mooonshine199
Member
I wanted to put this out there, my recent experiences, as a noobrewer I search lots and find few instances where what I'm doing is being done and documented for others to read. It may be because what I'm doing is usually done by people who don't bother taking notes, or are too embarrassed to document it, but again, for people that are in my shoes, doing this, here it is.
I make Frankenbrew... I have a dozen or so under my belt now, all extracts. I mix up recipes, on purpose and by accident... sometimes not so bad, sometimes really badly. I do Sanitize well, and I try to take notes, but sometimes I miss things. I have a wife and a couple young kids, a small house with enough room to brew extracts fairly easily. I've gotten the process down to an hour give or take for a brew, and bottling can be done in even less time. I have for the most part only bought Mr. Beer brand stuff, and I still use their plastic 2.5 gal kegs. I have two. I've never used their plastic bottles though, and I've bought a number of things along the way to make things easier and add some science to the equation.
I've never had to dump a batch yet, and only once or twice have I come close to "nailing it" on one of their recipes. I refuse to make "simple beers" even as a noob, just taking the can of "american light" and not adding anything to it- I see no point in making a 3% ABV beer... even for a learning experience.
My recent "experience" has been rolling along and started back in October, 2013. I had a few of my frankenbrews hang/stall/stuck fermentations, and so I thought I would go back to a recipe and see if I could at least come close to nailing it. I chose Defibrillator Dopplebock, a batch I had done well with prior and went to work on it. I followed the directions as written, and had a brand new Beer barrel to work with (properly sanitized of course). Oh - I do Use star-san to sanitize with, one of my step ups over the stock stuff. I started 10/14/13, and once my heated wort was added to the keg, I threw in a muslin sack with .5 ounces of Glacier pellet hops. I also added a little too much extra water into my keg. It was about 1/4 inch over the 8.5 Quart line. I also happen to have an AKAI Water Ionizer that has multiple settings. I use plain “purified” water for my brews using the AKAI, however sometimes I monkey around and toss in a cup or so of more Acidic (ph around 6-7) in place of a regular cup of water. Can't imagine this does anything, but again- throwing it out there. In this particular batch, I did add the acidic water, as well as some extra yeast. This kit came with the new gold Mr. beer packs of yeast (5g) and I had a few month old 2 gram mr. beer yeast I tossed in as well.
Oh aerating the wort? yes. I put the wort in the barrel with the lid- and I shake the living @#$% out of it for about a minute. usually it leaks all over, and I use a clean dishrag to wipe everything up once aerated. Only then do I toss in the yeast. I've left it on top, and I've stirred it after a few minutes. I don't think either way matters. Oh, and Pitching Temp- I always try to pitch in the mid 70's, usually can't wait for it to cool down to the low 70's but I never pitch over 80. I wait till at least 78, sometimes 75-76ish using an ice bath in the sink to cool the keg.
I use a refractometer that I bought online- worth every penny. Easy to use, and uses drops of liquid vs a hydrometer which I admit I've never used. I did check to see it reads zero with water, so I call that calibrated. I do use a specific calculator online to make sure I have the proper refractometer conversion built in - Link here: http://www.onebeer.net/refractometer.shtml -
Can anyone please let me know if this is correct and proper to use? That would be a step in the right direction.
The recipe said my OG should have been 1.085, my actual OG granted I added too much water was only 1.065... My FG goal was 1.008 again, according to the recipe. 2 weeks into the fermentation I'm at 1.035... Check the gravity a few times in the third week and I think it is...and after a few more days yup- stuck. I tried shaking, swirling to no avail- the closet I keep the kegs in is an interior climate controlled closet. Stays between 68-73.
10/28 - picked up some WLP001 yeast nutrient. I put 3/4 tsp in. Mixed it around. Also added 1/4 tsp yeast "nutrients" WLN1000HB - I read a lot about this stuff and the difference, I figured go with both, cross fingers one works. Another day goes by and- Nothing...
10/29, still at 1.035, so it's time to try something... remember this was supposed to be the one that doesn't get stuck... So I added a packet of dry yeast. Safbrew WB-06 11.5Gram packet I had laying around. It was dated 7/13 and I knew it was old, but tossed her in anyways. I also added 2 older 2g Mr. beer yeast packets thinking - hell why not. stirred a bunch...shut the door. I know- everyone is sitting around and saying… whats the acronym? Shut up sit down relax and have a home brew? I know I didn’t wait long for the nutrients to kick in, but I figured the sooner I got it going again the better…
When I shook it it seemed to have pressure in the barrel- it was gassing out the lid area... Thought for sure this was the cure, but I gave it another week and nothing 1.035.
