MdawgSparkboss
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- Feb 5, 2016
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Hey guys and gals!
For starters, this was my #4 batch of all time.
i just finished my brew night and was quite disappointed with what i saw in the gravity reading, and it's not the first time this has happened to me. So i wanted to post what all i did, and hopefully you guys can shed some light on what I've done wrong
, or better yet, console me because maybe the folks building my kits went wrong? heheheh
Anyway, a home brew store near me has a good number of recipes already laid out, all i need to do is grab the materials, mill the grains, and check out. I went to see them this afternoon and picked up a recipe for a Black IPA. The details for the beer are as follow;
Liquid Extract: Munich - 6Lbs, Pale - 3Lbs.
Grain Bill: Caramel 10L - 4oz., Caramel 80L - 4oz., Carafa III - 12oz..
Hopping Schedule: 60m - 1oz. Summit (18.0%), 15m - 1oz. Seven Cs, 0m - 1.5oz. Columbus.
Starting Gravity: 1.067
Fermentation Temperature: 65-75° F.
Yeast: 2-3 Packets White Labs WLP001 California Ale or Wyeast 1056 American Ale, or two Dry Yeast US-05. (i chose safale US-05 as i'm familiar with it.)
One alteration, the Gentlemen at the brew store mentioned that the Summit hops were ~16.5 AAU(roundabout) and did a calculation for me and said that i would need 1.07oz. to be equivalent to the recipe sheet, and i only took 1.05oz..
Next i'll list all the steps i took during the brew process. The only difference between the suggested steps to be taken on the recipe, and the steps i took myself are that i only used 2 quarts of water for the grain, instead of their suggested 3-4 quarts (due to my pot size).
1.Brought 2 quarts to 150°, Added and stirred grains, removed from heat and covered for 30 mins. & started a timer.
2. Added 10 Quarts of hot water to main brew pot with ~15 minutes left on grain timer, applied heat to pot with 3:30 left on grain timer.
3. took 1.5 quarts worth hot water from main brew pot, strained grains in to brew pot and poured the water over grains. Let grains drain for about 3 minutes.
4. Stirred in malt extract canisters, temp read 185°. stirred constantly during addition.
5. i was monitoring the wort pretty closely and wasn't able to see exactly when the hot break occurred, but after about 20 minutes there was still a bit of foam about an inch thick on the less active side of the pot, no new foam was forming, but this foam wasn't subsiding either. Took my best guess and hoped that the hot break had already occurred.
6. 60m hop addition was added, 2-3 inches of foam rose, then subsided after about 10 secs.
7. 15 min hop addition was added, small layer of foam, quickly subsided.
8. 0 min hop addition was added ~30 secs after 1 hour timer elapsed (due to dumping out the Sanitizer in the primary, and prepping the sink to cool the wort).
9. cooled wort in sink for ~10-15 minutes.
10. added about a half gallon of chilled water to primary, then strained wort into primary. Topped primary off to 5 gallons with chilled water. Immediately checked temperature, Thermometer read 64°.
11. Took Gravity reading, hydrometer read 1.021.
12. Pitched yeast without proofing(safale package said "ready to pitch", I had proofed safale in the past but went lazy after reading this), Stirred yeast in since it wanted to clump. Sealed primary, placed airlock, and placed primary into water bath (apartment tends to get warm).
I couldn't quite remember if people tend to take gravity readings before or after pitching, as i feel like I've read a couple debates on what people prefer. I decided to take it before pitching, because i didn't figure that my reading would mean all that much immediately after pitching since the yeast wouldn't be spread out thoroughly yet, plus i didn't want to waste any of the yeast on a reading.
Do you guys see anything wrong with what I've done? I can't help but think that somewhere along the line i just really messed up, since i landed at 1.021, and the recipe aims for 1.067. Perhaps I'm mistaken and their "starting gravity" isn't the same as "original gravity"? I just really don't know how i could've come up .046 short in a gravity reading, let alone land at 1.021 for a black IPA that i thought would be nice and thick! (given the OG, it was a really thing fluid, also took on the appearance of an amber ale in the hydrometer tube, instead of my assumed semi-dark appearance)
If you've noticed anything at all wrong with what I've done, please let me know. Make is as blunt as you must, do not try to be too kind, i'm eager to learn!
Thanks in advance for any input! And thanks for making it this far! Must be a long, painful post for those who are well versed in brewing!
