azazel1024
Well-Known Member
This weekend was a dang mess.
First I had planned to pitch slurry from my pilsner that I was bottling on Saturday for a schwarzbier as well as an English Pale Lager. I had just finished mashing in when I got the pilsner out for bottling. Opps, almost zero slurry because I had transfered it to secondary for the lagering. I quickly pitched all of it in to a erlenmeyer flask with a touch of sugar and swirled it up a few times. When the Schwarz was done, I pitched almost all of it and left just a little left to make a starter for the EBL to brew that in a few days.
I then moved on to a RIS. I managed to doze off sitting in my chair and it boiled over (I guess I can't laugh at people as much for falling asleep during a brew. I broke my rule and probably was on my 4th IPA when it happened. I had to make myself feel better about the slurry screw up). Fortunately it was in my garage. Then I only managed 65% efficiency. Because BiaB and could only fit the 15.5lbs of grain in 13qts of water in my 6 gallon pot and it was up to the brim. I had to use my 5 gallon pot also with a few quarts in it for a second batch sparge, which I normally do anyway, but both pots were to the brim so I couldn't stir much at all, which I think has in part why the efficiency was SOOOOO much lower than normal (my worst previously was 68% on a 1.09OG beer). So I used a bit of DME to make up for it (I was figuring on 70% efficiency, so I wasn't super far under).
Ended up at 1.11 where I wanted it for a bit under 4 gallons (I need an 8 gallon brew pot).
Saturday was just a cluster on the whole. I had problems sleeping (I swear, it had nothing to do with brewer's worries, though it might have had something to do with the further 3 beers I had after calling it a day. I sleep like crap if I get loaded) so I was awake at 4am, and despite my fears, the starter had just a hint of krausen in it and I could see a few bubbles on the surface of the schwarzbier, though no airlock activity yet. By 8am, there was no activity at all in the schwarzbier, but the starter had a nice healthy krausen. At 10am there was finally bubbling on the surface of the schwarzbier and about a bubble every 2 minutes. So I put it in the fermentation chamber and brought it down to 62F. By 2pm it had steady but slow airlock activity (about 1 bubble every 45 seconds). By 6pm it had some krausen. When I went to bed at 11pm it had about 3/4" inch of krausen and was bubbling at around 1 bubble every 10 seconds. This morning it's about an inch of krausen and a bubble every 6-7 seconds. Nice!
The starter has finished out fermenting already. So I guess I should have relaxed about the slurry. I'll probably repitch the schwarzbier in a few days, because I know I underpitched still and I want it to fully attenuate. I am ready to brew the EBL tomorrow night once I cold crash the starter tonight.
The RIS is bubbling like crazy, but not much krausen, maybe an inch? (I used S05, which never seems to produce much krausen for me). Maybe a bubble every 2-3 seconds.
On Sunday all of the stars aligned though with the Belgian Single I brewed. I hit almost 80% efficiency, no boil overs. Just about perfect, hit volume. Sunday was a rock star day. Saturday I'd rather soon forget even though it seems like it was all okay in the end.
First I had planned to pitch slurry from my pilsner that I was bottling on Saturday for a schwarzbier as well as an English Pale Lager. I had just finished mashing in when I got the pilsner out for bottling. Opps, almost zero slurry because I had transfered it to secondary for the lagering. I quickly pitched all of it in to a erlenmeyer flask with a touch of sugar and swirled it up a few times. When the Schwarz was done, I pitched almost all of it and left just a little left to make a starter for the EBL to brew that in a few days.
I then moved on to a RIS. I managed to doze off sitting in my chair and it boiled over (I guess I can't laugh at people as much for falling asleep during a brew. I broke my rule and probably was on my 4th IPA when it happened. I had to make myself feel better about the slurry screw up). Fortunately it was in my garage. Then I only managed 65% efficiency. Because BiaB and could only fit the 15.5lbs of grain in 13qts of water in my 6 gallon pot and it was up to the brim. I had to use my 5 gallon pot also with a few quarts in it for a second batch sparge, which I normally do anyway, but both pots were to the brim so I couldn't stir much at all, which I think has in part why the efficiency was SOOOOO much lower than normal (my worst previously was 68% on a 1.09OG beer). So I used a bit of DME to make up for it (I was figuring on 70% efficiency, so I wasn't super far under).
Ended up at 1.11 where I wanted it for a bit under 4 gallons (I need an 8 gallon brew pot).
Saturday was just a cluster on the whole. I had problems sleeping (I swear, it had nothing to do with brewer's worries, though it might have had something to do with the further 3 beers I had after calling it a day. I sleep like crap if I get loaded) so I was awake at 4am, and despite my fears, the starter had just a hint of krausen in it and I could see a few bubbles on the surface of the schwarzbier, though no airlock activity yet. By 8am, there was no activity at all in the schwarzbier, but the starter had a nice healthy krausen. At 10am there was finally bubbling on the surface of the schwarzbier and about a bubble every 2 minutes. So I put it in the fermentation chamber and brought it down to 62F. By 2pm it had steady but slow airlock activity (about 1 bubble every 45 seconds). By 6pm it had some krausen. When I went to bed at 11pm it had about 3/4" inch of krausen and was bubbling at around 1 bubble every 10 seconds. This morning it's about an inch of krausen and a bubble every 6-7 seconds. Nice!
The starter has finished out fermenting already. So I guess I should have relaxed about the slurry. I'll probably repitch the schwarzbier in a few days, because I know I underpitched still and I want it to fully attenuate. I am ready to brew the EBL tomorrow night once I cold crash the starter tonight.
The RIS is bubbling like crazy, but not much krausen, maybe an inch? (I used S05, which never seems to produce much krausen for me). Maybe a bubble every 2-3 seconds.
On Sunday all of the stars aligned though with the Belgian Single I brewed. I hit almost 80% efficiency, no boil overs. Just about perfect, hit volume. Sunday was a rock star day. Saturday I'd rather soon forget even though it seems like it was all okay in the end.
