OG and FG way off target on Brown Porter extract + grains kit

[emdiar]

There are a few sub-forums where this would fit, but since I'm such a noob I figured I'd post it here and let the mods move it if it's more appropriate somewhere else.

I badly missed my OG and FG on a Brown Porter kit. I could use a little advice and/or reassurance.

This is my second batch ever. My first batch came in a little high on the FG (1.020 instead of the target 1.012) but it tastes fine. This one is substantially farther off-target than that.

Here are the details of the kit and my process (all temps are degrees Fahrenheit):

Brewcraft "Streets of London" Brown Porter
Target OG/FG: 1.061/1.014
Actual OG/FG: 1.070/1.024

5 Gal batch

Extract:
3 lb Briess CBW Amber DME
3 lb Briess CBW Dark DME

Grains:
.25 lb Chocolate Malt
.25 lb Black Patent Malt
.5 lb Crystal Malt 40L
.25 lb Victory Malt

Hops (pellets):
1 oz UK Golding (Bittering)
.5 oz Willamette (Flavoring)
.5 oz Willamette (Aroma)

Yeast:
Danstar Windsor, 11 g dry packet

Electric household stovetop.

- Had a homebrew.
- Cleaned everything with PBW and sanitized with Iodophor.
- Placed grains in 3 gal water in BK, brought up to 160, held at 160 for 10 min. It took 40 minutes to reach 160 at med-high setting (setting recommended by instructions).
- Deviated from instructions - while bringing wort to boil, let grain bag drain in colander, then mini-sparged with 2c water at 160, added runnings to wort in BK.
- Brought wort to boil, added approx. 1c cold water to prevent boil-over.
- Relaxed.
- Stirred in 3lb Amber DME (Instructions were vague - said "Stir in DME" but later step said "Add remaining fermentables." So I took that to mean add one pack (3lb) of DME at this time, which is what I did).
- Didn't worry.
- Boiled 15 minutes, then added bittering hops as per instructions.
- Boiled 45 minutes, added another 1c water that had drained out of grain bag.
- Had a homebrew.
- Added 3 lbs Dark DME (this is where instructions said "Add remaining fermentables"). Added flavor hops.
- Boiled 15 minutes, adding 2c water for boil-over prevention. Turned off stove. Added aroma hops.
- Continued not worrying.
- Rested the wort 10 minutes. Rehydrated yeast as per package directions.
- Had another homebrew.
- Chilled wort in icewater bath, added clean ice to wort to top off close to 5 gal. Wort dropped to 70 in approx. 20 minutes. Stirred gently during cooling. I feel pretty confdent that the wort was thoroughly mixed.
- Took reading gravity 1.070 at this point (cooled wort to my hydrometer's specified temp of 68)
- Transferred to 6.5 gal fermenter bucket.
- Some combination of relaxing and having a homebrew - I can't remember what order.
- Here's a big oops - I don't recall whether I had to add more top-off water to reach 5 gal in fermenter. I don't remember having to do that, I think I would have made a note if I did. As a result, I may have taken a reading at a lower volume. Just not sure.
- Pitched yeast, covered, inserted 3-piece airlock, put in closet. I didn't aerate the wort beyond whatever occurred when I ppoured it from the BK to the fermenter. I don't remember now where I read it, possibly the Danstar website, but I did read that with this yeast aeration wasn't necessary.

The yeast package recommended 1g of yeast per liter of wort, which would have meant I needed 19g of yeast. But instructions and advice from LHBS said one 11g package would be plenty.

Had a blowout overnight, didn't lose any real volume. Replaced airlock with sanitized blowoff tube. At this time the beer temp was approx. 72 in a room with ambient temp of 68. I don't have a lot of control over temperature - the closet where I've been fermenting is very consistently 66-68. I can raise the temp, but my current setup won't let me do it with any consistency. I figured consistency was more important, and that the temps I hit are sufficiently close to the yeast's listed optimal temp of 68.

Next day the activity had reduced enough that I removed the blowoff apparatus and replaced with re-cleaned and sanitized airlock. Beer temp waas 68. Stayed at 66-68 after that (same as ambient temp generally).

After one week, hydrometer read 1.024 (at specified temp of 68). 3 days later, no change. Next day, same reading.

Carefully stirred with sanitized SS spoon to rouse yeast. Moved fermenter to warmer room, approx. 68-70 range. Left town for 8 days.

Today it has been in fermenter for a total of 3 weeks. The hydrometer still reads 1.024.

The samples all tasted just fine, if a tad sweet (not cloying though).

So, did I get more non-fermentable sugars from my steeping grains than expected? Did I under-pitch, or get a stuck fermentation? My original hydrometer reading might be faulty, but I'm pretty sure my volume and mixing were adequate when I took the sample.

Another thing I wonder - my fermenter has a spigot at the bottom where I'm taking my samples. I'm sure I'm getting more yeast than I would if I were sampling from the top. Would that have a significant effect on a hydrometer reading?

The beer is not clearing. The Windsor yeast is described as being low-flocculating. The beer looks like my coffee on the day I run out of cream and only get a small splash in there, if that makes sense.

