To re-pitch or not to re-pitch, that is the question...

Brewed an IPA about 10 days ago.. 1.072 OG...5.5 gallons..

Pitched 1 package of SA-05 (rehydrated)

Fermentation was slow starting, then got very violent after about 24 hrs... For about 4 days, krausen was being expelled all the way through a 1" ID blow off tube (from a 6.5G bucket)..

When it calmed down (after about 4 days) and I switched to a airlock, and dumped the blow off water, there was about a quarter inch layer of yeast cake in the 5G blow off bucket.. There was also yeast cake trapped in liquid from in a dip in the tubing...

Then the fermentation activity seemed to stop and little or no gas is being produced into the airlock.. I took a sample last night, and it reads 1.021 FG...

Now I don't know if that is what it should be, but it seems high to me.. I'm thinking it should be closer to 1.010, and possibly a huge portion of the yeast got pushed into the blow off bucket and there wasn't enough yeast left to finish the ferment.. However, the sample tastes pretty dang good... But I'm needing this to blend with some other beer to make a clone, so hitting close to target ABV is important..

Should I pitch another package of SA-05 into the beer? Or is it close enough to done for that yeast and that OG?

Grassy-azz

What temp are you fermenting it at and what was your recipe and process?

Just sampled again.. It's still 1.021

Recipe and temps will help...

Going from memory here..

19.25 lbs of 2 row...
1 lb munich
1 lb crystal 15L

mashed at 154

Target OG was around 1.090
I got 1.071 (which is why I'm buying my own mill)

I haven't yet got into calculating FG and attenuation.. but I was under the understanding that FG was strictly a scenario of OG and the attenuation of the yeast involved... That the original recipe shouldn't matter, but rather just what the actual OG was...

Is that not true?...

Attenuation and IBU calculations are something I have to start getting into...

Read up on mashing and such... You got under 50% efficiency there... OG of 1.071 should give you a FG of ~1.018... FG is often dictated by mash temp... The original recipe ALWAYS matters, as does how you mash.

I typically get 78-82% efficiency. Even on a larger grain bill than you did, we got 72% (26.5# grist)... Granted, that was a 10 gallon batch... Mashing well, as with most of brewing, is important. Otherwise, things don't come out as you planned, or want...

Are you sure that OG reading was accurate? I have a hard time believing you truly only got 50% efficiency

Also, I would check the accuracy of your thermometer and hydrometer. If that mash was a bit higher, then only 70% attenuation isn't out of the question

r8rphan said:

Going from memory here..

19.25 lbs of 2 row...
1 lb munich
1 lb crystal 15L

mashed at 154

Target OG was around 1.090
I got 1.071 (which is why I'm buying my own mill)

Click to expand...

Wow, my recipe was the same except I used 13lb of 2 row and I made a 6gal batch and came out with 1.081. Did you sparge? And how much water did you sparge with? What did you start with in your boil kettle, how many gallons? I am thinking maybe you shorted your sparge and left a lot of sugar behind.

dcp27 said:

Are you sure that OG reading was accurate? I have a hard time believing you truly only got 50% efficiency

Also, I would check the accuracy of your thermometer and hydrometer. If that mash was a bit higher, then only 70% attenuation isn't out of the question

Click to expand...

Batches under a targeted OG of .045-,050 or less come in at around 70% or so.. everything over that is in the 50-55% range... That is with grain milled at my LHBS.. I ordered a couple AG kits with OGs in the .060 range from B3, and those ended up within a couple points.. I think my LHBS crush is suspect (after all, that allows them to sell me more grain, right?) .. I have ordered a mill so I can start doing my own...

Using several different thermometers (floating, digital meat, and fermometer on the sample tube), and tried a second brand new hydrometer, and got exact same readings in all cases...

Was hoping to get a 65-75% efficiency, as this was to be a 5G 'fix it' brew to blend with the previous 10G batch that got a 50% efficiency also... Now I'll be doing good to have enough to fix just 5G of the original...

Snowhere said:

Wow, my recipe was the same except I used 13lb of 2 row and I made a 6gal batch and came out with 1.081. Did you sparge? And how much water did you sparge with? What did you start with in your boil kettle, how many gallons? I am thinking maybe you shorted your sparge and left a lot of sugar behind.

Click to expand...

Obviously that is part of the problem.. but I did three sparges and boiled an extra 40 mins before starting the hops schedule... and still had sucky efficiency..

I'm using 5.2 on these, but I did a 10G AG IPA kit from B3 and got close to the targeted OG.. In fact, I called them, and they said their kits are for 5G boils, not 5.5 like I had done, and accounting for that, I got reasonably close..

I have only got good efficiency with grains crushed at my LHBS when the recipe was for a fairly gravity light Ale...

Can anyone tell me what my FG should be and if I need to re-pitch?... I'd really like to blend these beers this weekend if possible...

I;d guess in the 75-80% attenuation range based on your recipe, so like 1.014-1.018

sorry to hear about the poor efficiency. ive heard of 10% drops in larger batches, but thats crazy what you're getting

Pappers_ said:

What temp are you fermenting it at and what was your recipe and process?

Click to expand...

I pitched at about 63 degrees, and it got really cold that first night (6-7 degrees outside) and the batch dropped under 60 degrees.. so I moved it out of the laundry room and into another room, and about the better part of a day later, it got to around 64-65 and it took off.. It got kinda warm during the ferment (because it was fermenting pretty violently), and probably hit 72-74 degrees for a few hours before I moved it again to the original cooler room and got it under control.. Probably spent most of the primary phase of ferment around 64-66 degrees....

dcp27 said:

I;d guess in the 75-80% attenuation range based on your recipe, so like 1.014-1.018

sorry to hear about the poor efficiency. ive heard of 10% drops in larger batches, but thats crazy what you're getting

Click to expand...

If that's the case, then it's probably done, and pitching more yeast probably won't do much...

Yeah, by milling myself, that's one more thing to take control of.. Process of elimination should eventually get this all straightened out...

I hope....

Looks like you're within 3 gravity points of where that recipe would hit, with the efficiency level you got...

Just for reference, I brewed a 5 gallon Strong Scotch Ale recipe (my own creation) with 12.25# of grain and got an OG of 1.072.
We (my brew buddy and I) brewed a 10 gallon honey cream ale on Saturday, with 26.5# of grain and got an OG of 1.065. I'm hoping for a FG under 1.016 (closer to 1.010), which it could do with the temperature we mashed at. This was the first time I used my Barley Crusher, which could have something to do with the results of the day. BUT, where I had been getting my milled grain uses the same gap size... With having the mill, and uncrushed grain on hand, I can dial in more hardware to get the best results possible. With my cooler MLT now sealing nicely, I shouldn't have any issue mashing up to 45# of grain at a time.