2nd AG in the Bottle...

UPDATE:

I brewed this on Sunday. Pitched the Notty and let 'er ride. Not a really vigorous fermentation, not as robust a krausen as I had anticipated, everything subsided on Tuesday. I've got what I *think* are CO2 bubbles on the surface...that or the beginning of an infection...anyway, this is my question:

When I went to take a gravity reading, I popped the top on the bottle and it smelled a little sour. Just a little tang in the air. Then, after I took my reading, I drank the sample...tangy. Not *bad* really...just on the sour side. Is it just green beer or is it in the first stages of infection? Keep in mind I didn't ever really get a good "rolling" boil, but it stayed around 210 for an hour or so...is that enough to kill all the baddies?

Just FYI, my OG was 1.057 and my sample there was 1.008. That's like 6.4% ABV or something. I feel like that's a little high, especially since the recipe says it should finish up at 1.012 or so.

Soooooo....do you think I'm ok or am I screwed?? Is this one of those "time heals all wounds" or something? Does a brown ale start out sour? Any nugget of info will be helpful! Thanks in advance!!

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Today was a marathon. I am BEAT. I brewed up a little brown ale from the recipes section (Li'l Sparky's I believe) and am a little worried on how it will turn out.

My first AG was EdWort's Pale Ale and it is tasty. Very tasty. That brew went so well I thought, Hey, no big deal. I got this. But today was a little different.

I got out there at 2pm. It is now 9pm. Here is what I learned:

I MUST GET A BIGGER BURNER. This turkey fryer thing is not cutting it. Either that or I was close to being out of gas. Either way I never really got a good rolling boil on my wort. It moved around, but nothing rolling like last time. I still boiled off a couple gallons of wort and got to a little over 5.5 in the bottle, but damn. It took FOREVER.

Other than that I feel like everything went ok. It's cold outside so I got everything cooled down relatively quickly. I missed my mash in temp by 2* on the high side (156*) but I'm not sweating that (UNLESS I SHOULD BE SWEATING IT?!?! IS IGNORANCE BLISS??).

Took a gravity reading and adjusted for temp, it was 1.057, recipe calls for 1.054. Again, not sure how big of a deal that is, but whatever. All I know is there's a big bottle of Brown Ale in my fermenter and I'm burned down.

Anyway, just wanted to share. I love this hobby. Only my second brew ever, so I think I'm catching on pretty quickly. I'm refining my technique and my flow, so next time should be even smoother (need that burner thing resolved). Any advise or lessons I should know would be appreciated.

Holla.

Deacon

Advice. Brew more!



Best way to get it right!

As to your mash concern don't worry. It will be a bit more dextrinous (more "thick" mouthfeel less fermentable sugars) is all. If you mashed over 160 or under 145 then it would be more of a concern.

Burner. What size is your pot? Dimensions? I think a low propane tank would certainly give you problems. Nothing more frantic then running out of gas mid brew!

Other things to look at. Is your burner in good shape? I had a problem recently with mine. It had gotten rusty and that made it perform rather poorly. Clean it up if so. Check your regulator, line etc. too. Even a cheapo regular turkey fryer should work fine.

Deacon1856 said:

Today was a marathon. I am BEAT. I brewed up a little brown ale from the recipes section (Li'l Sparky's I believe) and am a little worried on how it will turn out.

My first AG was EdWort's Pale Ale and it is tasty. Very tasty. That brew went so well I thought, Hey, no big deal. I got this. But today was a little different.

I got out there at 2pm. It is now 9pm. Here is what I learned:

I MUST GET A BIGGER BURNER. This turkey fryer thing is not cutting it. Either that or I was close to being out of gas. Either way I never really got a good rolling boil on my wort. It moved around, but nothing rolling like last time. I still boiled off a couple gallons of wort and got to a little over 5.5 in the bottle, but damn. It took FOREVER.

Other than that I feel like everything went ok. It's cold outside so I got everything cooled down relatively quickly. I missed my mash in temp by 2* on the high side (156*) but I'm not sweating that (UNLESS I SHOULD BE SWEATING IT?!?! IS IGNORANCE BLISS??).

Took a gravity reading and adjusted for temp, it was 1.057, recipe calls for 1.054. Again, not sure how big of a deal that is, but whatever. All I know is there's a big bottle of Brown Ale in my fermenter and I'm burned down.

Anyway, just wanted to share. I love this hobby. Only my second brew ever, so I think I'm catching on pretty quickly. I'm refining my technique and my flow, so next time should be even smoother (need that burner thing resolved). Any advise or lessons I should know would be appreciated.

Holla.

Deacon

Click to expand...

There have been a couple times where my burner wasn't working correctly. For whatever reason, it wouldn't seat properly & I would get a very low flame. To fix it you just take off the propane & put it back on. Usually it sits right the second time.

I'm wondering if other people have had this problem and try to boil with this low flame, which absolutely take forever...

I'm always a little excited to see a higher OG. It usually means your efficiency went up & you'll have a little stronger beer. It won't be balanced as well but a couple points won't hurt much.

It just keeps getting easier with time.... relax & have fun.

I am enjoying it. My first batch basically went off without a hitch in like 3.5 hours. This one was twice that because of that stupid burner. I think I will take it apart and have a look at what's going on. I did try to reseat it a couple of times and I don't think that was the problem. It could be rust...

My pot is a 40 quart. It is SUPER wide. Almost all my ancillary brewing paraphernalia can fit in it. Makes for good storage!

As we speak my little brown ale is beginning to bubble. Nothing roaring yet, but I expect it to pick up. My house does smell like wonderful beer though...mmmmm....beeeerrr....

Calling on the wise ones...