hafmpty
Well-Known Member
I brewed a Baltic Porter on Monday, January 12 (Zek's Porter from Brewing Classic Styles). I had some issues during the brew day that I THINK (I don't know) affected the beer's final gravity. It was supposed to attenuate to 1.018 and right now it's stuck at 1.030 and has been for a week (down from 1.087ish).
Basically what happened is that I had a VERY THICK mash that I recirculated for 60min with a target mash temp of 150F. The thick mash and full MLT along with too tight of a crush meant my recirculation was really slow. At the end of the mash I checked temps and the left side of the grain bed where the recirculation liquid was coming out was 150F but the right side was WAY LOW around 130F. I imagine there was quite a bit of variation throughout the MLT. It was like this during the entire 60min mash.
When I sparged I missed my target pre-boil gravity (estimated 75% efficiency and got 69% instead). So I added 3lbs of DME to bring the pre-boil gravity up to 1.077 (target 1.079).
Brew day proceeded normally from there. I oxygenated for 1min at 1L per minute and then pitched a MASSIVE 3-step starter of WLP830 and fermented at 53F for 5 days. 18hrs after initial pitch, I also re-oxygenated for 1min at 1L per minute. Then I ramped the ambient temp 3F every 12 hours until I was at 68F. It's been there ever since. It's a version of Tasty's Fast Lager Fermentation. It's stuck and stopped at 1.030. For reference I did a forced fermentation test and the FG of the test was only 1.024, still 6 points high from target F.G.
Anway, I say that to give background because I'm about to dump 10 gallons of beer because I screwed up. I am however going to brew the exact same beer (only 7.5 gallons this time) and make a few changes that I think messed things up. I'm going to loosen my grain mill, use a 1.5qt/lb water to grain ratio, recirculate faster, and monitor mash temps for consistency throughout the MLT, etc.
But here's my question. Should I use some yeast slurry from the current batch for this next one?
I'm hoping that the high finishing gravity is a WORT issue and not a YEAST issue. I think it is, but I'm not 100% certain. Reusing the yeast would obviously save me from doing another big starter and also save me from buying more yeast. Obviously the risk I run is having another 7.5 gallons of beer that I end up dumping because of a high finishing gravity. I'll be brewing on Feb. 9 and will harvest the yeast during the Thursday prior to brew day.
What do you guys think?
Basically what happened is that I had a VERY THICK mash that I recirculated for 60min with a target mash temp of 150F. The thick mash and full MLT along with too tight of a crush meant my recirculation was really slow. At the end of the mash I checked temps and the left side of the grain bed where the recirculation liquid was coming out was 150F but the right side was WAY LOW around 130F. I imagine there was quite a bit of variation throughout the MLT. It was like this during the entire 60min mash.
When I sparged I missed my target pre-boil gravity (estimated 75% efficiency and got 69% instead). So I added 3lbs of DME to bring the pre-boil gravity up to 1.077 (target 1.079).
Brew day proceeded normally from there. I oxygenated for 1min at 1L per minute and then pitched a MASSIVE 3-step starter of WLP830 and fermented at 53F for 5 days. 18hrs after initial pitch, I also re-oxygenated for 1min at 1L per minute. Then I ramped the ambient temp 3F every 12 hours until I was at 68F. It's been there ever since. It's a version of Tasty's Fast Lager Fermentation. It's stuck and stopped at 1.030. For reference I did a forced fermentation test and the FG of the test was only 1.024, still 6 points high from target F.G.
Anway, I say that to give background because I'm about to dump 10 gallons of beer because I screwed up. I am however going to brew the exact same beer (only 7.5 gallons this time) and make a few changes that I think messed things up. I'm going to loosen my grain mill, use a 1.5qt/lb water to grain ratio, recirculate faster, and monitor mash temps for consistency throughout the MLT, etc.
But here's my question. Should I use some yeast slurry from the current batch for this next one?
I'm hoping that the high finishing gravity is a WORT issue and not a YEAST issue. I think it is, but I'm not 100% certain. Reusing the yeast would obviously save me from doing another big starter and also save me from buying more yeast. Obviously the risk I run is having another 7.5 gallons of beer that I end up dumping because of a high finishing gravity. I'll be brewing on Feb. 9 and will harvest the yeast during the Thursday prior to brew day.
What do you guys think?