Hi,
December 1 2013 I brewed (something very close to) the Two Hearted Ale clone from the recipe section:
My grain bill:
76.8% 2-row
15.4% Vienna
3.9% Caravienne
3.9% Carafoam
I made a 1.5 litre stir plate starter 4-5 days before. The 1272 yeast package I used had a production date of 10/07/2013. I let it ferment out and cold crashed it in my fridge afterwards.
At brew day I was aiming for a mash of 150F, but I ended up starting at around 149F. The cooler mash tun I had then was probably not the best and I guess the mash might have dropped a little in temperature during the one hour mash. Not too much though. The thermometer I was using has been checked against my Thermapen and it seems to give accurate readings.
I ended up with a post boil OG of 1.068, aerated well and I pitched at 64.4 F (both wort and starter at same temp). I set my fermentation chamber to 64.4 F and after about 6 hours I saw some signs of fermentation. The morning after it was bubbling away and continued to do so for a couple of days. I left my chamber STC1000 set to 64.4 for 1 full week. I then increased the temp setting to 68F.
After 10 days I opened the lid for the first time to grab a sample. My wine thief was well washed and sanitized with starsan. The sample I grabbed was down to 1.014 (which was kind of what I was aiming at). I closed the lid again and left it at 68F and waited until three weeks (from brewday) had passed. At that time I added ~1.5 oz dryhops (loose pellets) to the fermenter and closed the lid again. After 5 days I cold crashed it for 2 days and then bottled. At bottling day I took another FG sample and it was down to 1.013. This was 4 weeks after the day I brewed. I primed for 2.4 vol and racked on top of my priming solution and even stirred some afterwards. I am sure that the priming solution was well mixed with the beer.
After 3 weeks I opened the first bottle. It was well carbed (almost too much) and taster a little bit boozy. I did not think it tasted as boozy when I tasted the samples at day 10 and at bottling day. I figured it was young and left it for a couple of more weeks at room temperature (66-68 at the location of the bottles).
Last week I opened a bottle (had been chilled for 3-4 days befor opening). This was 6 weeks after bottling. The bottle was very carbed (not anything close to a gusher or a bomb, but still much more than 2.4). My guess would be somewhere around 3.0 vol. I could pour it without any problems and it left a nice head on the beer for quite a long time. The problem was that it had this very harsh boozy feel to it and I did not like it very much.
This week I opened yet another bottle (7 weeks since bottling). This bottle had also been chilled for a couple of days prior to opening. I got the exact same results as with the week 6 bottle. Too much carbonation and boozy. At this time I figured I wanted to take another FG reading. I only drank about 1/3 of the bottle and poured the rest of it in my measuring glass. Covered it loosly with tin foil and let it sit out in room temperature over night. I did spin the glass every once in a while to degass it faster.
Tonight I dropped my hydrometer in the beer and this time it read 1.010. It had dropped yet another 3 points since bottling. This definately explains the high carbonation. 1.068 down to 1.010 would give an apparent attenuation of 84.4% and an ABV of 7.7%. I understand that this is probably not 100% correct since 105 grams of table sugar in about 1.5 cups of water was added at bottling.
After the hydrometer reading I tasted the flat and warm beer from the measuring glass. To my suprise it tasted very good and I did not detect the same boozy flavour as before. It didn't even taste as thin as I would expect for a 1.010 beer.
Another thing I might add is that I did not treat my water for this brew and it was probably a little bit low in calcium and the mash pH was probably a bit too high as well.
Now over to my questions:
Have anyone else experienced this high attenuation with 1272?
Could the yeast have dropped out of suspension before finishing since I left my chamber at 64.4F for a full week before raising the temperature? You would think that 4 weeks in primary would fully attenuate a beer with this OG since I used a reasonable starter and aerated the wort well before pitching. The only other explaination I can find is that some other (wild) yeast or other bacteria contaminated the beer during bottling and has now managed to eat yet some more of the sugar.
Will high carbonation increase the "boozy" taste of a beer?
Any comments, thoughts or feedback will be greatly appreciated.
