Full bodied beer or bottle bomb?

So when brewing my first all grain batch I overshot my mash temp by about 12 degrees. I didnt let my stike water temp equalize in my keggle before adding my grain. 154 when I left, 166 when I checked 30 mins later. I stirred the hell out of it and got the temp down but I guessing too little too late.

So it has been in the fermentor for 2 weeks and I just checked the gravity......1.024. The og was 1.056. I anticipated the fg to be 1.010 to 1.012. Would my extremely high mash temps cause my fg to be 14 points higher? I know the hotter the mash the less fermentable the wort but that seems pretty extreme. The beer tastes good so im not worried about that. But I just want to make sure if I bottle this beer im not creating a bunch of bottle bombs.

JonBoy47 said:

So it has been in the fermentor for 2 weeks and I just checked the gravity......1.024. The og was 1.056. I anticipated the fg to be 1.010 to 1.012. Would my extremely high mash temps cause my fg to be 14 points higher? I know the hotter the mash the less fermentable the wort but that seems pretty extreme. The beer tastes good so im not worried about that. But I just want to make sure if I bottle this beer im not creating a bunch of bottle bombs.

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Yes... Mashing at 166F would be why you're SG is at 1.024 after two weeks. If you want to get it lower, and you don't have anything to lose, you could try adding a crushed Beano tablet or a few of them. Since you really don't have much to lose by trying this. If anything, you could get the SG to drop some points. If you do go this route, I would check it again in about a week from when you add the Beano. If it's going down, wait a bit longer before adding any more. If it holds higher than you want, and still has more body than you really want, add a bit more. I would just go in small steps here. Better to need to add more over more time than to add too much at the start and have it go too low...

What does the beano do to change the gravity? Are there any negative effects on flavor?

It's supposed to break down the long chain sugars you created (too much of).

It was an article in BYO (21% Alcohol All-Grain Beer (Dec. 06)) where the person was working to make a high ABV brew. He added Beano when step-feeding (or adding more wort and yeast) to the batch. It worked to break down some of the long chain sugars to make them fermentable.

I would link to the article but the link on BYO isn't working. I did read it not that long ago.

Beano contains an enzyme, alpha-galactosidase. It will break down unfermentable complex sugars into simple sugars that the yeast can then ferment. It can sometimes take it a bit to the other extreme though and make the beer especially dry, so make sure that is what you want before you go for it.

If the beer is to your liking right now, I say package it up and drink it. So long as your gravity is stabilized there are no worries about bombs. If your mash didn't fully convert, which is what it sounds like, your yeast won't ferment the unconverted sugar.

You didn't mention the style of beer, but if you wanted to go another route and it fit the style, there is always good ol' brettanomyces...

Its an APA. The recipe was from brewing classic styles.

Can the effects of the beano be controlled by the quantity used?

And I really want to try experimenting with bret but I think I want to wait until I get this all grain thing down.

If you're not happy with how the brew is now, and don't want to go the brett route, then try a couple of tablets at a time... OR, just bottle it up and live with/drink it. It's only at 4% ABV now, which would make it a more easy drinking brew. The full body could work well with it.

Personally, I would just bottle/keg it up. Just keep a better watch on your mash for the next batch.

Golddiggie said:

Just keep a better watch on your mash for the next batch.

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Haha already fixed that problem. Brewed a batch this morning and hit my mash temps exactly. And to my surprise my keggle held it to one degree. I have much higher hopes for this mornings batch.

I know what you mean... I had some issues with the mash tun keg the first time I used it (last batch) so my brew might finish lower than I had wanted. I'm not going to mess with it, as long as it tastes good. I'll have mine wrapped in Reflectix before it gets used again though. Judging by another member's results, I should be able to hold within a degree, or two, of my starting mash temp by the end.

As long as it's good beer, we're ahead of the game. If it's great beer, we're doing even better.

I actually just wrapped my keg in a heavy blanket and it only lost 1 degree. I was pretty impressed.

I'll probably start with 2-3 layers of Reflectix and add more come fall, or add a heavy quilt to that. It gets pretty chilly where I am during winter, and using propane burners means outside brewing. If I get to move into Maine, then it could be even cooler during brew days in the winter. :rockin:

how is the reflectix pricing? If its not too expensive I will probably use it too.

I picked up the 2'x25' roll for under $25 from Lowe's. You'll want the reclflective/aluminum tape to secure it to the keg and itself. I don't recall how much that was. Don't think it wss too much but I'll check when I get home.