Part Yeast Part All-Grain Inquiry

So I have brewed two batches and since stalled the brewery because I am not getting the desired results. I have been fermenting about 6 gallons of wort in 6.5 gallon carboy. At first I thought and probably was right that my crush was part of the problem in getting very low alcohol content in my brew, I was using the blender instead of a grain mill. I have since mortar and pestled about 12 lbs. of two row and am waiting to brew again, that took me about 3-4 days of constant crushing lol... but on a serious note I have been using the Wyeast Liquid form and have heard that it is not sufficient to ferment even a five gallon batch, is this why I have been getting very poor alcohol content? As well I am doing hefeweizens and the fermentation has stopped after about 3-4 days and there is no blow over as I was expecting just bubbles up to the top the first day, and then gives a heartbeat sound into the blowoff area for the next day and then even slower the 3rd and 4th days... I do let it sit in the fermenter for 7-10 days regardless. As well I have a bunch of two-row and now am dissappointed in my purchase as I wish to use German or Belgian Pils combined with a caramunich or a wheat malt to make some abbey and hefes, what do you guys think of this Canadian Two-Row I got? Any suggestions as to some beers I can make out of it? Is it ok to use with Hefes? I am thinking I am just going to make some IPAs out of it and hope I can brew it all away soon. Thanks in advance.
Cheers

Gravity measurements for these batches would help. You do measure gravity, don't you? If you don't, how do you know your beers are low on alcohol content?

As for the yeast, starters are definitely recommended, but not absolutely necessary. Dry yeasts are a cheap, easy alternative to making starters (though starters are easy, too, they just require planning and good sanitation).

GuldTuborg said:

Gravity measurements for these batches would help. You do measure gravity, don't you? If you don't, how do you know your beers are low on alcohol content?

As for the yeast, starters are definitely recommended, but not absolutely necessary. Dry yeasts are a cheap, easy alternative to making starters (though starters are easy, too, they just require planning and good sanitation).

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Yes I measured gravity and its embarrassing so that is how I know it is low in alcohol it would be around 3% alcohol, also I drank about 16 of em and was buzzing lol... So are you saying that the liquid yeast is able to ferment 6-6.5 gallons of wort without a starter? and are you saying that dry yeast is better and more equipped to ferment that much wort? what is the most wort a dry yeast or a liquid yeast can ferment respectively?

Tkelly32 said:

Yes I measured gravity and its embarrassing so that is how I know it is low in alcohol it would be around 3% alcohol, also I drank about 16 of em and was buzzing lol... So are you saying that the liquid yeast is able to ferment 6-6.5 gallons of wort without a starter? and are you saying that dry yeast is better and more equipped to ferment that much wort? what is the most wort a dry yeast or a liquid yeast can ferment respectively?

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There aren't enough yeast cells in one package of liquid yeast to be optimal for a 5 gallon batch of wort above about 1.040- but it will still ferment. It's not not optimal. Better flavor will come from pitching the correct amount of yeast, but it probably didn't cause your "low alcohol problem".

Generally, a lower OG is the cause of lower ABV. If your OG is low, you won't have as high of alcohol content. The cause of low OG can be due to a couple of things- poor conversion, poor extraction, and/or poor recipe construction. Part of that could be your crush, but it's also possible that you didn't use enough grain. It could be poor conversion, if you aren't using iodine to test for conversion you may not know if the starches have fully converted to sugar. It could be related to water chemistry.

A couple of things that can help us nail down the cause by ruling out some things would be if you'd post a typical recipe and your typical technique (amount of water in mash and sparge) as well as the exact volume you ended up with and the OG.

Liquid yeast, IMO, needs a starter if the OG of the beer is over about 1.035. What were the OGs and FGs of the beers you're talking about?

Posting exact recipes, processes, and gravity number will help diagnose the problem. Otherwise, you're just asking us all to look in our crystal balls and divine the problem. I wouldn't expect a good chance of success doing that.

Some beers are spontaneously fermented, meaning miniscule amounts of yeast find their way into the wort, and it still ferments. A singe package of yeast could probably ferment a hundred gallons of wort, in the right conditions. But, starting with a standard amount of healthy yeast will generally yield a better fermented, better tasting beer. Use the MrMalty yeast calculator to get a feel for how much yeast you need. Since dry packets usually contain roughly twice as many viable cells as liquid packets, you generally need fewer packets of dry yeast (versus liquid yeast) to achieve proper pitch rates.

Thanks Yooper you are very informative without being insulting as some seem to come across without naming any names. I guess it could be any number of factors, the only way to fix it is to start over which is what I am in the process of doing and in the future I will keep meticulous records in order to pinpoint the problems. Thanks again

Yooper said:

There aren't enough yeast cells in one package of liquid yeast to be optimal for a 5 gallon batch of wort above about 1.040- but it will still ferment. It's not not optimal. Better flavor will come from pitching the correct amount of yeast, but it probably didn't cause your "low alcohol problem".

Generally, a lower OG is the cause of lower ABV. If your OG is low, you won't have as high of alcohol content. The cause of low OG can be due to a couple of things- poor conversion, poor extraction, and/or poor recipe construction. Part of that could be your crush, but it's also possible that you didn't use enough grain. It could be poor conversion, if you aren't using iodine to test for conversion you may not know if the starches have fully converted to sugar. It could be related to water chemistry.

A couple of things that can help us nail down the cause by ruling out some things would be if you'd post a typical recipe and your typical technique (amount of water in mash and sparge) as well as the exact volume you ended up with and the OG.

Click to expand...

Thanks that looks very useful as well.

GuldTuborg said:

Posting exact recipes, processes, and gravity number will help diagnose the problem. Otherwise, you're just asking us all to look in our crystal balls and divine the problem. I wouldn't expect a good chance of success doing that.

Some beers are spontaneously fermented, meaning miniscule amounts of yeast find their way into the wort, and it still ferments. A singe package of yeast could probably ferment a hundred gallons of wort, in the right conditions. But, starting with a standard amount of healthy yeast will generally yield a better fermented, better tasting beer. Use the MrMalty yeast calculator to get a feel for how much yeast you need. Since dry packets usually contain roughly twice as many viable cells as liquid packets, you generally need fewer packets of dry yeast (versus liquid yeast) to achieve proper pitch rates.

Click to expand...