06.06.06 Brew day, post your results, tips, gripes...

[Dude]

hey all... brewed mine today. extract version. however i am very upset at my OG. its only 1.060. what could've happened for it to be so LOW! i followed the recipe very strictly. just dont know what happened. any suggestions? also, what does a low OG do to a beer? does it make it sweeter? lighter? less alcohol content?... which means more leftover sugar? what are ways to fix this? already added the yeast, and dont have a LHBS to get more. oh well... i'll see how it ends up. i had fun tho!

Don't be upset. It is probably my fault in the conversion from AG to extract. You guys who are doing extract/partial mash versions, take notes and write down what you'd change--especially after tasting it. If it has too much (or not enough) of something, we need to know that.

As for my batch, I'm swirling it every so often--it is going to get racked into a keg on top some wood chips Wednesday. Will keep it on those for 5 days, taste and decide if it needs longer. Then I'll dry hop it and bottle some (if deemed worthy) for the nationals. I'll be sending some out to some peeps for tasting too. Then the rest goes on tap for me!!!!!

 

[Rhoobarb]

I brewed mine last Saturday. I made a starter for this and it was the first time I had to use a blow-off tube on a starter!

My OG was 1.072, but I made two mistakes. I forgot to add my Irish Moss but, more importantly, I wasn’t thinking and did a 60-minute boil instead of a 90-minute. I’m sure that made a difference in the OG. Still, it should work out to about 8% ABV, which isn’t bad. I ended up with about 5.5 gals. I had to use a blow-off tube on the carboy up until last night. It is still bubbling in the airlock at a rate of about once every five seconds.

The wort tasted sweet with a tannin taste on the back end, probably from the hops. The tannins weren’t overpowering, so I think it’ll be okay. The color was a hazy amber. I was thinking of using some form of finings to clarify it. Then again, that might very well be futile since the rye is probably contributing to that haze.

 

[RichBrewer]

As for my batch, I'm swirling it every so often--it is going to get racked into a keg on top some wood chips Wednesday. Will keep it on those for 5 days, taste and decide if it needs longer. Then I'll dry hop it and bottle some (if deemed worthy) for the nationals. I'll be sending some out to some peeps for tasting too. Then the rest goes on tap for me!!!!!

I'm going to rack mine maybe next weekend onto the oak chips. Give it a week or two then bottle or keg. I hope I didn't screw up by dry hopping too early.
I'm still getting about 1 bubble a minute from the air lock so I think it is still fermenting which would make sense because the gravity at racking was 1.020. The primary fermentation was done at 68° to 70°. Secondary has been at 62°. This brew had many firsts for me. I can't wait to try it and see how it turned out. I bet it will take a LONG time to be at its best. Can't wait to brew it again.

 

[SkewedBrewing]

Any of you guys know where to get oak chips besides a HBS, my guy doesn't have them and I'm not paying 10 bucks from midwest supplies to order them online... I'm too mmuch of a poor college student

 

[Bernie Brewer]

As for my batch, I'm swirling it every so often--it is going to get racked into a keg on top some wood chips Wednesday. Will keep it on those for 5 days, taste and decide if it needs longer. Then I'll dry hop it and bottle some (if deemed worthy) for the nationals. I'll be sending some out to some peeps for tasting too. Then the rest goes on tap for me!!!!!

Ok, but like i said I've never dryhopped nor used chips, so I got some dummy questions, mostly about sanitation. what do I do with the hops and oak chips to keep from spoiling the brew? The hops are so acidic that i'm guessing that it's not even an issue with them, but I'd like to know for sure. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dude]

Any of you guys know where to get oak chips besides a HBS, my guy doesn't have them and I'm not paying 10 bucks from midwest supplies to order them online... I'm too mmuch of a poor college student

Know what I scored at the grocery store the other night? Jack Daniels chips made from the real whiskey barrels. They are used for grilling. You might be able to find some in your area.

I bought 3 big bags just for the heck of it.

