Process review and recommendations

[VMCosco]

I brewed a batch last Friday. Going for a rye IPA. I tried a few things for the first time on this batch: yeast starter, partial mash. Here is a link to the recipe:

http://hopville.com/recipe/1519588/american-ipa-recipes/pepperyepa

I am assuming the yeast starter was fine. Had a nice yeast cake in the bottom of my flask that I swirled back into solution before pitching.

I mashed the grains in 2 gallons at about 152 degrees for 45 minutes. I let the bag drain. Then in a second pot I soaked the bag in 1 gallon at about 155 degrees for ten minutes. Let it drip and poured that wort into my first pot. I added about a half gallon of water so I could start my boil with 3 gallons. I added the liquid extract as the wort came to a boil. Then I boiled as normal.

I added enough water to my fermenter for 5 gallons. Took my OG and it was only 1.050 (estimated 1.067). I know part of the problem could have been from not mixing enough so I didn't worry too much about it.

Pitched my yeast starter at about 75 degrees. Blow off activity started within 18 hours and continued vigorously for about 24 hours and temp rose to 78. Then it completely stopped. I gave it a couple days, temp dropped to 73. I opened the lid and based on the residue I could tell the krausen only rose about 1 inch. I plan to take a gravity reading later.

Does it appear I did anything wrong? Any steps I should take at this point?

 

[thughes]

You made beer, congratulations! Give that sucker a couple of weeks in the fermenter and then bottle it, in the meantime you should be planning your next batch. I'm a little concerned about the temps.....do a search for "swamp coolers" before you do your next batch (or brew saisons until the weather cools down).

 

[VMCosco]

You made beer, congratulations! Give that sucker a couple of weeks in the fermenter and then bottle it, in the meantime you should be planning your next batch. I'm a little concerned about the temps.....do a search for "swamp coolers" before you do your next batch (or brew saisons until the weather cools down).

Thanks. Yes, I am aware I made beer. Just hoping for a critique of any possible process issues. Regarding the temp, the ambient in my basement is around 70. The temps I gave are from the fermometer. Not sure if that lessons your concern.

 

[a6ladd]

You are fermenting on the warm side. This temp is more suitable for a farmhouse, saision, etc. When making almost any traditional ale (english, irish, american) I try and keep my fermenter between 64-68F. The swamp cooler is not a bad idea, you're just trying to ensure that you ferment at a constant temperature.

Ive only ever done all grain brewing but I suspect your initial gravity problem is due to not completely mixing the extract into the wort, Ive heard its tougher than it may seem. If you are confident that you mixed it properly I would try giving your mash a good stir in order to break up any dough balls that might have formed. If however you got a correct gravity reading you might not see as much fermentation as you'd normally expect because your wort would have a very low concentration of fermentables.

 

[billl]

"Does it appear I did anything wrong? Any steps I should take at this point?"

With that amount of LME, i wouldn't have use cara pils.

For malting, you cut the process a bit short. You might be fine, but 60 min is a better start point that 45. If you didn't get full conversion, you might have a sweet/heavy IPA on your hands. You already had a lot of "extra" in teh recipe too.

I personally like my IPA's with 1/2 lb crystal and mashed in the 148 range.

I also like to keep the fermentation temps in the 60's. 001 is a clean yeast, so 70's isn't a deal breaker, but 78 is pushing it.

 

[VMCosco]

"Does it appear I did anything wrong? Any steps I should take at this point?"

With that amount of LME, i wouldn't have use cara pils.

For malting, you cut the process a bit short. You might be fine, but 60 min is a better start point that 45. If you didn't get full conversion, you might have a sweet/heavy IPA on your hands. You already had a lot of "extra" in teh recipe too.

I personally like my IPA's with 1/2 lb crystal and mashed in the 148 range.

I also like to keep the fermentation temps in the 60's. 001 is a clean yeast, so 70's isn't a deal breaker, but 78 is pushing it.

Thank you much. That is what I am looking for. I feel like I can't improve unless people tell me what I may have done wrong. Telling me not to worry, doesn't help to fix shortcomings.

I ran that grain/extract bill by a few people first and no one brought up issues so I just went with it. Actually I did cut out 12 ounces of LME because it seemed like way to much. I know Founders uses copious amounts of CaraPils in their Red's Rye so that is why I used it. Thanks for the alternatives though.

I am going to set up a swamp cooler today to try and cool it down. Will the yeast restart (assuming they stopped) once it cools, or is there something I can do to fire them up again?

 

[billl]

The first 3-4 days are the most critical for temp control, but I'd still get it down to 70 or below if possible. Most of the yeast biproducts you are trying to avoid are most heavily produced when the yeast is actively growing and dividing. The yeast are still active though, so you don't have to worry about firing them up.

Also, most LME has some carapils in it already, that is why I would have skipped adding more. It's a personal preference though, not something that is "wrong". Same for keeping the crystal lower. I like my IPA's more crisp and light - especially in summer. If you like more dominant malt, then 1 lb might be for you. The rye has it's own thing going on though, so I would lean toward not complicating the grain bill. It's usually easier to build a recipe if you start simple and then just tweak future batches.