3rd Brew - Belgian Dubbel

[landoa]

Hello,

I made this recipe: 1-Gallon Belgian Dubbel Recipe - BeerCraftr

Testing the gravity pre-boil has been meaningless for me in the first three batches (1.020, 1.020 and 1.012 this time!). The temperature of the wort was around 150F each time, so the gravity was no doubt a bit higher. However, I was very close to the target OG post-boil this time: 1.068. Thanks to suggestions on this forum, these things helped the most: mill grains twice, mash in 80% of water and dunk sparge in 20%, increase boil intensity.

I made a rookie mistake at the very end. I had to prepare lunch for the family at the same time and used an un-sanitized strainer when transferring the wort to the carboy. It was clean, so I will just see what happens.

There's quite a bit more trub than the last time. Its starting to settle now.

Now for my question. After aerating the wort, there are a bunch of bubbles on top. Is this already "Krausen" or the beginning of it? Can that layer of bubbles disappear and the krausen come back?

 

[RM-MN]

When you aerate the wort you create bubbles. I've never watched to see if they disappear before fermentation starts. I expect to see fermentation start in a few hours, not immediately.

Here's an article that describes what the yeast are doing and the timeline for it.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

 

[landoa]

When you aerate the wort you create bubbles. I've never watched to see if they disappear before fermentation starts. I expect to see fermentation start in a few hours, not immediately.

Here's an article that describes what the yeast are doing and the timeline for it.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

Thanks for the article.

It looks like the top could blow tonight, so i've added some reinforcement to the blowoff tube which is sticking in that funnel

it looks like the bubbles from aeration were overwhelmed and replaced by Krausen ...

 

[rburrelli]

There are temperature correction calculators out the for those gravity readings.

 

[landoa]

So, I just bottled this batch. Final Gravity was 1.006. Seems quite far from the target of 1.013. Could this be due to the fact that I had to add and extra 6oz of malt to get the necessary efficiency? My OG was 1.068 and target was 1.070.

I drank some of the sample at bottling time and didn't find it as tasty as the two other brews I've made before bottling. I also poured the rest of the sample into a bottle, threw it in the fridge and drank the half bottle eight hours later. Is it possible that the sample is already oxidized? I know the flavors will evolve, but this taste reminds me of ... Porto! So, not good. I'll try it in two weeks to see what its like and then in a month from now.

Have you tried the beer at bottling time and found that the taste changed from bad/average to ... good/great?

 

[RM-MN]

There are temperature correction calculators out the for those gravity readings.

Even better would be the reftactometer. My temperature corrected refractometer will read a sample at boiling temp and be spot on with the hydrometer when the wort cools. Best yet, it only takes a few drops to get a reading.

 

[RM-MN]

So, I just bottled this batch. Final Gravity was 1.006. Seems quite far from the target of 1.013. Could this be due to the fact that I had to add and extra 6oz of malt to get the necessary efficiency? My OG was 1.068 and target was 1.070.

I drank some of the sample at bottling time and didn't find it as tasty as the two other brews I've made before bottling. I also poured the rest of the sample into a bottle, threw it in the fridge and drank the half bottle eight hours later. Is it possible that the sample is already oxidized? I know the flavors will evolve, but this taste reminds me of ... Porto! So, not good. I'll try it in two weeks to see what its like and then in a month from now.

Have you tried the beer at bottling time and found that the taste changed from bad/average to ... good/great?

The final gravity estimate is just that, an estimate. My guess is that your yeast liked how you managed temperature and went a little overboard. Now the question is, will the lower final gravity make any difference.

Pouring the beer into the bottle does a much better job at oxidizing the beer than using a bottling wand.

Beer sampled at bottling time is just to give you a hint to whether you made big mistakes or not. Beer will change significantly from bottling to what it is like 3-4 weeks later.

 

[RM-MN]

I drank some of the sample at bottling time and didn't find it as tasty as the two other brews I've made before bottling.

That could easily be from different temperature during fermentation. Warm ferments allow the yeast to produce esters and fusel alcohol that do not taste like we think beer should. Once I learned to control fermentation temperature my beers improved greatly. It may only require a tub of water to set your fermenter into and a few bottles of water that you have frozen to keep the fermentation low enough to avoid the esters.