Evan!
Well-Known Member
Damnit, you'd think, after this much experience, I'd be over this crap, but I guess you're never too experienced to be a n00b.
On Saturday, I brewed a couple batches, one of which was a Partial Mash double IPA. OG @ 1.094. Approximately 31% of the malt bill was DME. 44% was Maris Otter. Victory and Biscuit made up 12.5% each.
I aerated as usual and pitched Nottingham, which, in my experience, is pretty high-attenuating. By next morning, it was bubbling away. It proceeded to get really violent, swirling around like crazy, as is sometimes the case. I figured, hey, this fermentation is going well. Then yesterday it pretty much stopped, the krausen fell, and it's bubbling very, very slowly. So last night, I took gravity readings on 4 of my current brews. The Stone VE was down in the low 20's. Good'nuff. The Smoked Porter had dropped about 8 or 9 points in secondary. Very good. The Rochefort 10 was down 1.020. Again, good stuff. The Double IPA? 1.039. WTF? It's been awhile since I used it (or any dry yeast for that matter), but I've never had Nottingham attenuate that low before. I mean, I know it's not completely finished just yet, but it's pretty much done...there's no visible activity in the wort, meaning, there's no way I'm gonna carve another 25 points out of there.
I did a single infusion mash between 148 and 152 for 60 minutes, then brought it up to 158 to complete the conversion (iodine test was good). So what might be accounting for this? The Laaglander (the only DME I had on hand)? And what are my options. I mean, I can deal with a beer in the low 30's if it's a big stout or something and I've added maltodextrin or carapils, but...an IPA...damn near 1.040? Unh unh. Nope. Gotta fix that.
On Saturday, I brewed a couple batches, one of which was a Partial Mash double IPA. OG @ 1.094. Approximately 31% of the malt bill was DME. 44% was Maris Otter. Victory and Biscuit made up 12.5% each.
I aerated as usual and pitched Nottingham, which, in my experience, is pretty high-attenuating. By next morning, it was bubbling away. It proceeded to get really violent, swirling around like crazy, as is sometimes the case. I figured, hey, this fermentation is going well. Then yesterday it pretty much stopped, the krausen fell, and it's bubbling very, very slowly. So last night, I took gravity readings on 4 of my current brews. The Stone VE was down in the low 20's. Good'nuff. The Smoked Porter had dropped about 8 or 9 points in secondary. Very good. The Rochefort 10 was down 1.020. Again, good stuff. The Double IPA? 1.039. WTF? It's been awhile since I used it (or any dry yeast for that matter), but I've never had Nottingham attenuate that low before. I mean, I know it's not completely finished just yet, but it's pretty much done...there's no visible activity in the wort, meaning, there's no way I'm gonna carve another 25 points out of there.
I did a single infusion mash between 148 and 152 for 60 minutes, then brought it up to 158 to complete the conversion (iodine test was good). So what might be accounting for this? The Laaglander (the only DME I had on hand)? And what are my options. I mean, I can deal with a beer in the low 30's if it's a big stout or something and I've added maltodextrin or carapils, but...an IPA...damn near 1.040? Unh unh. Nope. Gotta fix that.