The way my schedule is working out it would make sense for me to bottle it one week from today, which would give it a full four weeks in the fermenter. Given the consistent hydrometer readings I feel OK about this, although if the high FG is due to fermentable sugars then I suppose I could have some bottle bombs if fermentation kicks in after bottling beyond the amount desired for carbonation. I use DME for priming sugar because SWMBO is allergic to all corn and corn by-products.

I'm brewing this for some friends (big fans of porter) who are expecting a baby at the end of March. I don't think it'll exactly be at the peak of flavor by then, but I'm giving them a scaled-up six-pack (six 22 oz bottles) which they can store, and then opening one or two 12-ouncers to toast the arrival of the baby.

In How To Brew, Palmer lists three kinds of porter, Brown, Robust and Baltic. The OG and FG he lists for Baltic porters is pretty much exactly what I hit, even though the kit is for a Brown porter. The funny thing is, the expectant father is Bosnian. I wonder if the beer somehow knew that and decided on its own to be a Baltic porter.

So, if you've made it this far, should I:

-Bottle it next week, call it a Baltic and enjoy?
-Try to "fix" it somehow to get the FG down?

If you think I should try to get the FG down further, what would you suggest?

Thanks!

 

[lee_smn]

I wouldn't do anything to it. If you were going to try and fix it, you should have added more water when you got the high gravity reading. Your yeast may not be able to handle the higher alcohol and didn't finish out because of it, you could try adding more/different yeast, but, I wouldn't. I THINK that solids could make a hydrometer reading higher, try taking one from the top and see if it is lower, if not bottle bombs could be a concern and you should think about using less dme.

 

[Brulosopher]

Actually, relative to expected OG/FG, you're okay. My guess is you boiled off more than expected...

 

[lee_smn]

his attenuation is like 10% lower, you don't think that's a bit much?

 

[Brulosopher]

his attenuation is like 10% lower, you don't think that's a bit much?

Oh, it certainly is... just not enough worry too much about, IMO. I was being optimistic.

Cheers!

 

[lee_smn]

sorry, didn't mean to come across like that, i wouldn't be worried about it either, especially if kegging, but bottling he might need to think about excess priming sugar.

 

[emdiar]

That reminds me of another question - is there a timeframe after which the possibility of having a botle bomb diminishes? Like, if you don't have one within 4 weeks (as an arbitrary example) of bottling you're not likely to get one? On my first batch (different style of beer btw) I put all the bottles in a big Rubbermaid container just in case. I'm just wondering if there's a point where bottle bombs become less likely if you haven't had prior to that point.

Also, would it be a good idea to aim for a level of CO2 volumes lower than typical for the style? I noticed a table in Palmer's book listing the CO2 volumes for different styles. I could undershoot a bit if it seems like a wise idea.

Regarding volume, although I can't recall whether I had to add water to the fermenter to top off, I am certain I had 5 gallons in there before I put the lid on. I was very careful to measure and mark the fermenter before I got started on my first batch, and I double-checked the marks before starting the second.

Thanks for the responses. I love how homebrewing includes both art and science. My instinct (such as it is, being a noob - but I've read a lot here on HBT) is that somehow trying to fix the high FG would be a mistake, that I'd be more likely to complicate things instead of making them better. I'd be wary of doing anything that was too intrusive.

 

[lee_smn]

I'd say it diminishes after all the sugar is fermented and the yeast go to sleep, though i couldn't say what that time is, and the possibility would go back up if you were moving them or warming them up.

You'd want to aim for the volumes he says, the thing is you may already have some of the sugar in there. It's a personal decision, risk having an undercarbonated beer or risk having bottle bombs.

About your wort volume, I know we all want that perfect 5 gallon batch and don't want to waste, but if you're really trying to hit a style you may be better off adding a half gallon of water to hit the target OG then dumping the excess to get the beer you want. The product is more important than the quantity.

I'd recommend you check out Ray Daniels, Designing Great Beers, it's an awesome book and I believe it has a whole chapter on hitting target gravities.

And I think you're right not to do anything to this beer, see how the final product is, then make adjustments next time you brew it, if necessary.

 

[emdiar]

Thanks for the advice. Designing Great Beers is next on my list of brewing books. SWMBO got me The Complete Joy of Homebrewing 3rd Edition for Christmas, and I just read How To Brew last week. I came across a couple other titles that sounded intriguing in my wanderings through the forums today, but I'm in danger of wandering off-topic here (something too easy for me to do).

Perhaps I'll calculate how much water to add to get the FG where it needs to be and incorporate it in my priming solution when I'm ready to bottle. That way I won't have to add another mixing event to the batch beyond mixing in the primer, to reduce the opportunities for unwanted aeration. This would mean the priming solution would be more dilute than is standard, but the total amount of sugar added would be the same in the big picture (as long as I calculate the amount of priming sugar correctly relative to the actual volume including the additional water, not just for the original 5 gallons).

Okay, enough thinking for today. Where's my homebrew?