Three Floyd's Dreadnaught Clone, partial mash.

Hi! My first batch, the Russian Imperial Stout, was a great success, and is all gone. (I brewed it earlier this year.) my second batch is a single hop IPA using all Centennial hops. It's still bottle conditioning. My husband said it's too citrusy for him. Tastes like Blue Moon.
Just got home from my local homebrew store (My Old Kentucky Homebrews, Louisville, KY) I got what I need to do a three Floyd's Dreadnaught. I have a recipe. And will do the partial mash. But there my recipe ends. Well, I do have times for adding hops then it ends.
I will probably want to put it into a secondary, won't i? For now long? Then now long in the bottle before it will be drinkable?
Please help??

It's been four days since brewing. There has been no movement of the airlock to indicate fermentation. Nothing to smell at the top of the airlock. I opened the fermenter to see if there was kreusen. None. Just a very few bubbles and three or four dime sized circles of something that look white and fuzzy. I am assuming that is mold. Would I be correct? If it's mold, it's ruined!
Feeling very discouraged right now.

What kind of yeast did you use? What temp did you pitch your yeast? Did you
aerate the wort somehow? I never look at the airlock for much. Gravity samples are the only way to know for sure.

I used wyest 1968. The temp. Ok. Just looked it up. I killed the yeast. It 140 degrees. Too hot. Way too hot.
I have read that I can try to siphon the wort out from under the funky looking top and into another fermenter. Is this true ? If I do I will have to pitch more yeast, correct? Is it worth the effort?
The instructions I had to go by were not clear, but it is absolutely my fault!

I just got back from my local homebrew store. I was told it was not mold, but was what yeast there was growing on the surface. He suggested I simple mix it all jp and pitch new yeast. I had already siphoned the middle part out, leaving the bottom refuse and the top layer of "scum." So I just pitched the new yeast into as instructed. We shall see!

If you pitched at 140 you probably killed a fair amount of the yeast, some yeast are crazy survivors but I am sure it would have been a very small percentage and not enough to get the job done. Your homebrew store person should have advised you to drop that wort temp into the low to mid 60's and then repitch another pack of 1968 and let temp rise to 67-70 or so (you'll have to look up optimum ferm temp range), the old maybe dead yeast would just become yeast nutrients they are cannibalistic to dead cells. If you were not opening and closing the fermenter too many times and pitched enough fresh viable yeast I have $5 says you'll be fine.

Good luck. I've brewed several variations of Dreadnaught and loved all of them except for an English version. You should be fine since you repitched.

Neopol said:

If you pitched at 140 you probably killed a fair amount of the yeast, some yeast are crazy survivors but I am sure it would have been a very small percentage and not enough to get the job done. Your homebrew store person should have advised you to drop that wort temp into the low to mid 60's and then repitch another pack of 1968 and let temp rise to 67-70 or so (you'll have to look up optimum ferm temp range), the old maybe dead yeast would just become yeast nutrients they are cannibalistic to dead cells. If you were not opening and closing the fermenter too many times and pitched enough fresh viable yeast I have $5 says you'll be fine.

Click to expand...

I didn't open the fermenter until yesterday, and saw the icky stuff.
I added the new yeast a couple of hours ago, and within an hour it became very active. (When I siphoned the "good" part from the primary, I put it in a carboy. I really love to watch it move and dance around!) I can now smell the beer. It doesn't smell bad to me, but remember, I don't drink beer, I don't like it. I make it for my husband!
At the brew store he gave (sold) me a package of dry yeast instead of the 1968. It SEEMS to on the right track now.
I don't drink beer, but I have become a "hop-sniffer". Getting pretty good at it, too!!

Wow, kudos for the beer making. Mine encourages my hobby despite not drinking beer. I doubt she we ever get near any phase of the process.

You may want to make an immersion chiller to cool your wort after the boil. That 140 mark is when bugs start to grow. As long as you made sure all your stuff was sanitized you should be OK. Pretty cool that you are brewing it up. It takes a little time to figure out all the things that go on during the brew day. Watch your temp during fermentation. You want to keep it below 70. Remember that fermentation creates heat. If your fermenting at room temp, you can use a tub with some water and frozen bottles to keep the temp down. (called swamp cooler) Good luck with your brewing.

Thank you!

Progress on my Dreadnought clone.
I pitched the second batch of yeast. The 1968. That little airlock just rocked!! Left it alone a couple of weeks, more like three. Then put into secondary. It sat there a bit longer than I had anticipated, because we were put of town Christmas, back home later than anticipated, and came down with the flu the day after we got home. It still sat. Quietly and patiently. I bottled it a week ago. It looks great! Smelled great! Very little trub, I guess that's ok. Husband tasted a bit of it, flat and said he thinks it will be very good!! I do hope so. After all it has been through! it deserves to be a great beer.
Oh, I didn't mention the temperature ups and downs. Out weather - polar vortex. Need I say more. I tried to keep it warm enough, at one point it got a bit too warm. NOW I have a thing to wrap around the fermenter to keep it steady!
It's had a hard life!!