Alright brewers? Hope all is well! I have a weird one. I have brewed about 20-30 batches over the last 2 years - maybe that's a lot, maybe it's rookie status for some. But for some reason I seem to keep having a very odd situation happen whenever I've attempt to brew a Scottish 80/-.
The recipe is as follows:
Nothing too elaborate - I should have obtained about a 1.051 OG with this grain bill. However, I did not. I did a no sparge batch, heating 9.5gals up to 175F, doughed in, mashed at 158-156F (lost 2 degrees - would have preferred 154F but didn't want to add more water), vorlaughed and pulled 7.25 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.038... happy days right! I planned to boil down to 5.25 - 5.5. My kettle has a large surface area, so evaporation is usually about 1.5-2 gallons in an hour boil. I brought it all to a boil, after the hot break, I added my hops and set my timer. At 15mins left I added Irish moss and chiller, completed the boil. I actually let it all boil about 15 minutes longer as I hadn't reached my preferred ending volume.
Anyways... here's the weirdness - I cooled and pitched (S-04) as I've done numerous times before, fermentation started within a few hours... krausen formed - but on Tuesday morning (Brew day was Monday) very few bubbles working in the airlock, big layer of trub on the bottom. I use S-04 as my go to yeast for all my IPAs or APAs (my preferred brews) it is never a "mild" yeast, always high activity, i.e. bubbles, krausen, etc.. The ONLY grains that have been consistent in every attempt at a Scottish 80/- have been the Chocolate Malt and Carapils... all others are not from the same purchased grain bills... meaning I have purchased the Pale Ale, 80L, and 60L new since my last attempts. When I first wanted to brew the 80/- I purchased 1# Choc and 1#Carapils, since I used very little of it, I kept it and have used it in each of the 3 attempts.
Could these grains be bad or something to cause a problem with my wort? So far, the ONLY time I've had this issue is with this recipe... How weird is this?
TIA!
The recipe is as follows:
- 10# Pale Ale Malt
- 8oz 60L
- 4oz 80L
- 6oz Carapils
- 3oz Chocolate Malt
- 1oz Fuggles @60m
Nothing too elaborate - I should have obtained about a 1.051 OG with this grain bill. However, I did not. I did a no sparge batch, heating 9.5gals up to 175F, doughed in, mashed at 158-156F (lost 2 degrees - would have preferred 154F but didn't want to add more water), vorlaughed and pulled 7.25 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.038... happy days right! I planned to boil down to 5.25 - 5.5. My kettle has a large surface area, so evaporation is usually about 1.5-2 gallons in an hour boil. I brought it all to a boil, after the hot break, I added my hops and set my timer. At 15mins left I added Irish moss and chiller, completed the boil. I actually let it all boil about 15 minutes longer as I hadn't reached my preferred ending volume.
Anyways... here's the weirdness - I cooled and pitched (S-04) as I've done numerous times before, fermentation started within a few hours... krausen formed - but on Tuesday morning (Brew day was Monday) very few bubbles working in the airlock, big layer of trub on the bottom. I use S-04 as my go to yeast for all my IPAs or APAs (my preferred brews) it is never a "mild" yeast, always high activity, i.e. bubbles, krausen, etc.. The ONLY grains that have been consistent in every attempt at a Scottish 80/- have been the Chocolate Malt and Carapils... all others are not from the same purchased grain bills... meaning I have purchased the Pale Ale, 80L, and 60L new since my last attempts. When I first wanted to brew the 80/- I purchased 1# Choc and 1#Carapils, since I used very little of it, I kept it and have used it in each of the 3 attempts.
Could these grains be bad or something to cause a problem with my wort? So far, the ONLY time I've had this issue is with this recipe... How weird is this?
TIA!
