r8rphan
Well-Known Member
I have brewed 4 batches in a row now, all with the same problem.. Actually, I think even more if you include the problems I was having on my old system a few years ago...
I have changed virtually 'everything' except for my fermentation chamber and my CFC chiller.. Going from a propane heated two vessel system (keggle and mash tun cooler) with 2 6.5G carboys, to a eBIAB system with EZ Boil controller based 4500 watt element, into a 15G Speidel Fermenter (in the same freezer I used as a fermentation chamber in the old system).. I also included a RO filter and base water chems (which really brought out the hops profile in the finished beer)
Every brew, I can not get to final gravity...
The first two times, I chalked it up to using old grain (unfermentables), but this last two times it is with fresh grains, hops, and yeast...
The last two beers were an American IPA, and EdWort's Haus Pale Ale...
Each time, I hit the gravity perfectly, used yeast nutrient, pumped 5 minutes of oxygen into the line at 4 LPM, and pitched 3 paks of dry yeast.. In the IPA, I used US-05, and in the Pale Ale I used Notty....
In the first batch, I determined that my refractometer was off slightly, so after accounting for that, my FG was about 5 pts off... in the second batch, the OG was 52, and the FG was @ 20 (supposed to be at 11)..
At first the first batch tasted okay, but as it conditioned, I could still taste a noticeable amount of that 'wort' flavor (unfermentables)... I just connected my hops randall to one of the kegs (with some willamette leaf hops as that and some columbus and chinook are all I had on hand, besides my home grown hops).. Hoping that will mask the off flavor..
Just put the second batch under pressure, hoping it is at least drinkable..
So, there are only two possible culprits that I can see as causing the problem.. The mash, and the fermentation chamber...
The only 'possible' issue with the chamber I can fathom, is that since the back of the speidel is touching the cooling coils, perhaps it is sending some of the yeast into dormancy or something? But if that were the case, I would think that others would have had this issue as well, and I would have heard of it...
So that leaves the mash...
Last brew, I monitored 'everything' every step of the way in as far as gravity (both with the refractometer and the hydrometer) and the temperature, both the digital temp probe at the bottom of the keggle and a glass thermometer in the top of the mash...
Here's what I noticed last time I brewed.. I set the mash temp at 152 and let the system bring it to temp.. then I mashed in my crushed grains (ran through my 3 roller crankenstein 'twice' at the finest setting)... When I put the glass thermometer in, it read 168 degrees!
This is like the ideal 'sparge temp' not mash temp... So, I did what I could to get the temps down as quickly as possible, but the top of the mash was at like 165-168 for at least 10-15 mins...
I'm thinking this 'killed' the conversion process? I did the iodine test, and it appeared to be complete conversion, but perhaps that can't account for the high mash temp?
Could this cause me to create a bunch of unfermentables that would prevent me from getting a finished beer?
At this point, all I can think of to do is to do a ten gallon batch of a LME/DME partial mash based kit, hanging the specialty grains in a bag on the side and bringing everything up to 168 from cool and then pulling the grains like I used to do in the very beginning, and then seeing if it ferments out...
If it turns out to be the problem, how to resolve? I guess I'll have to crush larger and figure out some sort of recirc process that won't get stuck?
Anyone experience this before?
This is seriously discouraging/frustrating and getting to be a huge waste of money throwing batch after batch of terrible tasting beer out...
They 'all' have that wort taste, and all have low ABV...
What to do? What to try?
(posting this in the BIAB forum too)
I have changed virtually 'everything' except for my fermentation chamber and my CFC chiller.. Going from a propane heated two vessel system (keggle and mash tun cooler) with 2 6.5G carboys, to a eBIAB system with EZ Boil controller based 4500 watt element, into a 15G Speidel Fermenter (in the same freezer I used as a fermentation chamber in the old system).. I also included a RO filter and base water chems (which really brought out the hops profile in the finished beer)
Every brew, I can not get to final gravity...
The first two times, I chalked it up to using old grain (unfermentables), but this last two times it is with fresh grains, hops, and yeast...
The last two beers were an American IPA, and EdWort's Haus Pale Ale...
Each time, I hit the gravity perfectly, used yeast nutrient, pumped 5 minutes of oxygen into the line at 4 LPM, and pitched 3 paks of dry yeast.. In the IPA, I used US-05, and in the Pale Ale I used Notty....
In the first batch, I determined that my refractometer was off slightly, so after accounting for that, my FG was about 5 pts off... in the second batch, the OG was 52, and the FG was @ 20 (supposed to be at 11)..
At first the first batch tasted okay, but as it conditioned, I could still taste a noticeable amount of that 'wort' flavor (unfermentables)... I just connected my hops randall to one of the kegs (with some willamette leaf hops as that and some columbus and chinook are all I had on hand, besides my home grown hops).. Hoping that will mask the off flavor..
Just put the second batch under pressure, hoping it is at least drinkable..
So, there are only two possible culprits that I can see as causing the problem.. The mash, and the fermentation chamber...
The only 'possible' issue with the chamber I can fathom, is that since the back of the speidel is touching the cooling coils, perhaps it is sending some of the yeast into dormancy or something? But if that were the case, I would think that others would have had this issue as well, and I would have heard of it...
So that leaves the mash...
Last brew, I monitored 'everything' every step of the way in as far as gravity (both with the refractometer and the hydrometer) and the temperature, both the digital temp probe at the bottom of the keggle and a glass thermometer in the top of the mash...
Here's what I noticed last time I brewed.. I set the mash temp at 152 and let the system bring it to temp.. then I mashed in my crushed grains (ran through my 3 roller crankenstein 'twice' at the finest setting)... When I put the glass thermometer in, it read 168 degrees!
This is like the ideal 'sparge temp' not mash temp... So, I did what I could to get the temps down as quickly as possible, but the top of the mash was at like 165-168 for at least 10-15 mins...
I'm thinking this 'killed' the conversion process? I did the iodine test, and it appeared to be complete conversion, but perhaps that can't account for the high mash temp?
Could this cause me to create a bunch of unfermentables that would prevent me from getting a finished beer?
At this point, all I can think of to do is to do a ten gallon batch of a LME/DME partial mash based kit, hanging the specialty grains in a bag on the side and bringing everything up to 168 from cool and then pulling the grains like I used to do in the very beginning, and then seeing if it ferments out...
If it turns out to be the problem, how to resolve? I guess I'll have to crush larger and figure out some sort of recirc process that won't get stuck?
Anyone experience this before?
This is seriously discouraging/frustrating and getting to be a huge waste of money throwing batch after batch of terrible tasting beer out...
They 'all' have that wort taste, and all have low ABV...
What to do? What to try?
(posting this in the BIAB forum too)