1.144: is this just a bad idea?

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I don't believe that at all. The only thing that's going to impact energy use is the wifi vs bluetooth. So you might have had to replace the batteries at 26 months instead of 36 months. Though wifi can use less power if the node it's connected too is closer as you have to be with BT.

But now you have me miffed about having to replace batteries. They aren't rechargeable batteries! Though it would be more cost over a plug in charger, a wireless charging for them would be ideal.
Check out the iSpindels if you haven't already. They have built in WiFi and a rechargeable battery. The rechargeable battery is necessary because of the power consumption.
 
Maybe I'm missing something here about Tilt and its connectivity, but when you are accessing data, it is either connected or not, no? It is probably not poorly connected and thus sending you erroneous quality data. I think the issue which I have seen, which may be related to the above problem, is that the Tilt can get krausen and/or CO2 bubbles glommed on the device, and then it may break off. When I have what looks to be a spurious data readings, I slightly rock my conical several times, and then after the liquid movement subsides, I often get representative data points again. I think this can happen especially with high gravity beers and high krausen-generating yeasts.
 
We’re down to 1.084, which is about 40% attenuation so far (and 8% ABV!) Now the krausen is very … there.
0024824E-B0C4-482F-A67C-451C260E445D.jpeg
 
I have one tilt. I wave my android at it once a day or when ever I'm near the garage in the first day or 2 of fermentation. That's plenty of data to get a curve which is all I ever expect of it - just the slope of the trend. I take an OG and SG with a floating hydrometer and forget worrying about the calibration all together. It's worth it just to avoid all the manual readings - especially if sampling through a floating dip under pressure etc.
 
My neighbor with the LBMB.
Hi, neighbor!

I usually ferment in a 1.75 gallon keg, but I wanted to watch this one, plus with the keg I lose a little more. Hence.

Down to 1.068. Temperature is starting to go down, though not at ambient yet. My bet is I’ll get 5-10 more points quickly, and then it’ll go to a point or two a day for who knows how long. We’ll see!
 
Update. Fermenting for 19 days now, resulting in a final gravity of 1.038, which is 74% apparent attenuation and 14% ABV. It's been steady for 48 hours, but I'm going to give it 2 or 3 more days ... can't hurt.
 
Regarding the tilt. I don't worry about constantly monitoring my tilt. I just roll in to the brew area once or twice a day and open my tilt app on my phone and log the data and then I'm done with it. Then when I'm done I can go in to Beersmith and import the data in from the cloud. I guess if you wanted to log at a high resolution which I don't really care about then yeah it would take some hardware setup and tweak or leave an old phone nearby.

That said I did get an ispindel and plan on trying that out. Great thing about these digital hydros is you know when fermentation has finished without sampling your beer a bunch.
 
Not sure what temperature your fermenting at but I suggest that you raise it to the top of the range for a couple of days and then drop it - less than 5 F per day till you get down to serving temperature around 38 F.
 
Not sure what temperature your fermenting at but I suggest that you raise it to the top of the range for a couple of days and then drop it - less than 5 F per day till you get down to serving temperature around 38 F.
Good idea! At a week or so I bumped it from 60 to 65. But now I just nudged it to 72 for the last few days. Not going to cold crash it, though. I’m going to let it sit for a long, long time before serving. It’ll clear just fine.
 
Good idea! At a week or so I bumped it from 60 to 65. But now I just nudged it to 72 for the last few days. Not going to cold crash it, though. I’m going to let it sit for a long, long time before serving. It’ll clear just fine.
If you can ferment under pressure, it will cut down on the fusel alcohol production.
 
Squeezed another 2 points out of it to finish at 1.036 and 14.5% ABV. And the answer to "is this just a bad idea?" is quite possibly "yes." Taste is wonderful: very toasty with toffee and dark fruit. Not too sweet at all, and of course, lots of alcohol. Tastes fantastic for a just-fermented beer. However it is really more of a syrup than a beer. Rye pentosans add mouthfeel, and boiled-down, highly concentrated pentosans add lots of mouthfeel. Lots. This may be undrinkable, or as undrinkable as anything >14% ABV can be. Or best served over ice. Or ice cream. Going to give it at least a few more months until another taste.
 
I had to go back to the OP to realize what was going on here.
Given most folks' experience mashing significant rye content the excessive viscosity was likely predictable but tbh I totally missed it from the jump.
Sorry...
 
I had to go back to the OP to realize what was going on here.
Given most folks' experience mashing significant rye content the excessive viscosity was likely predictable but tbh I totally missed it from the jump.
Sorry...
I think it's one of those things I had to do in order to get it. I've made plenty of beers with a pound of flaked oats or flaked rye in there, presumably for the mouthfeel, and I never really noticed much o an effect. This I notice.

I think it's going to be delicious, though. I may need to repeat this recipe exactly with wheat malt instead of rye.
 
Well one can always chalk up out of band results as "SCIENCE!" :)
Still...it may be possible to finesse such a high rye content into a quaffable product by incorporating a prolonged beta-glucan rest...

Cheers!
 
I did not know that was the issue - I've never made a full-on "rye forward" beer but often use a modest amount for head formation/retention, so its contribution to obvious mouthfeel was modest and certainly not a show stopper (that would suck!)

All of the suggestions I've noted wrt rye in the mash stressed beta glucan rests...but arabinoxylans are essentially a non-degradable fiber so there no rest that's going to significantly modify that :)

Cheers!
 
Your ending gravity and ABV makes a beer well in line with a lot of the big beers pumped into the market these days.

There are things you could do to try to lower the gravity a bit but if you like the flavor you are probably better off leaving as is.
 
I make a Kentucky Common with corn grits and rye malt. Even with BIAB I have slow draining. I was thinking of using the rye in the cereal mash instead of pilsner malt,so the rye would be boiled along with the corn.
Is this a good idea ? Will this break down the arabino's ?
 
I make a Kentucky Common with corn grits and rye malt. Even with BIAB I have slow draining. I was thinking of using the rye in the cereal mash instead of pilsner malt,so the rye would be boiled along with the corn.
Is this a good idea ? Will this break down the arabino's ?
I think they're pretty much impervious to everything except exogenous enzymes (and I'm not sure those are available in food grade.) I BIAB too, and don't really mind slow draining. The syrupiness is pretty much only a problem with the current beer -- I've made roggenbier with >50% rye and a normal gravity, and been happy with the results.

How was the KC, btw? Can you post a recipe?
 
I don't use a program for designing my brews but have a copy of A Handbook of Basic Brewing Calculations. So I'll do my best not to confuse.

OG: 1.050 - FG: 1.010 - IBU's ~35 -pH of mash at 60* and 10 min in of 5.2- 5.3 Wyeast 2565 pitched 55*-58* hold there for 3 days then raise to 64 to finish. I lager at 33* for 4 weeks but 6 is better.
12 lbs pils malt, 5 lbs organic yellow corn meal (Outback bin), 2 lbs rye malt, 8oz C-120 or Special "B" (but not both), 2 oz midnite wheat, 8 oz acidulated malt.
28 g Magnum @14% 60 min, 56 g Cascade 6% 15 min.
I use RO water and this one gets .5 g CaSO4, and CaCl2 .25 g NaCl , and MgSO4 per gal of brewing liquor. I collect mine in 5 gal carboys and dose those so straight RO dosen't sit in my kettles.

I use a cereal mash like a decoction and start the main mash at 143* then add the cereal mash to get to 158-160. Because the mash can last for over 2 hours sometimes, it will cause a lower FG. It's hard for me to tell the difference in taste between a beer finishing at 1.012 or 1.004 so that's what I shoot for.
 
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