December 1 2013 I brewed (something very close to) the Two Hearted Ale clone from the recipe section:
My grain bill:
76.8% 2-row
15.4% Vienna
3.9% Caravienne
3.9% Carafoam
I made a 1.5 litre stir plate starter 4-5 days before. The 1272 yeast package I used had a production date of 10/07/2013. I let it ferment out and cold crashed it in my fridge afterwards.
At brew day I was aiming for a mash of 150F, but I ended up starting at around 149F. The cooler mash tun I had then was probably not the best and I guess the mash might have dropped a little in temperature during the one hour mash. Not too much though. The thermometer I was using has been checked against my Thermapen and it seems to give accurate readings.
I ended up with a post boil OG of 1.068, aerated well and I pitched at 64.4 F (both wort and starter at same temp). I set my fermentation chamber to 64.4 F and after about 6 hours I saw some signs of fermentation. The morning after it was bubbling away and continued to do so for a couple of days. I left my chamber STC1000 set to 64.4 for 1 full week. I then increased the temp setting to 68F.
After 10 days I opened the lid for the first time to grab a sample. My wine thief was well washed and sanitized with starsan. The sample I grabbed was down to 1.014 (which was kind of what I was aiming at). I closed the lid again and left it at 68F and waited until three weeks (from brewday) had passed. At that time I added ~1.5 oz dryhops (loose pellets) to the fermenter and closed the lid again. After 5 days I cold crashed it for 2 days and then bottled. At bottling day I took another FG sample and it was down to 1.013. This was 4 weeks after the day I brewed. I primed for 2.4 vol and racked on top of my priming solution and even stirred some afterwards. I am sure that the priming solution was well mixed with the beer.
After 3 weeks I opened the first bottle. It was well carbed (almost too much) and taster a little bit boozy. I did not think it tasted as boozy when I tasted the samples at day 10 and at bottling day. I figured it was young and left it for a couple of more weeks at room temperature (66-68 at the location of the bottles).
Last week I opened a bottle (had been chilled for 3-4 days befor opening). This was 6 weeks after bottling. The bottle was very carbed (not anything close to a gusher or a bomb, but still much more than 2.4). My guess would be somewhere around 3.0 vol. I could pour it without any problems and it left a nice head on the beer for quite a long time. The problem was that it had this very harsh boozy feel to it and I did not like it very much.
This week I opened yet another bottle (7 weeks since bottling). This bottle had also been chilled for a couple of days prior to opening. I got the exact same results as with the week 6 bottle. Too much carbonation and boozy. At this time I figured I wanted to take another FG reading. I only drank about 1/3 of the bottle and poured the rest of it in my measuring glass. Covered it loosly with tin foil and let it sit out in room temperature over night. I did spin the glass every once in a while to degass it faster.
Tonight I dropped my hydrometer in the beer and this time it read 1.010. It had dropped yet another 3 points since bottling. This definately explains the high carbonation. 1.068 down to 1.010 would give an apparent attenuation of 84.4% and an ABV of 7.7%. I understand that this is probably not 100% correct since 105 grams of table sugar in about 1.5 cups of water was added at bottling.
After the hydrometer reading I tasted the flat and warm beer from the measuring glass. To my suprise it tasted very good and I did not detect the same boozy flavour as before. It didn't even taste as thin as I would expect for a 1.010 beer.
Another thing I might add is that I did not treat my water for this brew and it was probably a little bit low in calcium and the mash pH was probably a bit too high as well.
Now over to my questions:
Have anyone else experienced this high attenuation with 1272?
Could the yeast have dropped out of suspension before finishing since I left my chamber at 64.4F for a full week before raising the temperature? You would think that 4 weeks in primary would fully attenuate a beer with this OG since I used a reasonable starter and aerated the wort well before pitching. The only other explaination I can find is that some other (wild) yeast or other bacteria contaminated the beer during bottling and has now managed to eat yet some more of the sugar.
Will high carbonation increase the "boozy" taste of a beer?
Any comments, thoughts or feedback will be greatly appreciated.