Ok, but like i said I've never dryhopped nor used chips, so I got some dummy questions, mostly about sanitation. what do I do with the hops and oak chips to keep from spoiling the brew? The hops are so acidic that i'm guessing that it's not even an issue with them, but I'd like to know for sure. Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure yet either. I was thinking of steaming them to hopefully sanitize them.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Know what I scored at the grocery store the other night? Jack Daniels chips made from the real whiskey barrels. They are used for grilling. You might be able to find some in your area.

I bought 3 big bags just for the heck of it.



I'm not sure yet either. I was thinking of steaming them to hopefully sanitize them.

Yeah I thought of that and also of just putting them in the oven to toast them, or is that a dumb idea? I am guessing that it would sanitize and give a bit of burnt flavor?

 

[Dude]

Yeah I thought of that and also of just putting them in the oven to toast them, or is that a dumb idea? I am guessing that it would sanitize and give a bit of burnt flavor?

I dunno if I'd toast them.

 

[EvilTOJ]

I would boil the oak chips for 10 minutes, or microwave them for 10 minutes to sanitize them. Actually, that is what I did. I have a lager that has oak cubes in it right now. No fuzzy beasties at all, but who knows how it'll taste.

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

I've used oak chips before and have had no problems. What I do is put them in the microwave with just enough water to cover them/make them wet, for a couple minutes. Get them to boil and let them cool off, then rack on top of the oakchip 'tea.' This is probably not needed as it is because by the time you go to secondary, your beer has enough alcohol in it to kill most stuff. Better safe than sorry though.

 

[Ivan Lendl]

I've used oak chips before and have had no problems. What I do is put them in the microwave with just enough water to cover them/make them wet, for a couple minutes. Get them to boil and let them cool off, then rack on top of the oakchip 'tea.' This is probably not needed as it is because by the time you go to secondary, your beer has enough alcohol in it to kill most stuff. Better safe than sorry though.

ive done this, just boil the chips in a pint of water, cool and pitch the 'tea' into secondary...Warning: it took a LONG time for the oak flavor to mellow out, once it did it was nice.

 

[Darth Konvel]

Finally got around to racking this to secondary. Been in primary for three weeks now, and finally looked like it was done doing its thing (gave it an extra week just to make sure.) OG of 1.073, gravity at time of racking 1.016

Tastes great so far, although no trace of smoke that I could detect. Great citrus, honey, and caramel flavors in there so far. Not exactly red, but lighter then what I had thought (was very afraid it'd be brown when I brewed it) with a nice redish-copper color.

A couple of weeks in secondary to settle out, then to tertiary to get the dry hop and oak chips, then to a keg (quaternary?) for final aging and consumption

 

[Dude]

Finally got around to racking this to secondary. Been in primary for three weeks now, and finally looked like it was done doing its thing (gave it an extra week just to make sure.) OG of 1.073, gravity at time of racking 1.016

Tastes great so far, although no trace of smoke that I could detect. Great citrus, honey, and caramel flavors in there so far. Not exactly red, but lighter then what I had thought (was very afraid it'd be brown when I brewed it) with a nice redish-copper color.

A couple of weeks in secondary to settle out, then to tertiary to get the dry hop and oak chips, then to a keg (quaternary?) for final aging and consumption

Sounds awesome! Looks like you hit the mark nicely!!!!

 

[magno]

Racked mine to secondary today. SG was 1.020. Color looks pretty red, although a little cloudy. Tastes good, but I cannot taste any smoke.

Can someone recomend any commercial rye beer? It is not a flavor that I am familiar with.

Cant wait to see how this turns out...

- magno

 

[Dude]

Racked mine to secondary today. SG was 1.020. Color looks pretty red, although a little cloudy. Tastes good, but I cannot taste any smoke.

Can someone recomend any commercial rye beer? It is not a flavor that I am familiar with.

Cant wait to see how this turns out...

- magno

Hop Rod Rye would be the benchmark commercial rye beer,, IMHO.