11/9-Still at 1.035...So after reading every single post from anyone whose had a stuck fermentation...I knew my alternatives, I almost tried a starter(something I still have yet to ever try)... (again remember these are mr. beer barrels 2.5 gal there's not much room in these things once they are brewing...) So I skipped the starter.
Decision? I have an extra barrel- so I get it out- get sanitized, and start brewing another batch. I figure I can get two shots at this stuck batch with another brew, first, by throwing High krausen beer at it, and last resort, throw it on the freshly used cake. (Neither of which I had ever attempted before)
11/9 (still)- I brew up a batch of what I'm calling Aztec Sunset. I used one can of Mr beer Aztec Mexican Cervesa, 1 Pouch Booster , 1 pouch Robust. This time I went with straight Purified water, no acidic water. I wanted to get serious this time. I wondered if my Akai purification system could be taking too much out of the water, so I added some goodies. 1/2 tsp Amalyse Enzyme into the recipe. NOT Beano, I've read they ARE different -(beano never stops without boiling and Amalyse will depending on amount used) Got this from the local home brew store. I wanted this one to finish clean, and low gravity regardless of taste/profile/drinkability. I have no "target gravity" here, as these are extracts, so I don't have a grain bill, mash temp etc... and not even a recipe this time, just winging it. Because I wanted this to finish low, and I was concerned about the water possibly being an issue, I also added 1tsp energizer, as well as 1/2 tsp nutrient.
Did my usual Aeration, and measured an OG of 1.054. As for the yeast on this one. I used a liquid yeast at room temp - no starter, Belgian Saison WLP568. I used this for the flavor character/profile as well as the temp range which is on the higher end of things. I read it can stall out...so I kept my temps dead on ( I use a digital room thermometer where the plastic thing sits next to the keg and the digital read-out is in my kitchen). Also I added a dry packet of mr. beer 5mg gold packet as well just for insurance. I figured I used all the energizer, nutrients, enzymes... this thing would have to be cursed not to finish low.
Well it took off as expected.
11/10-At high krausen about 20 hours later(read sometime the next day), the foam was pumping out of the top of the lid on the Mr beer keg. I took both fermentors and opened the lids, gently poured about 2 cups from the krausening beer to the stuck one. 2 cups...give or take a cup. Eyeballing it- and looking at the lines on the side... at least a cup- no more than three.
11/20- While I was two kegs deep in the closet, one day my wife said “wow it really stinks in there today!!” and I went to look and got a whif- and wow it smelled like heaven…but this heaven quickly turned hell when I realized it was because the spigot on the Mr.beer keg had broken… ugh- this is the new version with the lever on it, so I quickly got out my brewing pan and boiled 2 gallons of water in it with the lid on so as to sterilize it. Once boiling- I had an old spigot from an old kit- I tossed it in the boiling water. Then I dumped the water out and put the lid on. I grabbed the leaking keg, dumped the contents as gently as possible into the brew pan (still hot but not scalding). I could see somehow, I must have over tightened the plastic nut- and or grabed it by the spigot – the spigot had cracked off- and how this was not spewing beer all over I don’t know… I untwisted the broken spigot, and with a freshly washed and patted dry arm, quickly removed the old parts and put on the new one touching as little as possible- trying not to leave arm hair or anything else inside the barrel. Once done, I poured the beer back into the keg…put on the lid…what else could go wrong?
12/8- I called it. Time to end this. The Aztec Sunset finished at what I thought was a very high still - 1.025 - which according to my calculator listed above is about 6.17% aBV. That will work for me...
The Defib (stuck batch) actually started bubbling again after the krausen addition although barely, and not for long... It came down a smidge and finished at (still high) 1.030. So all that and it came down 5 points... better than nothing.
I wasn't done yet though with the DD (stuck) I wanted to try the last step in the experiment. Once I bottled the Aztec Sunset, I bottled a 6 pack of the stuck DD, but then I poured the rest of it onto the Aztec Sunset yeast cake and let it sit even longer... On 12/21 I bottled the DD as it didn't move at all, still at 1.030. Both brews I used glass 12 ounce bottles. Prime tabs.( I love these – very easy to meter out accurately) 5 each. they showed signs of immediate carbing/Co2 bubbles but not much so I don’t expect any glass grenades. No bombs yet as of today 12/23. (got them in a case box in a garage sink just in case).
