AG porter with no activity

[46binder]

Brewed an AG porter yesterday. The grain we ground way to fine, other batches were good, should get better effect. with finer right? No, nothing but stuck sparge big time. We have 10 gal tun with hose. Had to stir and scrape away from hose, I figure that was bad just stirring up the sugars. Had to add third water for batch sparge just to get the gallons, it was so thick. Used smack pack yeast, usually get bubbling in 6 hours. Been 24 and nothing. Did we not get sugers when mashing? OG was 1.072. Second, are tannins something to worry about if too hot? I thought they were, but heard that thought was old school and not true.

 

[weirdboy]

Next time make a starter, especially if the OG is that high.

Your beer is fine. Assuming you have relatively normal water I wouldn't worry too much about sparging a little hot. However I would be more worried about husk material I your really went that fine on the crush.

 

[junior]

No expert but, you should get better efficiency with a fine grind but as you found out stuck sparge is probable,as far as the og you got sugars, but with high mash temperature may not be many fermentable sugars. Tannins I have no clue. I would assume there should be enough sugars to start attenuating. I would say your problem is a yeast issue, temperature of the wort or viability of the yeast. Try pitching more yeast.

 

[46binder]

The lhbs is closed, but I have a Nottingham dry yeast. Should I toss it in?

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

What was your mash temp? If you mashed too hot then you you would have broken down the enzymes and had a lot of unfermentable sugars. What type of yeast did you use? Also, no activity does not mean no fermentation. And to avoid a stuck sparge use rice hulls. It will help a lot. Mainly leave it alone for at least a week, then take a gravity reading. It's probably fine.

 

[Yooper]

The lhbs is closed, but I have a Nottingham dry yeast. Should I toss it in?

Wait at least 72 hours before adding more yeast. If you underpitched (and you did, if you used less than 3 or 4 packages of yeast with no starter), it will take even longer.

 

[46binder]

We mashed at 158, then used 175 degree water for second mash. Current temp is 66. Guess I'll wait some more.

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

158 could have been high enough to break up the enzymes but not near high enough to create only unfermentable sugars. Give it some time. Remember, the airlock is not an indication of fermentation. Only a gravity reading can tell you that. Give it a week and take a reading. Chances are, you are fine and hey, you made beer!