
Yeast: Pacman (see note)
Yeast Starter: Absolutely
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.070
Final Gravity: 1.018
IBU: 67.4
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 4.8
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 at 63 degrees
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 at 63 degrees
13 Pounds 2-row (US)
6 ounces Maris Otter malt
EDIT- I've been using Amber malt instead, and it's great! Thomas Fawcett amber malt.
.75 Warrior hops 16.4% AA (60 minutes) SEE NOTES ON HOPPING!
.50 Amarillo Gold 8.5% (35 minutes)
.50 Simco 12% (30 minutes)
.50 Simco 12% Dry hop
1.00 Amarillo Gold Dry hop
Irish Moss ( 1 tsp with 15 minutes left in the boil)
Pacman yeast used- took the f.g. to 1.010!
Hops were added as continous- first warrior only for the first 25 minutes just a few pellets at a time, then remainder all mixed together and continuosly added, starting at 35 minutes. Starter used, as pacman was reused. Fermentation started within 3 hours, at a nice steady rate for 6-8 days. F.g. was a bit low- ?temperature problems in the mash? I wanted the f.g. to be a bit higher and tried to mash at 153-154. Still, the f.g was a bit lower than I wanted at 1.010. I wanted it to be around 1.018.
Dry hopped 2/13/07 (pellet hops). Bottled 2/24/07.
Beer turned out fantastic!
northernlad
Well-Known Member
What did I miss?UKfan369 said:
The problem is that you are drinking 3 week old, green, uncarbonated beer. Give it a few more weeks and you might be surprised. Also, next time leave your beer in the fermenter for a little longer and your beer will reward you.
Rip
Well-Known Member
Whoah there. Something is wrong with that Hydrometer (??).
< https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Hydrometer >
- M
Wait, you tried to crush 13 pounds of malt by hand? I can't imagine you had any kind of efficiency whatsoever. Did you really get 1.07 for your original gravity? I'd wager you got half of that using the rolling pin, and that's why the beer finished out so dry (1.035 to 1.01 would not be unheard of).
michael.berta
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 6, 2007
- Messages
- 518
- Reaction score
- 20
Yeah the grain crush is huge. Grains need to be crushed. Also, you said this is your first batch. Many brewers don't start out with all grain brewing. can you maybe go over your process. Mash temp & time, sparging temp & time, did you hit your temperatures, did you hit your pre boil volume/gravity?...
The Pol
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2007
- Messages
- 11,390
- Reaction score
- 117
Crush...
Did you measure your OG? If not, that would have been helpful as it would have told the story.
You have a pretty highly hopped beer there, and you didnt mill the grain, you "cracked" it with a rolling pin. Your OG was really low, leaving you with a really low FG, throw in a crap ton of hops and voila... nasty beer.
The grain needs to be milled, should look like this:
Did you measure your OG? If not, that would have been helpful as it would have told the story.
You have a pretty highly hopped beer there, and you didnt mill the grain, you "cracked" it with a rolling pin. Your OG was really low, leaving you with a really low FG, throw in a crap ton of hops and voila... nasty beer.
The grain needs to be milled, should look like this:
Dang, I wish I had not read that. Now I'll have to crush up 13 lbs by hand and see what happens. A stone rolling pin against a granite counter top, experience in what a good crush looks like, and a brew rig might skew the results though. Goning to give it a try though and give the mill a rest...
The Pol
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2007
- Messages
- 11,390
- Reaction score
- 117
Dang, I wish I had not read that. Now I'll have to crush up 13 lbs by hand and see what happens. A stone rolling pin against a granite counter top, experience in what a good crush looks like, and a brew rig might skew the results though. Goning to give it a try though and give the mill a rest...
Since you know what a crush looks like, Id bet you may be much more succesful!
I remember crushing 2 pounds of grain for an extract batch in that manor and it took at least 30 minutes to get even close. I'm going to guess the OP had 30% efficiency and has a BU:GU ratio of at least 3:1. With such a low boil gravity, the IBUs will be off the charts.
I'm sorry it didn't work out for you- it's my favorite beer. It's not supposed to be dark, though- it's a very light colored beer. Mine comes out to an SRM of less than 5.
It's alot of grain to crush, that's for sure. I like to use 13 pounds of base malt, and only 6-8 ounces of amber malt. I've successfully used Crisp amber malt, and Thomas Fawcett amber malt with good results. One time I didn't have either, so I used aromatic malt and that was also fine.
If the crush was very poor, you probably had poor efficiency. As the others mentioned, if you had a very low OG, then you would end up with a very bitter beer. Still, I don't even bottle my DFH clone until it's a month or so old, so you're drinking it VERY young. It may mellow a bit.
It's alot of grain to crush, that's for sure. I like to use 13 pounds of base malt, and only 6-8 ounces of amber malt. I've successfully used Crisp amber malt, and Thomas Fawcett amber malt with good results. One time I didn't have either, so I used aromatic malt and that was also fine.
If the crush was very poor, you probably had poor efficiency. As the others mentioned, if you had a very low OG, then you would end up with a very bitter beer. Still, I don't even bottle my DFH clone until it's a month or so old, so you're drinking it VERY young. It may mellow a bit.
Dang, I wish I had not read that. Now I'll have to crush up 13 lbs by hand and see what happens. A stone rolling pin against a granite counter top, experience in what a good crush looks like, and a brew rig might skew the results though. Goning to give it a try though and give the mill a rest...
Go nuts, dude!
I bet the first pound comes out pretty good. I'm also betting the thirteenth pound... not so much!
Yeah, don't give up! Try it again with a good crusher, or buy pre-crushed grain. It will make all the difference. The fine crush will allow the wet warm water to activate enzymes in the grain, which will convert the sugars and starches to simple sugar. If the enzymes can't get wet and get into the grain bits, it will not convert.
Know that a very small difference in crush can make a pretty good difference in efficiency in the end.
Know that a very small difference in crush can make a pretty good difference in efficiency in the end.
Probably so, but it's on calender for November 7th. Then you all can give me your "told you so". Be back with pix and results......
ReverseApacheMaster
Well-Known Member
I bet it will turn out better in a few weeks.
What prompted this experiment was the saison beers of Belgium. The farmers surely did not have modern roller mills, so must have crushed the malt by some means.
Milling the malt......
The crush......
The Brix......
This is only an about 88% mash efficincy. The barley crusher usually hits around 92%. It worked pretty well though......
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2007
- Messages
- 62,016
- Reaction score
- 6,922
So that's about what, 1045'ish OG?
Weezknight
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2009
- Messages
- 333
- Reaction score
- 2
What was the total time it took to crush this?
20.05 brix/plato = 1.084 sg.
about 65 minutes....
Hannable1975
Well-Known Member
Hats off to you - that is hardcore ! :rockin::rockin:
damnyankee
Well-Known Member
When you order your grains, most of 'em will grind for free (or for an extremely small fee). Give it 3 or 4 weeks, the hops will mellow a bit and who knows...you could've made a killer light beer. Mistakes are how many great inventions were discovered.
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2008
- Messages
- 64,951
- Reaction score
- 16,516
Hannable1975
Well-Known Member
Especially since this thread is a year old!
Yeah, I am real bad for Thread Necromancy - but I use the Search Feature alot, so I come across old threads...And I gotta say on this case - that impressed me. NO WAY I would try to hand mill that much grain...
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2008
- Messages
- 64,951
- Reaction score
- 16,516
Hence my
- glad to see someone searches And, it's even more impressive because Suds is old! I mean really old!
Similar threads