Think I'm done? No... Immediately after I bottled it, I Brewed another batch, wanted to try this too. Firstly because I’m crazy, and 2ndly because I wanted to see if this yeast was still viable after all this use/abuse…The New batch I'm calling ...”Don't know yet” (yes, that’s the name)... It's: 1 Can of American Classic, 1 pouch booster, 1 pouch Golden. I added 1/4 tsp both energizer and Nutrient for good measure. I used zero yeast. I pitched this wort right onto the cake from the Stuck DD, which is also the cake from the Aztec Sunset. (so there’s at least 4 kinds…I’m sure one strain probably dominated but who knows which one)… There was probably a cup or so of the old beer still in there which I know sounds brutal, remember that batch started back on Oct 14th.. and yes, the muslin sack with the Glacier hops...is still in there...now. I kinda forgot about that... (that wasn't in the Aztec though)... My OG on this new batch is 1.063. As I write this, I’m just after High krausen – the yeast was healthy enough, and took right off. Now the bubbles are slowing- I see sick looking blobules in there floating around…I see a very cloudy beer…full of yeast…and stuff… and the bag of hops is..as you can imagine, like a corpse floating in the East river…IF this sounds appealing to you…well I’m on the fence. Crossing fingers it cleans up, settles out at whatever my FG is in a few weeks time. I’ll bottle it and update.
After I brewed this yesterday, I had a friend over and we sampled the Aztec as it had been in bottles a week now and I threw two in the fridge just to see if they were...meant for human consumption. They were. Pretty good actually- very green...very. Very fruity... but you could tell it was not going to be bad once in bottles for a few months. The saison spicy? Well it’s there- strong? No- the beer had carbed, and wasn't too bad for only a week...
The DD? I haven't tried one yet from the 12/8 bottling... too scary still. I will try it first…(and only once it is …there… will I even try to open a 12.21 bottled DD) - It was a bigger beer and I dont even want to look at it yet- maybe in 2014...
I'm still confused as to why all my beers seem to be finishing so high. My OG's have ranged from just under 1.090 all the way to like 1.040...I've read "extracts" are the root of it.. but you would think the amalyse would have done the trick in the DD batch... Anyways. I love brewing extracts because of the time saving. A friend does mashing and sparging, even grows Hops, but I don't have the time for all, nor the space for that amount of equipment. That and I love how I can knock out brew after brew. I also like the small batch size. No matter how bad it is, ~20 bottles of just about anything doesn't last long once I decide it’s not getting any better after a few months...If it makes it that long.
So to all the Noobrewers out there, don't worry, just sanitize and give it more time.
To all the pro's that read this, I'd love any and all insight, advice, lambasting, critical and nonsensical comments you can provide. Thanks
I make Frankenbrew... I have a dozen or so under my belt now, all extracts. I mix up recipes, on purpose and by accident... sometimes not so bad, sometimes really badly. I do Sanitize well, and I try to take notes, but sometimes I miss things. I have a wife and a couple young kids, a small house with enough room to brew extracts fairly easily. I've gotten the process down to an hour give or take for a brew, and bottling can be done in even less time. I have for the most part only bought Mr. Beer brand stuff, and I still use their plastic 2.5 gal kegs. I have two. I've never used their plastic bottles though, and I've bought a number of things along the way to make things easier and add some science to the equation.
I've never had to dump a batch yet, and only once or twice have I come close to "nailing it" on one of their recipes. I refuse to make "simple beers" even as a noob, just taking the can of "american light" and not adding anything to it- I see no point in making a 3% ABV beer... even for a learning experience.
My recent "experience" has been rolling along and started back in October, 2013. I had a few of my frankenbrews hang/stall/stuck fermentations, and so I thought I would go back to a recipe and see if I could at least come close to nailing it. I chose Defibrillator Dopplebock, a batch I had done well with prior and went to work on it. I followed the directions as written, and had a brand new Beer barrel to work with (properly sanitized of course). Oh - I do Use star-san to sanitize with, one of my step ups over the stock stuff. I started 10/14/13, and once my heated wort was added to the keg, I threw in a muslin sack with .5 ounces of Glacier pellet hops. I also added a little too much extra water into my keg. It was about 1/4 inch over the 8.5 Quart line. I also happen to have an AKAI Water Ionizer that has multiple settings. I use plain “purified” water for my brews using the AKAI, however sometimes I monkey around and toss in a cup or so of more Acidic (ph around 6-7) in place of a regular cup of water. Can't imagine this does anything, but again- throwing it out there. In this particular batch, I did add the acidic water, as well as some extra yeast. This kit came with the new gold Mr. beer packs of yeast (5g) and I had a few month old 2 gram mr. beer yeast I tossed in as well.
