Interesting first bigger beer

So after getting my feet wet I wanted to try my favorite style of beer, an IPA.

Octane IPA kit from Midwest (extract + steep)
estimated OG 1.064-1.068
estimated FG 1.012-1.018

Day 1: Brewed it up! Actual OG was 1.067 and it started bubbling away 4-5 hours in. I poured through a sieve back a forth a few times for aeration. Pitched 2 packets of 5g munton's ale yeast, rehydrated w/o a starter.

The fermentation took off quick but never went crazy. Solid bubbles on an airlock but didn't use/need a blowoff.

Day 9: Since this beer has oak chips for the secondary, I prepare them and rack into carboy. SG check is at 1.021-1.022. There was some action but very limited, might have mostly been co2 coming out.

Day 26: Today was 17th day in secondary and with little to no action the last week, I decide to take a reading w/ bottling in mind. To my surprise the airlock is bubbling relatively strongly. There's also a solid layer of what appears to be krausen/bubbles on the surface. Hydrometer says 1.018.

This surprised me. At first my mind thinks of the worst and maybe wild yeast infection or something, considering it was dormant for so long. But it's still in range of suggested FG. Is this likely a stuck fermentation that just took off? There has been no drastic change in temp or anything.

It tasted great! Bitter as hell (in a good way) but also still had quite a bit of sweetness. I'm not as much worried as surprised and will just be keeping an eye on it. My other question is: if it was just stuck and this is fermenting normally, should I give it another week or two to clear in secondary or just bottle away when gravity stops dropping? I wouldn't worry about the timing except I've heard oak chips can pump out too much flavor if left with the beer for a long time.

Until then I'll relax, not worry, and have a homebrew.
(will update w/ whatever result)

Was the fermentation temp steady? Sounds like you were fermenting in a range of temps, that can do what you describe.

Kuglehaus said:

Was the fermentation temp steady? Sounds like you were fermenting in a range of temps, that can do what you describe.

Click to expand...

Relatively steady. I keep a hygrometer/thermometer next to my buckets and carboys that records the 24hr high and low temp. Range was 69-71 which is where it pretty much stays 24/7. Since that's air temp I assume the beer temp varies less.

Day 47: Bottled tonight and it tastes good. Was worried sitting on oak that long could impart too much oakiness, but it doesn't seem at all overwealming. (at least while warm and flat) FG is at 1.015 (about 6.5%ABV) which is solidly in the projected range.

Moral of the story: Time can heal beer. Fermentation kicked in after 2 weeks without another racking, adding yeast, or aerating. What caused it to go dormant for a few weeks I don't know, but the yeast were on my side in the end.

Good Moral. Good beer. Next time you should just leave that sucker alone in the primary for atleast 3-weeks. Even still, that strain of yeast has sometimes done some bubbling in secondary for me, though the fact that I'm near terminal gravity makes me think it's the yeast off-gassing.

I made that same kit as my first AG, but I added some extras - victory and a little extra crystal to the grist, some ancho chili's in the last 5 minutes of the boil, and an ounce of amarillo to the dry-hop. Finally, I decided to make up a new hop schedule ala DFH's continuous dry-hop method. the last thirty minutes I trickled hops by hand every minute........

Unfortunately, half the bottles turned up with band-aid notes, though half did not. Really, this just prevented me from giving it away to people......The ones that came out without band-aid were excellent and they're even better now at 2 months in the bottle.....it reminds me of DFH60 with some heat (aka NOT cascadey and grapefruity, but a complex hop flavor), and the heat turned out great - it doesn't stick out, but blends in as a natural extension of the alcohol heat and hop bite.....IPA's and chili's get along methinks. I was a little afraid of the oak chips with the chili's but I did add them for about a 10 days prior to bottling. I think they added just a slight complexity, if anything at all.

I hope enjoy your Octane. I'll probably do another one like it sometime soon.

If I could go back and change one thing, I would have dry hopped another oz of something with the oak chips. But I'll see how it turns out with the stock recipe this time. It's the last pure recipe kit I'll be using. (working on partial mash system now)

I love IPAs. I love chilies. The combo sounds very interesting. I just don't want to end up with 5 gallons of bad beer, but that combo seems popular enough and has plenty of good feedback so that may be my next IPA! :cross:

Would ancho chilies go well with cascade as the dry hop as well or did you use amarillo for a specific flavor combo?

Just wanted to finish this up. Tried 2 bottles about 20 days after bottling and they both were good except for a severe bubblegum aftertaste.

So again I tested a few 5 weeks after bottling and the bubblegum flavor is all but gone. Oak is not at all too powerful so my concern for leaving it on the chips for too long was unwarranted. This beer does have some powerful flavor so maybe that's what stands up to it so well. Twice now I've seen in this beer that time heals all wounds.

To conclude my mini-log of this brew process, the stuff tastes great and I'm betting it will just get a bit better in the next month or so. Now my only problem is pacing myself as this stuff is plenty potent.