So, I brewed a 5G batch of ~1.061 on Sunday night, and pitched the yeast at about 10p. The wort was a bit warm when I pitched ~81, but I was impatient. I fermented in a 14.5 gal blichmann conical with a 4ft 1" blowoff in a jar of starsan.
I used a 1L starter that I made from about 50ml of 2 week old harvested US-04 slurry on Saturday. It sat on a stir plate for 24 hrs, it krausened a little and I pitched it all.
I knew this was all rushed and I was being a bit cheap, but whatever. I saw no bubbles in the starsan blow-off tube the next morning (Monday), and still nothing by Tuesday at ~5p. I took a taste and there was some carbonation so I figured that I way underpitched so I threw in a leftover packet of Muntons that came with a kit, which I didn't use (paid for the upgraded yeast).
The fermentor is kinda big, so lots of headspace, but previous 5 gal batches bubble CO2 like it's their job. Also, the seals were good on the conical because there was a suction when I drew an initial sample after brewing before putting the blow off on (I kept the blow of port closed up while carrying the beast).
I checked just now, 5p on Wednesday, and still no blow off bubbles, but I checked gravity and it's down to 1.011. Can it really be attenuated this far after no bubbling? I'm guessing it was done yesterday even before I threw in the muntons because there was no krausen when I opened up the conical to re-pitch.
The good thing is, my smoked brown tastes great. But, this all doesn't add up to me, am I missing something?
I used a 1L starter that I made from about 50ml of 2 week old harvested US-04 slurry on Saturday. It sat on a stir plate for 24 hrs, it krausened a little and I pitched it all.
I knew this was all rushed and I was being a bit cheap, but whatever. I saw no bubbles in the starsan blow-off tube the next morning (Monday), and still nothing by Tuesday at ~5p. I took a taste and there was some carbonation so I figured that I way underpitched so I threw in a leftover packet of Muntons that came with a kit, which I didn't use (paid for the upgraded yeast).
The fermentor is kinda big, so lots of headspace, but previous 5 gal batches bubble CO2 like it's their job. Also, the seals were good on the conical because there was a suction when I drew an initial sample after brewing before putting the blow off on (I kept the blow of port closed up while carrying the beast).
I checked just now, 5p on Wednesday, and still no blow off bubbles, but I checked gravity and it's down to 1.011. Can it really be attenuated this far after no bubbling? I'm guessing it was done yesterday even before I threw in the muntons because there was no krausen when I opened up the conical to re-pitch.
The good thing is, my smoked brown tastes great. But, this all doesn't add up to me, am I missing something?