For starters, this was my #4 batch of all time.
i just finished my brew night and was quite disappointed with what i saw in the gravity reading, and it's not the first time this has happened to me. So i wanted to post what all i did, and hopefully you guys can shed some light on what I've done wrong
, or better yet, console me because maybe the folks building my kits went wrong? hehehehAnyway, a home brew store near me has a good number of recipes already laid out, all i need to do is grab the materials, mill the grains, and check out. I went to see them this afternoon and picked up a recipe for a Black IPA. The details for the beer are as follow;
Liquid Extract: Munich - 6Lbs, Pale - 3Lbs.
Grain Bill: Caramel 10L - 4oz., Caramel 80L - 4oz., Carafa III - 12oz..
Hopping Schedule: 60m - 1oz. Summit (18.0%), 15m - 1oz. Seven Cs, 0m - 1.5oz. Columbus.
Starting Gravity: 1.067
Fermentation Temperature: 65-75° F.
Yeast: 2-3 Packets White Labs WLP001 California Ale or Wyeast 1056 American Ale, or two Dry Yeast US-05. (i chose safale US-05 as i'm familiar with it.)
One alteration, the Gentlemen at the brew store mentioned that the Summit hops were ~16.5 AAU(roundabout) and did a calculation for me and said that i would need 1.07oz. to be equivalent to the recipe sheet, and i only took 1.05oz..
Next i'll list all the steps i took during the brew process. The only difference between the suggested steps to be taken on the recipe, and the steps i took myself are that i only used 2 quarts of water for the grain, instead of their suggested 3-4 quarts (due to my pot size).
1.Brought 2 quarts to 150°, Added and stirred grains, removed from heat and covered for 30 mins. & started a timer.
2. Added 10 Quarts of hot water to main brew pot with ~15 minutes left on grain timer, applied heat to pot with 3:30 left on grain timer.
3. took 1.5 quarts worth hot water from main brew pot, strained grains in to brew pot and poured the water over grains. Let grains drain for about 3 minutes.
4. Stirred in malt extract canisters, temp read 185°. stirred constantly during addition.
5. i was monitoring the wort pretty closely and wasn't able to see exactly when the hot break occurred, but after about 20 minutes there was still a bit of foam about an inch thick on the less active side of the pot, no new foam was forming, but this foam wasn't subsiding either. Took my best guess and hoped that the hot break had already occurred.
6. 60m hop addition was added, 2-3 inches of foam rose, then subsided after about 10 secs.
7. 15 min hop addition was added, small layer of foam, quickly subsided.
8. 0 min hop addition was added ~30 secs after 1 hour timer elapsed (due to dumping out the Sanitizer in the primary, and prepping the sink to cool the wort).
9. cooled wort in sink for ~10-15 minutes.
10. added about a half gallon of chilled water to primary, then strained wort into primary. Topped primary off to 5 gallons with chilled water. Immediately checked temperature, Thermometer read 64°.
11. Took Gravity reading, hydrometer read 1.021.
12. Pitched yeast without proofing(safale package said "ready to pitch", I had proofed safale in the past but went lazy after reading this), Stirred yeast in since it wanted to clump. Sealed primary, placed airlock, and placed primary into water bath (apartment tends to get warm).
I couldn't quite remember if people tend to take gravity readings before or after pitching, as i feel like I've read a couple debates on what people prefer. I decided to take it before pitching, because i didn't figure that my reading would mean all that much immediately after pitching since the yeast wouldn't be spread out thoroughly yet, plus i didn't want to waste any of the yeast on a reading.
Do you guys see anything wrong with what I've done? I can't help but think that somewhere along the line i just really messed up, since i landed at 1.021, and the recipe aims for 1.067. Perhaps I'm mistaken and their "starting gravity" isn't the same as "original gravity"? I just really don't know how i could've come up .046 short in a gravity reading, let alone land at 1.021 for a black IPA that i thought would be nice and thick! (given the OG, it was a really thing fluid, also took on the appearance of an amber ale in the hydrometer tube, instead of my assumed semi-dark appearance)
If you've noticed anything at all wrong with what I've done, please let me know. Make is as blunt as you must, do not try to be too kind, i'm eager to learn!
Thanks in advance for any input! And thanks for making it this far! Must be a long, painful post for those who are well versed in brewing!