Oh aerating the wort? yes. I put the wort in the barrel with the lid- and I shake the living @#$% out of it for about a minute. usually it leaks all over, and I use a clean dishrag to wipe everything up once aerated. Only then do I toss in the yeast. I've left it on top, and I've stirred it after a few minutes. I don't think either way matters. Oh, and Pitching Temp- I always try to pitch in the mid 70's, usually can't wait for it to cool down to the low 70's but I never pitch over 80. I wait till at least 78, sometimes 75-76ish using an ice bath in the sink to cool the keg.
I use a refractometer that I bought online- worth every penny. Easy to use, and uses drops of liquid vs a hydrometer which I admit I've never used. I did check to see it reads zero with water, so I call that calibrated. I do use a specific calculator online to make sure I have the proper refractometer conversion built in - Link here: http://www.onebeer.net/refractometer.shtml -
Can anyone please let me know if this is correct and proper to use? That would be a step in the right direction.
The recipe said my OG should have been 1.085, my actual OG granted I added too much water was only 1.065... My FG goal was 1.008 again, according to the recipe. 2 weeks into the fermentation I'm at 1.035... Check the gravity a few times in the third week and I think it is...and after a few more days yup- stuck. I tried shaking, swirling to no avail- the closet I keep the kegs in is an interior climate controlled closet. Stays between 68-73.
10/28 - picked up some WLP001 yeast nutrient. I put 3/4 tsp in. Mixed it around. Also added 1/4 tsp yeast "nutrients" WLN1000HB - I read a lot about this stuff and the difference, I figured go with both, cross fingers one works. Another day goes by and- Nothing...
10/29, still at 1.035, so it's time to try something... remember this was supposed to be the one that doesn't get stuck... So I added a packet of dry yeast. Safbrew WB-06 11.5Gram packet I had laying around. It was dated 7/13 and I knew it was old, but tossed her in anyways. I also added 2 older 2g Mr. beer yeast packets thinking - hell why not. stirred a bunch...shut the door. I know- everyone is sitting around and saying… whats the acronym? Shut up sit down relax and have a home brew? I know I didn’t wait long for the nutrients to kick in, but I figured the sooner I got it going again the better…
When I shook it it seemed to have pressure in the barrel- it was gassing out the lid area... Thought for sure this was the cure, but I gave it another week and nothing 1.035.
11/9-Still at 1.035...So after reading every single post from anyone whose had a stuck fermentation...I knew my alternatives, I almost tried a starter(something I still have yet to ever try)... (again remember these are mr. beer barrels 2.5 gal there's not much room in these things once they are brewing...) So I skipped the starter.
Decision? I have an extra barrel- so I get it out- get sanitized, and start brewing another batch. I figure I can get two shots at this stuck batch with another brew, first, by throwing High krausen beer at it, and last resort, throw it on the freshly used cake. (Neither of which I had ever attempted before)
11/9 (still)- I brew up a batch of what I'm calling Aztec Sunset. I used one can of Mr beer Aztec Mexican Cervesa, 1 Pouch Booster , 1 pouch Robust. This time I went with straight Purified water, no acidic water. I wanted to get serious this time. I wondered if my Akai purification system could be taking too much out of the water, so I added some goodies. 1/2 tsp Amalyse Enzyme into the recipe. NOT Beano, I've read they ARE different -(beano never stops without boiling and Amalyse will depending on amount used) Got this from the local home brew store. I wanted this one to finish clean, and low gravity regardless of taste/profile/drinkability. I have no "target gravity" here, as these are extracts, so I don't have a grain bill, mash temp etc... and not even a recipe this time, just winging it. Because I wanted this to finish low, and I was concerned about the water possibly being an issue, I also added 1tsp energizer, as well as 1/2 tsp nutrient.
Did my usual Aeration, and measured an OG of 1.054. As for the yeast on this one. I used a liquid yeast at room temp - no starter, Belgian Saison WLP568. I used this for the flavor character/profile as well as the temp range which is on the higher end of things. I read it can stall out...so I kept my temps dead on ( I use a digital room thermometer where the plastic thing sits next to the keg and the digital read-out is in my kitchen). Also I added a dry packet of mr. beer 5mg gold packet as well just for insurance. I figured I used all the energizer, nutrients, enzymes... this thing would have to be cursed not to finish low.
Well it took off as expected.
11/10-At high krausen about 20 hours later(read sometime the next day), the foam was pumping out of the top of the lid on the Mr beer keg. I took both fermentors and opened the lids, gently poured about 2 cups from the krausening beer to the stuck one. 2 cups...give or take a cup. Eyeballing it- and looking at the lines on the side... at least a cup- no more than three.
