An Interesting Batch

[jescholler]

I brewed my first all grain batch on Saturday using DeathBrewer's stove top mashing method and jacksonbrown's Crop Circle Wheat clone recipe. I had trouble controlling my mash temperature, and due to a faulty thermometer (which I found out later), probably mashed anywhere from 148F up to 167F. I got great efficiency, and the sparge and boil went off pretty well. I didn't detect any off flavors and had a pretty good OG (1.052) based on my recipe.

I brewed a 3 gallon batch, using Wyeast 3068 in a 6.5 gallon bucket with a blow off tube. The temp control was pretty good, and at 26 hours after pitching, the blow off tube started bubbling quite fast at about 20 times a minute. That was 11:00pm last night, so I went to bed feeling pretty good. When I woke up 5 hours later to use the bathroom, I decided to check on my fermenting beer. The blow off tube had stopped bubbling (not just slowed down to once every couple of minutes, but completely stopped). I was too tired to deal with it, so I went back to bed.

Thinking about it at work today, I was confident that my pitch rate, aeration, temp control, and seal on the bucket were all good. I figured it had to be the high mash temperature that left a ton of unfermentable sugars. I was upset, because I thought my attenuation would be something like 40%.

When I got home from work today, having no hope in this batch, I decided to check on the gravity. To my surprise, my gravity was 1.019! This is just an example of how your fermentation can really happen overnight. Give this beer 3 weeks in the primary, a few weeks in the bottle, and it should be a pretty good beer. With the high sugars and low bitter rate, maybe my mom will actually like it (she's not much of a beer fan at all).

This just goes to show...RDWHAHB

Cheers!

 

[Pappers_]

Experimentation can be great!

 

[theguy]

Read DeathBrewer thread also and am going to give it a show on my next batch. IMHO his method seemed like a pretty good alternative to full all grain.

 

[jescholler]

I would say that the biggest thing I learned was to not add heat unless absolutely necessary.

According to DeathBrewer, he usually turns off the heat, puts the lid on, and only loses about 4 degrees F over a mash. My temperature started dropping, so I added heat and it got out of control. With my electric range, it was hard to tell how much heat I was adding, and I added too much. Before I knew it, my temp was all over the place.

Next batch, I'll look into insulating my mash kettle with this (I can use it for my boiling kettle as well):
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/improved-boiling-stovetop-53683/index3.html#post723687

If I insulate the mash kettle with that, I'm pretty confident that I could maintain a pretty constant temperature throughout the mash without adding heat.

 

[jescholler]

After watching the fermentation of this batch for another few days, I'm beginning to think I've experienced a stuck fermentation.

When I originally suspected that the fermentation had stopped, there was very little pressure on the lid. Even if I pressed down with a fair amount of force, I wouldn't get any bubbles out of the blow off tube.

After taking the gravity reading and scraping the krausen off the sides and stirring it in gently, the blow off tube started bubbling again shortly. It went on for a couple of days, and even after about 4 days, there is still pressure on the lid.

This might be helpful for anyone suspecting a stuck fermentation. I always wondered how I would know since I usually just let my primaries go and gauge blow off activity. It's probably one of those things that just seems not quite right.

Wow! If one homebrew makes me babble this much, imagine what 4 or 5 would do!

 

[Spludge]

Thanks for the thread, I had essentially the same thing happen with my Russian Imperial.

The temp control! I used DeathBrewers method twice before I gave up and built a mash tun. I could not hit or maintain my temps. Here is a good thermometer, it can be recalibrate and is water proof, you can get em for under $7.

I can't imagine needing a blow-off tube for 3 gallons in a 6.5 carboy! Has it ever flowed over?

 

[jescholler]

...I gave up and built a mash tun. I could not hit or maintain my temps.

Same here. Just started buying the parts for FlyGuy's MLT (probably using a 3 gallon cooler, because I won't be doing full batch all grain brews in the foreseeable future).

I can't imagine needing a blow-off tube for 3 gallons in a 6.5 carboy! Has it ever flowed over?

I can't either. Right now I only have 2 fermenters. I have a blow off tube for my bucket and an airlock for my carboy. Since the airlock was tied up, I used the blow off tube. This is my first batch under 5 gallons, so I don't have the experience with 3 gallons needing a blow off tube.

 

[blackwaterbrewer]

i found that all grain brews go off quicker and take less time to ferment than extract. i dont know why this is, but i definitely noticed it. as for the 1.019, some beers tend to get stalled at this range. i have seeen many post of 'my beer is stuck at 1.020'. again, i dont know why but it does happen. even if it doesn't go any lower than that, you will still get about 4.5% ABV. it might be a liitle on the sweet side but there is definitely no reason to worry. looks like your first batch was a success. Cheers!