NoelMueller
Active Member
Hey guys, i'm still a beginner, and i'm currently on my 11th batch of beer (extract) - an English IPA sorta thing using a Wyeast 1187 smack pack. I have a question about attenuation and whether or not I should bottle yet. I'm at the 3 week mark right now.
- I made a well aerated yeast starter for the 1187, which I think about tripled the number of cells.. did not fully attenuate the starter wort though.
- I brewed a 1.060 wort comprised of mostly LME, with some DME and steeping grains.
- I injected 30 seconds of pure O2 into the 1.060 wort before pitching.
- I pitched at fermentation temps (66-68F).
- I held the temp of the fermentation chamber right between 66-69 for 1 week. After that 1 week, the beer had attenuated from 1.060 to 1.018. This wasn't exactly what I had hoped for, but its in line with the 70% attenuation listed on the Wyeast site for 1187.
- After that, i conducted a 'diacetyl rest/attenuation crusade' and let the fermentation temps rise up to about 72 for a week.
- I also swirled/gently agitated the yeast layer at the bottom of the bucket 3 times during this week.
- I tested the gravity again and found it relatively unchanged.. maybe 1.017 at the lowest.
- Thinking dry hopping it might agitate things, I dry hopped it for 4 days and then tested the gravity.. still 1.017ish.. not 'dry' by any stretch.
- I then basically gave up and started prepping for bottling and currently have it cold crashing/conditioning at 45-50F for the last 3 days.
So here we are at the 3 week mark, I would very much like to bottle this brew, but folklore has it that Ringwood attenuates very highly, and im a little afraid of bottle bombs. They're gonna be conditioning at 75F for an indefinite amount of time before getting tossed in the fridge. I tend to leave a 6-pack or 2 in my closet for months after brewing, can't drink like I used to.
I've never had bottle bombs before.. if by some freak occurrence, it attenuates down to 1.014 in the bottles over the course of a couple months, are they going to explode? Should I take this into consideration when calculating my priming sugar?
Thank you in advance, O wise ones, for your guidance. I'm not worthy.
-Noel
- I made a well aerated yeast starter for the 1187, which I think about tripled the number of cells.. did not fully attenuate the starter wort though.
- I brewed a 1.060 wort comprised of mostly LME, with some DME and steeping grains.
- I injected 30 seconds of pure O2 into the 1.060 wort before pitching.
- I pitched at fermentation temps (66-68F).
- I held the temp of the fermentation chamber right between 66-69 for 1 week. After that 1 week, the beer had attenuated from 1.060 to 1.018. This wasn't exactly what I had hoped for, but its in line with the 70% attenuation listed on the Wyeast site for 1187.
- After that, i conducted a 'diacetyl rest/attenuation crusade' and let the fermentation temps rise up to about 72 for a week.
- I also swirled/gently agitated the yeast layer at the bottom of the bucket 3 times during this week.
- I tested the gravity again and found it relatively unchanged.. maybe 1.017 at the lowest.
- Thinking dry hopping it might agitate things, I dry hopped it for 4 days and then tested the gravity.. still 1.017ish.. not 'dry' by any stretch.
- I then basically gave up and started prepping for bottling and currently have it cold crashing/conditioning at 45-50F for the last 3 days.
So here we are at the 3 week mark, I would very much like to bottle this brew, but folklore has it that Ringwood attenuates very highly, and im a little afraid of bottle bombs. They're gonna be conditioning at 75F for an indefinite amount of time before getting tossed in the fridge. I tend to leave a 6-pack or 2 in my closet for months after brewing, can't drink like I used to.
I've never had bottle bombs before.. if by some freak occurrence, it attenuates down to 1.014 in the bottles over the course of a couple months, are they going to explode? Should I take this into consideration when calculating my priming sugar?
Thank you in advance, O wise ones, for your guidance. I'm not worthy.
-Noel
