Maltodextrine question

[krebs119]

Trying to figure out how much Maltodextrine is messing with my numbers....

I finally bought a Tilt hydrometer - I LOVE IT - but now I'm following my numbers a lot more closely than before.

Porter recipe:
8.5lb two row
1lb Chocolate malt
10oz Dark English Crystal
12oz Flaked oats
hops
Nottingham yeast (brand new packet, bought the day before).

The recipe I pulled this from anticipated 1.054 sg and 1.013 fg. I wanted to make this have a thick mouthfeel, so I added 12oz of Maltodextrin with 15 mins left in the boil.

I somehow was short with my water or I boiled too hard, in either case at the end of the boil, after I pitched the yeast (rehydrated, maybe 8oz of water with it), I ended up with 4 gallons of 1.060 wort (tested with my refractometer).

I topped off to 5gal with water. I did not stir. The tilt initially showed this at 1.037, but slowly went up to 1.050 after about 9 hours. I have to assume this is when the wort/water mixture mixed. I also will assume that the yeast started eating at least SOME of the malt (meaning it might have been 1.054 as expected, but the yeast ate through that .004 prior to the mix). It went from the 1.050 reading to 1.046 in 3 hours - so I know the yeast was healthy.

Over the next 48 hours the beer dropped to 1.020, and it's now stayed there for about 5 days. Concerned, I added a packet of Muntons Premium gold yeast as well as yeast energizer, hoping to get this down closer to 1.013. It's been 24 hours and no change. The temp has ranged from 68-73 the entire time.

Running this through Brewers friend with:
Batch Size: 5gal
Boil Size: 6 / 5
Efficiency: 70%

It shows OG :1.060 / FG: 1.019, with an ABV of 5.36%.

The tilt is showing my ABV currently at 3.68%.

My question is, is this Maltodextrin screwing with the Tilt's readings? I know that 12oz of Maltodextrin should add .004-.006, which would put this right in line with the planned fg of 1.013 (1.013 + .006Maltodextrine = 1.019, close enough to my 1.020). Is this beer forever stuck at 3.68%? Or are my readings/calculations thrown off by the Maltodextrin, and I"m really at around 5% beer?

It's aging on coconuts right now. I have a regular hydrometer but I haven't tried it yet, as I don't want to impart any more oxygen to this beer. I will likely check in a few days, but just wanted to get the take on the unfermentables....

thanks!

 

[GoeHaarden]

A lot of assumption regarding your OG, and I'd probably just forget about the numbers at this point. Beersmith's dilution tool puts you at 1.048 after your 1 gallon addition to the 1.060 wort. Without stirring your dilution it will mess with your tilt reading for a while. Another thing to note is that your Tilt will get a little bump in gravity as fermentation picks up. So, it's honestly probably closer to 1.048...

Also, you only need 100mL to rehydrate Notty (or any other dry yeast for that matter), and your 8oz further contributed to dilution...

BSG recommends 0.8-1.6oz/gallon of maltodextrin so your 12oz for 5 gallons was probably a bit high and I'd say your FG is probably where it is staying.

Did you calibrate your Tilt before you used it? Take a hydrometer reading to see how close it reads.

 

[krebs119]

I did calibrate the tilt prior. I'm going to wait a few days until I take a hydrometer reading - I'll likely keg then, regardless. At this point, even if it is a 3.x beer, after adding yeast and yeast energizer, I can't imagine there is much more I can do to fix this.

 

[GustavoHSAL]

Trying to figure out how much Maltodextrine is messing with my numbers....

I finally bought a Tilt hydrometer - I LOVE IT - but now I'm following my numbers a lot more closely than before.

Porter recipe:
8.5lb two row
1lb Chocolate malt
10oz Dark English Crystal
12oz Flaked oats
hops
Nottingham yeast (brand new packet, bought the day before).

The recipe I pulled this from anticipated 1.054 sg and 1.013 fg. I wanted to make this have a thick mouthfeel, so I added 12oz of Maltodextrin with 15 mins left in the boil.

I somehow was short with my water or I boiled too hard, in either case at the end of the boil, after I pitched the yeast (rehydrated, maybe 8oz of water with it), I ended up with 4 gallons of 1.060 wort (tested with my refractometer).

I topped off to 5gal with water. I did not stir. The tilt initially showed this at 1.037, but slowly went up to 1.050 after about 9 hours. I have to assume this is when the wort/water mixture mixed. I also will assume that the yeast started eating at least SOME of the malt (meaning it might have been 1.054 as expected, but the yeast ate through that .004 prior to the mix). It went from the 1.050 reading to 1.046 in 3 hours - so I know the yeast was healthy.

Over the next 48 hours the beer dropped to 1.020, and it's now stayed there for about 5 days. Concerned, I added a packet of Muntons Premium gold yeast as well as yeast energizer, hoping to get this down closer to 1.013. It's been 24 hours and no change. The temp has ranged from 68-73 the entire time.

Running this through Brewers friend with:
Batch Size: 5gal
Boil Size: 6 / 5
Efficiency: 70%

It shows OG :1.060 / FG: 1.019, with an ABV of 5.36%.

The tilt is showing my ABV currently at 3.68%.

My question is, is this Maltodextrin screwing with the Tilt's readings? I know that 12oz of Maltodextrin should add .004-.006, which would put this right in line with the planned fg of 1.013 (1.013 + .006Maltodextrine = 1.019, close enough to my 1.020). Is this beer forever stuck at 3.68%? Or are my readings/calculations thrown off by the Maltodextrin, and I"m really at around 5% beer?

It's aging on coconuts right now. I have a regular hydrometer but I haven't tried it yet, as I don't want to impart any more oxygen to this beer. I will likely check in a few days, but just wanted to get the take on the unfermentables....

thanks!

I think you'd better believe in your calculations. Perhaps TILT measuremente is being affected by maltodextrin.

 

[dmtaylor]

Your maltodextrin added about 6 points to both the OG and FG. You're fine. Everything is as expected, since it won't ferment. Your efficiency might have sucked if you only got 1.050 instead of 1.060. But other than that, yeah, it's normal.

 

[Transamguy77]

I’m sure it’s fine and all gone at this point, the last post was almost a year and a half ago, it would be nice if the OP posted to let us know how this beer turned out.