I brewed this back on 6/4/15 and just finally have this kegged up. I'm sorry to report that this might very well be the worst brew I've made in the 3-4 years I've been brewing. I take all of the blame myself though. I couldn't get this to ferment much farther than 1.030, and went through about 3 different smack packs in the process. This beer is full of off flavors and I'm sure it's due to the yeast.
I barrel aged this for a few months in a bourbon barrel, so you definitely get a lot of bourbon, but that's followed by a very intense banana flavor. I'm just not a big fan. Fortunately, I've only got about 3 gallons, but I still don't see this keg getting kicked anytime soon I just can't bring myself to dump it...
If you're assuming that I'm trying to take a gravity reading using a refractometer, you are incorrect sir. Refractometers will not give an accurate FG due to the presence of alcohol. I took this reading using a hydrometer. I'm not sure if I made a bad starter or what, but I threw another 2 smack packs at it and would get some activity for roughly a day and then nothing.1030 seems so high even when severely underpitching. The kind of reading you'd get from a refractometer at these levels of alcohol
Yea I tried warming this up a bit, but nowhere near 79. I need to put together a fermentation chamber so that I can regulate my temps a bit better. I currently have basement temp (cooler) and main floor temp (warmer) ha!I've had good luck getting some of my higher OG beers to finish lower by using a beer belt or any other available method to raise the temperature. My last Belgian I finished it off by taking it up to 79 degrees and got it down to 1.015 which is a decent number for one of these high alcohol beers. Not perfect but not too sweet to drink.
I too have had success with getting bigger beers to finish by warming to 1-2 over highest recommended temp. Usually do it after a couple days right when fermentation starts to slow.
But 1.030 sounds way too high. Like an error with your hydrometer, using a refractometer (without using correction factor to take into account alcohol), or your mash temp was too high.
Is there a preferred mash temp for this?
Hi,
The recipe says:
Protein Rest: 140 F 15 Min*
Saccharification Rest: 150 F 60 Min*
Mash-out Rest: 168 F 15 Min*
Not too dry. You don't want a tripel to be sweet. Sounds like you better be careful with this brute @ roughly 9.8% abv...sounds like it should be tasty. Let us know how it comes out
Thanks for the reply. Seemed like everyone else was finishing so much higher. I was afraid I may get poor results. I tried some today, it was ok but still very green as its only 2 weeks old. I will let you know how it turns out.
No, I kind of wish mine got that low. Did you do all grain?
Question about IBU and hops....
I'm new to all grain, but eager to learn.
The original all recipe is as follows -
I've stuck this into BeerSmith -
IBU's seem way too low. The recipe says 1.8oz of Hallertauer at 4.5 Alpha should be 29 IBU.
To get the IBU up to the recommended ~22IBU, I have to bump the Hallertauer up to 120grams.
This seems way too much
How do I fix it?
Your first picture shows a total IBU of 29.7 + 3.9 + 1.7 = 35.3 IBUs
The second shows a completely different (lower) number. Have you saved the recipe? Otherwise it could be a bug in your beersmith.
Sorry for the questions, but this is my first AG.
So I should do a 5 gallon strike, followed by 5 gallon sparge?
Also, the guy at the local shop recommended a longer mash, 90 minutes? Stick to the 60 minutes or take his advice?
Sorry for the questions, but this is my first AG.
So I should do a 5 gallon strike, followed by 5 gallon sparge?
Also, the guy at the local shop recommended a longer mash, 90 minutes? Stick to the 60 minutes or take his advice?
Thank so for the help!
I'm using a 10 gallon cooler tun and a 5 gallon kettle for a batch sparge.
I have the extra grains so I'll go for adding them in as well.
I'd do it all grain biab- you'll thank me later. There is no reason to do traditional AG anymore (as detailed in Other threads)- traditional all grain is a equivalent of using a flip phone these days. Use an extra pound of the base grain (13.8 lbs pilsner) to compensate for efficiency loss since this is your first time.
You will have to start with more than 5 gallons because you lose water from evaporation during the boil and from grain absorption. You can probably assume an boil off rate of 1-1.5 gallons per hour for your first brew, but keep track of your pre and post volume so you can calculate your boil off rate specific to your pot that you can use for your next brew.
Use this link to figure out water volume to start with:
https://pricelessbrewing.github.io/BiabCalc/
I usually do a 90 min mashes with biab. Not sure it matters- people get by with much shorter mashes, but certainly doesn't hurt.
The other advice I can give you regarding biab is to squeeze the bag like it owes you money. A good way is to use two nested 5 gallon buckets with holes drilled in the bottom and sides of inner bucket so as bag is squeeze wort falls into bottom bucket. You won't need to sparge if you use a pound more of base grain and you squeeze the bag good enough.
You only need one vial of yeast if you're making a starter. Google "yeast calculator" and use one of them to see how to make the starter. 1 vial of yeast would probably work, but would not be optimal.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=233289
Hm, interesting. I went the other way, now using eBIAB. I crush at .045, mash for 45min with two quick stirs, spend 5 minutes to do a pulley hoist / squeeze / pour 1 gallon of water over it / squeeze again, and I get 70 to 80% efficiency depending on gravity. I really like the reduction in equipment space.I don't love this post and I know it could open up a huge debate. But to say the "traditional" method of all grain is like a flip phone is somewhat disingenuous. I went from BIAB to a 10 gallon Igloo mash tun after a year of doing BIAB.
BIAB is a great way to enter all grain since the equipment requirements are much less and process is easier, however, the trade off is BIAB is kind of a pain.
With BIAB, in order to have a half decent efficiency (I know this doesn't matter a ton) I had make sure the LHBS double crushed my grain, do a 90 minute mash, stir the crap out of the mash every 20 minutes, pull out my ladder from storage so I can set up a pulley, and then squeeze the ever living daylights out of an extremely hot and heavy bag.
Now, I can single crush my grains, do a 60 minute mash, and simply drain the wort from the mash tun into the kettle. The time is about the same but the work is way less and I improved my efficiency by about 6 percentage points. And all I needed was about $60 to build a mash tun (I still use a bag for the filter instead of a false bottom).
My only point here is that BIAB is a different method for mashing than traditional but I wouldn't say its better or worse. For me, like I said, I did BIAB for more than a year and then switched to using a mash tun and haven't once looked back.
When are you adding the candy sugar to the boil?
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