 

[Tony]

Hop Rod Rye would be the benchmark commercial rye beer,, IMHO.

Oh yeah! Its possibly the best Rye you can buy! DEEEE-Licious!

 

[Dude]

Hmmmm.....I just racked this into a keg. Gravity is still 1.016. Tstes WAY sweet. I drank a bit of the sample, it still has a slight citrusy taste but the sweetness is overpowering it. I've got to get this down another 6-8 points or it isn't going to be much of a beer.

One other thing I was pleasantly surprised at is I chilled part of th esample in teh fridge and tried it later. It is still really sweet of course, but I detected smoke in teh profile, finally.

Anyway....with the gravity still so high, I'm going to hold off on the chips and dry-hopping. I'm thinking about re-pitching with some dry 1056, but I'll wait another week and see where it is at before I do that. I doubt this will be good enough to send to nationals though. We have to get started on 07.07.07 right now for a fighting chance for next year. Any ideas?

 

[RichBrewer]

Hmmmm.....I just racked this into a keg. Gravity is still 1.016. Tstes WAY sweet. I drank a bit of the sample, it still has a slight citrusy taste but the sweetness is overpowering it. I've got to get this down another 6-8 points or it isn't going to be much of a beer.

One other thing I was pleasantly surprised at is I chilled part of th esample in teh fridge and tried it later. It is still really sweet of course, but I detected smoke in teh profile, finally.

Anyway....with the gravity still so high, I'm going to hold off on the chips and dry-hopping. I'm thinking about re-pitching with some dry 1056, but I'll wait another week and see where it is at before I do that. I doubt this will be good enough to send to nationals though. We have to get started on 07.07.07 right now for a fighting chance for next year. Any ideas?

After seeing how yours is going, I think I will rack mine off the hops this weekend and check the gravity. It is still producing a bubble every 25 seconds and I brewed it 2 1/2 weeks ago.

 

[RichBrewer]

Just got done racking it and it less citrusy than before but still pretty intense. I'm starting to taste the malt some now. May be a good beer if I didn't ruin it while racking. SG is now at 1.015 but I expect it to drop at least another point or two.
That damn racking siphon did not work well. I think it got hops clogged in the valve and it forced air in around the seal. I aerated it pretty bad. Dang I hope I didn't ruin it!
I don't know if I will ever dry hop again. It definitely took some fun out of this batch.

 

[budbo]

I'm Dry hopping in a bag.. Put a handfull of Marbles in it soaked in Sanitizer and dropped in It is hanging out at the bottom.. not sure how well this will work but I'm hoping it eliminates some of the mess.

 

[Tony]

Im right in the middle of mashing mine (Finally) and so far so good. I had made a starter two days ago, and it just settled this morning, so today was the day.

After reading this thread, (and being one of the last to bre...lol) I think I can overcome any problems and this one should turn out nicely. I'll keep everyone up to date on the progress.

 

[jackmoe]

I'm finally getting around to brewing mine up today as well. I had to make a couple of minor substitutions due to what my LHBS carries. No one around here carries White Labs yeast, so I am going with the Wyeast Scottish Ale yeast, seems similar enough. Also had to go with Crystal 120L instead of the Special B, and everyone seems to be out of pellet northern Brewers hops so I went with Targets (UK). I am hitting one more shop before getting started to buy more yeast and they may have the right hops there, but I think this will turn out pretty good.

 

[Tony]

Usually I use all whole hops, and have a freezer full of em. But Im trying out a new method of bittering with pellets now, as many people are claiming better bittering when using pellets compared to whole.

I have 40 minutes left in my boil, and so far everything is going good.

 

[Tony]

Okay, mine is in the primary and is bubbling already. Definately has more of a brown color, but still looks good to me. Now the waiting game begins.

I just switched over from fly sparging to batch sparging and pulled off an OG of 1.080! My Ice Cube works like a charm.

 

[Dude]

I'm getting concerned about this one.

