Nice brewing session today, but...

I came in a little low on the OG. Should have been 1.051, per Beer Alchemy, and I got 1.044. I believe I left a little too much wort in the pot , but there was so much crap starting to siphon through during racking that I probably left about half a gallon behind.

Recipe:


I detailed my process on my blog, Here.

I did whirlpool, and let it settle for over 20 minutes after that before racking to primary.

Anyways, pitched the yeast at 3:40PM today, EST. Now I just get to wait until that thing starts bubbling, and then I can relax....

A half gallon is not much if you are making 10 gallons but a lot if you are making 5 gallons and so if you filter it thru a coffee filter and then boil 15 minutes to re-sterilize you could pour it into the fermenter after cooling with foil over it. In the past I have just let it go into the primary and then let it go and all was good when I transferred to the keg or secondary fermenter.

I'm letting it slide this time, since it's not like it's a ruined batch. Next time I'm running it through a filter like you suggest.

Now I'm sitting here biting my nails, because there's no activity in the airlock after 6 hours. I know this isn't anything to be concerned about, as I shouldn't be worried until at least 24 hours have passed, but between my Apfelwein starting in less than 3 hours with the D47, and my Scotch Ale bubbling slowly before 8 hours and really kicking by 16 hours with Nottingham, I would really like to see something by now, even if just a little pop every 5 minutes, with the Nottingham in this.

Difference this time is I rehydrated. The two batches before this I just pitched dry. I figured with a rehydrated yeast this time I might get a quicker start, but it looks to be the opposite. Maybe I shocked the yeast, by pitching room temp (about 72º) on top of 65º wort?

it's hard to tell from the way you worded your post, but it sounds like you're attributing your low OG to what you left in the kettle. your OG doesn't have anything to do with how much you leave behind. the wort you left in the kettle is 1.044 too. depending on which kettle i'm using, i account for what i'll have to leave behind because of break/trub/hops by adjusting my batch volume by any where between .2 gallons to .75 gallons. the amount of extra grain you need to use to up you batch size and still hit you OG is nil.

that does look like a tasty recipe; nice and simple. that's one thing i haven't done is put together a simple, almost plain, house ale just to have.

SenorWanderer said:

it's hard to tell from the way you worded your post, but it sounds like you're attributing your low OG to what you left in the kettle. your OG doesn't have anything to do with how much you leave behind. the wort you left in the kettle is 1.044 too. depending on which kettle i'm using, i account for what i'll have to leave behind because of break/trub/hops by adjusting my batch volume by any where between .2 gallons to .75 gallons. the amount of extra grain you need to use to up you batch size and still hit you OG is nil.

that does look like a tasty recipe; nice and simple. that's one thing i haven't done is put together a simple, almost plain, house ale just to have.

Click to expand...

If I had done a full boil I'd say you're right, but I did only 3 gallons and topped of to the 5 gallon mark in the primary bucket, then took the OG. By having less wort to topping water ratio in the bucket the gravity was lower.

Of course, I'm the idiot for not doing like WBC said and simply filtering the remaining wort in the pot. I think I'm going to quit siphoning from the pot to primary all together and just pour the wort through a cheesecloth lined strainer.

Oh well, brew and learn,
Matt

P.S. My airlock's finally bubbling, but not very quickly. I guess this one's just slow to get started.

Origionally posted by: ma2brew
Maybe I shocked the yeast, by pitching room temp (about 72º) on top of 65º wort?

Click to expand...

If you only cool to 75 to 80 F your yeast will have an easier time starting. Here in California I have a hard time reaching 80 F during the summer. Aeration of the wort is also needed when using liquid yeast starters.

Woohoo! Just drew a sample for gravity check. It's reading 1.009. Airlock activity has been stopped for 2 days now, but I'm waiting 1 week (this Saturday) before racking to secondary. Did I taste it? You bet, and I think it's going to be good. It's way green, but it's got a nice light color and a good, but not too strong hop bite. I'm really hoping to use a brew like this to not only keep on hand for "everyday" drinking, but also as a good baseline for testing other ingredients, particularly hops and yeasts.

The Beer Alchemy calculator says:
OG=1.044
Today's reading=1.009
Apparent Atten.=78.9%
Real Atten.=64.7%
ABV=4.6%
ABW=3.6%

Looks like the Nottingham has done its job well!