technerd3000
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- Sep 26, 2013
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Let me preface my current situation with a little background info
Im an experience home winemaker and have countless batches of cider and fruit wines under my belt. I love beer, but the process always seemed too complicated and expensive and kits/extracts just seem like cheating to me (no offense to anyone who prefers extract brewing).
So, recently I grew a pair and tried making a big all-grain IPA based on my own recipe I pulled together after reading countless others (and some calculations on BrewersFriend). It just finished priming, and the results are fantastic. I also bottled a spiced winter warmer this weekend that seems like it will be delicious. I hit about 70% efficiency, and both ended just slightly under the calculated FG.
So I told my brother-in-law that we would try a high-gravity, all-grain porter (actually, we added 2# corn sugar to bump it up a bit). When I took my post-boil OG sample, I was at 1.090, but I was expecting closer to 1.106 I simply chalked it up to being too overly ambitious to make a HUGE beer (go big, or go home, right?).
It wasnt until today day +3 in primary that I realized where I made my error. My gravity today was already at 1.011, but I was expecting my FG to be around 1.024. Putting two and two together, I realized that I had used a different thermometer for my mash (and single batch sparge) than I had for the first two batches that Ive had success with. I dropped both thermometers in a glass of hot water, and sure enough, they were about 18 degrees different!!! This resulted in my actual mash temperature being around 139 degrees, and my sparge being around 152 degrees. I guess thats the reason for both my gravity readings being so low.
Needless to say, Ive purchased a new thermometer. But the question is: if this brew doesnt stop right now (it shows little sign of slowing), what options do I have to add some body back to this beer? At 10+% ABV, its going to be hard enough to get some head on this brew as it is. If it were wine, Id just kill it off now and backsweeten, but considering my only option for carbing is bottle conditioning, thats really not an option. Any advice from those of you with more experience?
Grain Bill (3 gallon batch):
8# Pale 2 Row
1# Crystal 20L
0.5# Crystal 60L
0.5# Chocolate
2# Dextrose
Yeast: White Labs - English Ale Yeast WLP002
Thanks!!!
So, recently I grew a pair and tried making a big all-grain IPA based on my own recipe I pulled together after reading countless others (and some calculations on BrewersFriend). It just finished priming, and the results are fantastic. I also bottled a spiced winter warmer this weekend that seems like it will be delicious. I hit about 70% efficiency, and both ended just slightly under the calculated FG.
So I told my brother-in-law that we would try a high-gravity, all-grain porter (actually, we added 2# corn sugar to bump it up a bit). When I took my post-boil OG sample, I was at 1.090, but I was expecting closer to 1.106 I simply chalked it up to being too overly ambitious to make a HUGE beer (go big, or go home, right?).
It wasnt until today day +3 in primary that I realized where I made my error. My gravity today was already at 1.011, but I was expecting my FG to be around 1.024. Putting two and two together, I realized that I had used a different thermometer for my mash (and single batch sparge) than I had for the first two batches that Ive had success with. I dropped both thermometers in a glass of hot water, and sure enough, they were about 18 degrees different!!! This resulted in my actual mash temperature being around 139 degrees, and my sparge being around 152 degrees. I guess thats the reason for both my gravity readings being so low.
Needless to say, Ive purchased a new thermometer. But the question is: if this brew doesnt stop right now (it shows little sign of slowing), what options do I have to add some body back to this beer? At 10+% ABV, its going to be hard enough to get some head on this brew as it is. If it were wine, Id just kill it off now and backsweeten, but considering my only option for carbing is bottle conditioning, thats really not an option. Any advice from those of you with more experience?
Grain Bill (3 gallon batch):
8# Pale 2 Row
1# Crystal 20L
0.5# Crystal 60L
0.5# Chocolate
2# Dextrose
Yeast: White Labs - English Ale Yeast WLP002
Thanks!!!