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1.128 OG garbage beer

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Cat,

If you are looking for my hop schedule it is post #18. If you are wondering about the hop utilization, so am I. With that amount of hops I am hoping that I at least get something. I thought about making a hop tea for this when I was in the planning stages, but opted to put them directly in.
 
Honey takes forever to ferment in beer.

not true. i have a peach braggot that has 3 lbs of honey in it. it fermented down to 1.004 in 2 weeks. i did add yeast nutrient because of the honey, though. i know what you're saying but it's not always the case or a rule of thumb...
 
not true. i have a peach braggot that has 3 lbs of honey in it. it fermented down to 1.004 in 2 weeks. i did add yeast nutrient because of the honey, though. i know what you're saying but it's not always the case or a rule of thumb...

I should have stated with an ale yeast and other malts/crystals. I used 2 lbs in a stout with wyeast irish ale yeast and it took 3 months to stop fermenting. Could have been part of my process as well but it was the only noted change from the last time I made it with brown sugar.
 
I should have stated with an ale yeast and other malts/crystals. I used 2 lbs in a stout with wyeast irish ale yeast and it took 3 months to stop fermenting. Could have been part of my process as well but it was the only noted change from the last time I made it with brown sugar.


Honey should only take a while to ferment if it's the main ingredient because it doesn't have much in the way of nutrient for the yeast, unlike maltose and other ingredients. It's also got a ph that doesn't make yeast happy. But using it as an ingredient among many others, where it is a secondary source of fermentable sugar, it should ferment just as fast. Unless you didn't mix it in well, and much of it sat on the bottom, then it can take a while for the yeast to work through it. These things I know from making mead and reading the GotMead website.
 
The yeast were cooking along nicely when I came home. I aerated the beer for about 30 minutes, added the new starter and some yeast energizer/nutrient. Hopefully this works!
 
You aerated the already mostly fermented beer for 30 minutes? I think you may have some oxidized beer.
 
At 1.05, the yeast may have a way to go, and the oxygen might just help them get there.

Though 30 minutes does sound a bit excessive.
 
Aeration is to help the yeast multiply. Oxygen does nothing to help yeast turn sugar into alcohol. If you built up a good starter, aeration isn't necessary in this situation.
 
I got a good laugh out of this thread and I don't really know why or if it was at someone's expense.

A guy makes and absolute trainwreck of a beer with 2 or maybe 3 different yeasts. People flame him for it, someone defends him and suddenly more people back it up. It was a quite comical progression.

Personally I am a huge advocate of the "Phuck it, throw that **** in there and see what happens" so I can't wait to see how this turns out! (This is coming from the person that accidentally mashed an extract brew by deciding to steep 2 row for 45 minutes on a stovetop and dumped 3 pounds of raspberries in the boil and 2 more in the secondary)

hmm I have a bunch of random quantities of grain/extract/sugar/hops laying around *wheels start turning in head* You may have inspired me!
 
Personally I am a huge advocate of the "Phuck it, throw that **** in there and see what happens" so I can't wait to see how this turns out! (This is coming from the person that accidentally mashed an extract brew by deciding to steep 2 row for 45 minutes on a stovetop and dumped 3 pounds of raspberries in the boil and 2 more in the secondary)

So how did that turn out haha?
 
So how did that turn out haha?

Depending on your tastes, it turned out quite decent. It fermented out further than I expected (I assume the raspberries were responsible). It ended up like a bland pale ale with nice fruity tones...exactly like a raspberry flavored Rolling Rock.

It is a great session or beach beer haha [Edit] It was also good for gaining the confidence of the SWMBO in my homebrew and my light lager friends really liked it
 
The yeast were cooking along nicely when I came home. I aerated the beer for about 30 minutes, added the new starter and some yeast energizer/nutrient. Hopefully this works!

I actually gasped out loud when I read the statement in bold font!

But whatever, it's a Frankenbeer. So maybe one of the ingredients is oxidation :D
 
So, it has been a long time since I brewed this beer and thought I should update. I was enjoying a Leinenkeugels Big Eddy(Russian Imperial Stout) with dinner tonight and started thinking about this brew. BTW, if you have access to Big Eddy, it is awesome. Anyway, I took a few steps between my last post and now. I did a 500mL starter with ICV D-47 and added it to the brew about a month and a half ago. The fermentation kicked up for a few days and then ceased again. It has been sitting in the secondary ever since, untouched. I checked the gravity tonight and it is still sitting at 1.052 even though I have seen it burp a few times when I go down to check my other beers. The smokeyness that I was tasting early on has become a lot less prominent. It is still very sweet and could probably make a good desert beer when carbonated (which will of course be forced....how much?) I am in no rush with this beer, so I wonder how much longer I should leave it in there, Months? Years?
 
So I decided a few weeks ago to make what I am calling a garbage beer. I am transitioning to all grain and wanted to purge every last grain/extract/sugar that I had in the house. Obviously I had no style in mind. Aside from the grains that I added (which included 2 lbs of chocolate malt), there was about 4.5lbs of malt extract, 4 lbs of cornsugar, and 5 lbs of honey. My starting gravity was 1.128 and I pitched with champagne yeast(EC-118). In the 3rd day of fermentation it foamed out the airlock, oops. After 2 weeks, I transfered it to the secondary and the gravity was 1.053. 2 weeks later(today), I checked the gravity again it is still at 1.053. I would assume with the champagne yeast is would ferment almost completely. Is my fermentation stuck? Should I get another packet of yeast started, transfer to a new fermentor and pitch again? It is way to sweet right now.....

first of all, wow 1.128!!! 2nd all of I have had a few.

Ok so with that said you sent a champagne yeast on a maltose mission, you shouldn't have expected them do to do well.

I probably would have started with a nice high alcohol tolerant yeast like WLP001, WLP007 etc.... let it finish, then toss in the champagne or some beano first.


that is all for now, more beer.....
 
If, after 4 different yeasts, and a double aeration, it's only dropped .01, I'd say you have the greatest stuck fermentation in the history of stuck fermentations. Honestly not sure what you should do at this point...perhaps force filter it, keg & have a nice honey Frankenbrew on your hands? Might be a hit with the wimmins.
 
Do yourself a favor and read John Palmer's book "How to Brew" straight thru cover to cover before you attempt all grain. IMO you need to at least understand the basics of fermentation before transitioning from extract to all grain.

Oh please. What an arrogant response to a genuine "help me " post.
 
Well, I added Beano yesterday. It's already going again. I had thought about doing this a while back and decided not to. I figured what the hell. Now I just need to keep track of it to hopefully catch it somewhere around 1.020 - 1.025. I don't like the idea of adding heat to the beer to stop the enzyme. Maybe I will just keg it, bottle it, and never leave the bottles out of the fridge for a long time. I would still like to dry hop, but I don't know if I should while it is bubbling again.
 
Update:

I have been avoiding doing anything with this beer for a long time. Last night I finally kegged it. The gravity at kegging was 1.022. It tastes pretty good actually. It reminds me of an Imperial Porter with a smoked flavor.

I am going to force carbonate it and bottle it from the tap. It's not something I just want to leave on tap. One everyonce in a while will be good with this one.
 
Yeah having 14% abv beer on tap seems like a path to avoid. Glad it turned into something drinkable albeit 20 months later.
 
Shocked to see this thread pop up again. Glad you got something drinkable out of it. Patience is a virtue:)
 
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