Bad Batch

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

anderson

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2008
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Hey everyone,
I just cracked a beer from my third batch last night and it was pretty bad. Figured that I would post here to see if anyone has any insight. I have done some looking around and think I have a few ideas as to why this beer went bad.

First the recipe (a slightly modified IPA recipe-different hops due to my LHBS not having some):

9lbs. Coopers DME
1lb. 60L Chrystal Malt
1/2 lb. Carapils

Hops:

2 oz. Centennial 8.7%
2 oz. Perle 7.6%
1 oz. Cascade 6.3%

White Labs California Ale Yeast WLP 001

Steeped specialty grains for 30 minutes at 150 F in 1.5 gallons H2O

Hops scheldule:

60 min 1 oz. centennial
40 min 1 oz. perle
20 1 oz. centennial and 1 oz. perle
last minute 1 oz. cascade

*edit*
After steeping my specialty grains in a nylon bag I added water to get to about 3 gallons in my boiling pot. This was brought to a boil then taken off the burner. To this I added the DME and brought back up to a boil before adding hops. After the 60 minute boil I colled the wort to about 74 F with a ice bath and transfered the wort to my 6.5 gallon glass carboy. Then I added water to have a total of 5.5 gallons in the carboy before pitching the yeast. The yeast was room temperature before pitching. Areation was done by adding water to the wort and then shaking the carboy.

Racked to primary and took a gravity of 1.084

Two weeks in primary at 68 F and moved to secondary for two more weeks. Temperature was pretty constant at 68 F give or take 2 degrees. Fermentation went well but started a little slow.

Final gravity was 1.028. i realized that this was very high but it was stable after readings two days apart.

*edit*
Moved to bottling bucket with 1 cup priming sugar mixed with 1 1/2 cup water. Stirred with racking cane occasionaly while bottling being careful not to aerate the beer. Left in bottles for 2 weeks at 62 to 70 F.

Problem 1 the beer is flat-no carbonation.
Problem 2 the beer feels thick a little like maple syrup

Good point: the bitterness is good

I now know that I needed a starter for a beer with such a high OG. I think it has no carbonation due to losing the yeast in secondary?

I will open another beer in two weeks and hope for some carbonation but figured I would post here to see what you guys think I did wrong.

Thanks alot in advance this site, and of course the people on it, are a great asset.
 
Sorry about the premature post I hit the wrong button in the middle of the thread the rest is now in there
 
I conditioned in the bottle for 2 weeks and used 1 cup of priming sugar that worked well in my 2 previous batches.
 
As for carbonation, how are you carbonating? Is the secondary a keg and you are force carbonating, or do you mean that your bottled and they have been sitting in bottles for 2 weeks?

With the syrupy consistency and flavor, was your boil volume was 1.5 gallons or did you add more water after steeping the specialty grains. Did you top that up after the boil to 5 gallons or so? I don't think you are going to get to the IBUs that you are shooting for if you only have 1.5 gallons for the boil. Even with 4oz. of fairly high AA hops, I think you are only getting to 9.5 IBU or so. If you topped up to say 3 gallons, that number goes up to 37 IBU which is still slightly low, but in the right ball park.
 
anderson said:
I conditioned in the bottle for 2 weeks and used 1 cup of priming sugar that worked well in my 2 previous batches.

3 weeks @ 70 degrees is the recommended minimum bottle conditioning/carbing time for even the most basic of beers, higher gravity and heavier beers take even longer.... I've had porters and stouts that took 2 months to carb and condition...

Anything below three weeks the beer is still green and often has off flavors that fade away with time...and is not fully carbed...

Take a look at this thread...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=54362

Roll the bottles gently on the table top to re adgitate the yeast, then stick them away for 2 more weeks and check on them then....
 
Thanks Revvy, I will do that and wait a few weeks before opening another bottle.
 
OK. Your hops utilization should get you around where you want to be as far as IBUs. I'm still wondering about the syrupy feel. I wonder if the extra carbonation will fix that, but 1.028 is going to be a fairly sweet beer from my experience. No problem though, maybe call it an Extra ESB. Breckenridge Brewery has a small batch special out right now that is an Extra ESB and it is similar to what I am imagining this one is like, although maybe a little less sweet.
 
Back
Top