11/20- While I was two kegs deep in the closet, one day my wife said “wow it really stinks in there today!!” and I went to look and got a whif- and wow it smelled like heaven…but this heaven quickly turned hell when I realized it was because the spigot on the Mr.beer keg had broken… ugh- this is the new version with the lever on it, so I quickly got out my brewing pan and boiled 2 gallons of water in it with the lid on so as to sterilize it. Once boiling- I had an old spigot from an old kit- I tossed it in the boiling water. Then I dumped the water out and put the lid on. I grabbed the leaking keg, dumped the contents as gently as possible into the brew pan (still hot but not scalding). I could see somehow, I must have over tightened the plastic nut- and or grabed it by the spigot – the spigot had cracked off- and how this was not spewing beer all over I don’t know… I untwisted the broken spigot, and with a freshly washed and patted dry arm, quickly removed the old parts and put on the new one touching as little as possible- trying not to leave arm hair or anything else inside the barrel. Once done, I poured the beer back into the keg…put on the lid…what else could go wrong?
12/8- I called it. Time to end this. The Aztec Sunset finished at what I thought was a very high still - 1.025 - which according to my calculator listed above is about 6.17% aBV. That will work for me...
The Defib (stuck batch) actually started bubbling again after the krausen addition although barely, and not for long... It came down a smidge and finished at (still high) 1.030. So all that and it came down 5 points... better than nothing.
I wasn't done yet though with the DD (stuck) I wanted to try the last step in the experiment. Once I bottled the Aztec Sunset, I bottled a 6 pack of the stuck DD, but then I poured the rest of it onto the Aztec Sunset yeast cake and let it sit even longer... On 12/21 I bottled the DD as it didn't move at all, still at 1.030. Both brews I used glass 12 ounce bottles. Prime tabs.( I love these – very easy to meter out accurately) 5 each. they showed signs of immediate carbing/Co2 bubbles but not much so I don’t expect any glass grenades. No bombs yet as of today 12/23. (got them in a case box in a garage sink just in case).
Think I'm done? No... Immediately after I bottled it, I Brewed another batch, wanted to try this too. Firstly because I’m crazy, and 2ndly because I wanted to see if this yeast was still viable after all this use/abuse…The New batch I'm calling ...”Don't know yet” (yes, that’s the name)... It's: 1 Can of American Classic, 1 pouch booster, 1 pouch Golden. I added 1/4 tsp both energizer and Nutrient for good measure. I used zero yeast. I pitched this wort right onto the cake from the Stuck DD, which is also the cake from the Aztec Sunset. (so there’s at least 4 kinds…I’m sure one strain probably dominated but who knows which one)… There was probably a cup or so of the old beer still in there which I know sounds brutal, remember that batch started back on Oct 14th.. and yes, the muslin sack with the Glacier hops...is still in there...now. I kinda forgot about that... (that wasn't in the Aztec though)... My OG on this new batch is 1.063. As I write this, I’m just after High krausen – the yeast was healthy enough, and took right off. Now the bubbles are slowing- I see sick looking blobules in there floating around…I see a very cloudy beer…full of yeast…and stuff… and the bag of hops is..as you can imagine, like a corpse floating in the East river…IF this sounds appealing to you…well I’m on the fence. Crossing fingers it cleans up, settles out at whatever my FG is in a few weeks time. I’ll bottle it and update.
After I brewed this yesterday, I had a friend over and we sampled the Aztec as it had been in bottles a week now and I threw two in the fridge just to see if they were...meant for human consumption. They were. Pretty good actually- very green...very. Very fruity... but you could tell it was not going to be bad once in bottles for a few months. The saison spicy? Well it’s there- strong? No- the beer had carbed, and wasn't too bad for only a week...
The DD? I haven't tried one yet from the 12/8 bottling... too scary still. I will try it first…(and only once it is …there… will I even try to open a 12.21 bottled DD) - It was a bigger beer and I dont even want to look at it yet- maybe in 2014...
I'm still confused as to why all my beers seem to be finishing so high. My OG's have ranged from just under 1.090 all the way to like 1.040...I've read "extracts" are the root of it.. but you would think the amalyse would have done the trick in the DD batch... Anyways. I love brewing extracts because of the time saving. A friend does mashing and sparging, even grows Hops, but I don't have the time for all, nor the space for that amount of equipment. That and I love how I can knock out brew after brew. I also like the small batch size. No matter how bad it is, ~20 bottles of just about anything doesn't last long once I decide it’s not getting any better after a few months...If it makes it that long.
So to all the Noobrewers out there, don't worry, just sanitize and give it more time.
To all the pro's that read this, I'd love any and all insight, advice, lambasting, critical and nonsensical comments you can provide. Thanks
