Amber Alert (related to brewday electrical panel power off)

[wmubronco]

Been brewing for 6 years now, made the switch from propane to 220V system, with 1/2bbl Chronical as my fermenter. Keep everything cleaned and sanitized between brews as well. Have my brewhouse efficiency at 65%.

Have since improved my efficiency, however noticed on most of my ales and IPAs, there's the estery taste. Initial guess is that I may be using too much Crystal in my recipes. I adjust my water chemistry to match the specific profile and hit my numbers.

Let's get back to the topic, AMBER ALERT! During brewday, at mashing, I went to add the 2nd addition of minerals and then all of a sudden... ***silence*** pumps go off and to my dismay the entire panel went out. Long story short, I had to rework my wiring that took about 1.5 hours to get everything back up and running, hence the name for this Amber... AMBER ALERT!

So basically my mash was stalled and temperature dropped a good 20degrees, if not more, before I got the panel back in action. Brewday continued and I hit 74% efficiency on the mash. Fermented 3 weeks at 64F, kegged, carbonated at 28psi for 4 days, then went for first pour....

Hmmm, doesn't taste right, a little sweet, definitely not right. Wondering if the huge 1.5 hour delay during the the mash had some effects. Previous brew was a Nut Brown Ale then I entered into a competition and got back tasting notes as vegetal (was first time I used a 1/2bbl keg to serve from - wish I cleaned like not other before using).

Comments/tips appreciated. Would like to see how I can also improve my ales/IPAs.

Attached a few of the previous recipes, and also water profile for my Amber Alert.

 

[wmubronco]

For the Amber, mashed at 152F, typically go for about 1hour 15 minutes minimum... but having a 1.5hour delay while the temperature dropped during control panel re-wiring.

Used drypack yeast - Safale 05

 

[mirthfuldragon]

What was your actual final gravity, compared to your expected FG? Beyond that, "definetly not right" isn't much to go on. 4.5oz of Cascade is a lot of cascade (I would cut in something else in replacement for part of it - but that's just my taste) - how is the floral spice coming through? 40 IBU is plenty hoppy for an amber.

Side note: I discount any single competition note. If you can read it and see where they are getting it, great - those notes can be great for understanding specific flavors. However, when I get contradictory notes back from certified experienced judges, it was enough to make me decide to not bother for a while.

 

[wmubronco]

The competitions are great for constructive feedback. I have been awarded medals for some of my past brews (Czech Pils took gold in Michigan Beer Cup).

I will have to sample my Amber again when I get out of the office today. Here are some more details relating to gravity; target OG was 1.053, collected 13.2gallons pre-boil and measured gravity at 1.050. My FG was at 1.014

 

[wmubronco]

Tasted again... definitely a lot of floral flavor coming through. Vegetal taste as well, and the after taste seems dry/sandy. Initial nose has a flower/soil smell. Just seems like something is definitely off.

The downtime during the mash have adverse effects?

 

[Renegade Brewer]

Vegetal flavor is normally attributed to DMS which is common when brewing on an electric system, especially larger batches. If you aren’t achieving a good rolling boil then DMS will have a hard time blowing off during the boil. A fix would be increase your boil time to 90 min and make sure you’re not boiling with the lid on. Also cooling rapidly will help reduce DMS. I know it may be impossible on your system, but maybe look at upgrading the heating element in the boil kettle. Your current configuration might not be strong enough to achieve a good rolling boil. This is the number one complaint I hear from guys using the grain father. Apparently the grainfather tips out at 212* being a 110v system. This will often result in the lighter pale beers suffering from DMS.

As for contradicting notes from judges, remember judges are human too. We all have different sensitivities and thresholds for specific flavor compounds. One judge may be very sensitive to dyacital where another might not be so you could get dinged on one score sheet for dyacital but not on the other. We usually will discuss the beer after we’ve scored it and come to an average score, but we can’t legally influence each other’s pallets. Keep entering comps and keep collecting hardware.

 

[wmubronco]

My Nut Brown Ale was my first 15 gallon batch (but also the first time I put my beer into a 1/2bbl keg). My Amber Alert was an 11 gallon batch. My BK has a 5500W ULD heating element, powered by 220V30A.

I have been putting my PID down to about 45% of power when at boil. It's a rolling boil, but perhaps not vigorous enough to really kick out the DMS. I only have the BK lid on when I collect the wort pre-boil, and just before 212F, I am skimming the foop off the top as best as possible.

Post-boil I am running the wort through a CF chiller that cools down very effectively, however have been running into a "lost-siphon," but I am getting better on controlling that, slowing down the pump just as the wort hits the top of my filter. Last 3 brews, I've had to collect the last 2 gallons via tipping BK into pitcher, then dumping that through strainer into fermenter (not ideal).

 

[Renegade Brewer]

It sounds like your temp and power output are appropriate for what you are doing. Maybe try doing a 90 boil and see if anything changes. Of course don’t forget to adjust your recipe for the addition volume loss.

 

[wmubronco]

Ah, did not mention that. Majority of my boils are 90 minutes.

 

[Renegade Brewer]

Hmm I think if it was me having this issue then I’d ask a fellow brewer if I can brew on his propane system and brew the exact same beer with the same process. If I still had the same results I might start examine my process and possibly ingredients. If it alleviated the issue I would examine what’s going on with my equipment

 

[wmubronco]

Was trying to get some thoughts on the whole delay/downtime my mash has when the control panel shorted out.

 

[newtobrew1981]

I'm fairly new at this but when your temp was out of whack could it have resulted in the conversion of less fermentable sugars. Could be the reason for the sweet taste also maybe fermentation was stalled resulting in dms and sweetness

 

[newtobrew1981]

I meant diacetyl and sweetness