According to White labs, the WLP028 will only attenuate 70-75%:

Scotland is famous for its malty, strong ales. This yeast can reproduce complex, flavorful Scottish style ales. This yeast can be an everyday strain, similar to WLP001. Hop character is not muted with this strain, as it is with WLP002.
Attenuation: 70-75 †; Flocculation: Medium; Optimum Ferm. Temp: 65-70

According to my nifty spreadsheet, it has figured for me that so far this sucker has attenuated 74%. It is still REALLY sweet. What makes me wonder is why. I mashed it on the low side. I'm not computing why the SG is still high. It seems to be still going, but slowly. I racked it to a keg last brew-day and it is still at 1.018. Too high if oyu ask me. Should I let it keep going and swirl for a few days?

 

[RichBrewer]

I'm getting concerned about this one.

According to my nifty spreadsheet, it has figured for me that so far this sucker has attenuated 74%. It is still REALLY sweet. What makes me wonder is why. I mashed it on the low side. I'm not computing why the SG is still high. It seems to be still going, but slowly. I racked it to a keg last brew-day and it is still at 1.018. Too high if oyu ask me. Should I let it keep going and swirl for a few days?

I brewed mine 3 weeks ago and it was at 1.015 when I racked it yesterday. It is still bubbling about 2 per minute. My OG was low (1.065) so I'm not sure where this is going.
Dude, I would let it go a few more days. It is a fairly high gravity beer and maybe the yeast have to work a bit harder for those last few points.

 

[Dude]

I brewed mine 3 weeks ago and it was at 1.015 when I racked it yesterday. It is still bubbling about 2 per minute. My OG was low (1.065) so I'm not sure where this is going.
Dude, I would let it go a few more days. It is a fairly high gravity beer and maybe the yeast have to work a bit harder for those last few points.

The problem I am anticipating is that because this is such a high gravity beer, if it doesn't finish down to 1.010-1.012, it is going to be too sweet and the bitterness balance won't be right. I wanted it hopped higher from the first stages of the recipe development, so if it stays sweet like this, I'm going to have to adjust it. Prolly by adding some hop oil to add some IBUs. Then next time I brew it I'm going hop wild!

This has potential to be a stoopid good beer when we get it right.

I know with my last 3 of 4 brews I've used honey, and I'm beginning to hate it. It just ferments too slow.

At any rate, if I don't see it get down to at least 1.015 the next time I check, I'm probably going to pitch a dry packet of S-56 and see if that helps it along.

 

[Rhoobarb]

I racked mine after it was in Primary for eight days. Fermentation had stopped; the airlock was completely still. OG was ~1.072 and when I racked, it was only down to 1.019. I haven't added any additional yeast.

In hindsight, I'm wondering if this might have fared better with someting like WLP007. I haven't tasted the sample I took. I'll do that tonight. I wanted it to settle. It sure looks tasty. It has a slightly hazy, golden-brown hue to it. If it tastes too sweet, I'll probably add some dry yeast - maybe a Nottingham.

 

[SkewedBrewing]

Its a tad late in the game but I am brewing my batch tomorrow. I picked up some Hickory Chips that are for smoking meat at Kroger, those are fine to use in the secondary right? Any suggestions for a partial-mash brewer before I start tomorrow? Whats the ABV when this guy goes into the bottle?

 

[Dude]

Its a tad late in the game but I am brewing my batch tomorrow. I picked up some Hickory Chips that are for smoking meat at Kroger, those are fine to use in the secondary right? Any suggestions for a partial-mash brewer before I start tomorrow? Whats the ABV when this guy goes into the bottle?

Do you have promash? You can figure the ABV and everything from that. A rough estimate though, you'll be around 7-8 percent with this beer depending on what you get for a SG.

I can't help you with the partial mash stuff, but make sure to remember to add (or subtract) the honey when figuring the efficiency. I was all FUBAR on my efficiency until I realized I hadn't added the honey yet.