Blending beers

[MrFancyPlants]

I ran my first .75 G all grain sample run today. Man was that a lot of work for very little beer. I used a crock pot and raised the temperature slowly to get the beta glucan rest for some some rolled oats I mixed in w Harris otter and 6-row in a .33:1lb:.33 proportions. I may have added in hop pellets way too early in the boil and hope I didn't ruin the flavor hopping w .5 once of cascade pellets I think. If it is way too bitter, could I scale the batch up with another mash on top of already fermenting wart in a larger fv? I was surprised how easy the sparge was into a pasta colander and then through a funnel filter with a fine screen. I'm thinking of scaling up to a 3G carboy and not quite ready for my 6G one yet. Maybe ramp up to 4g in the 6 and rack to a 3.

How do you manage oxygen levels with a two stage pitch? I would think the new sugars would drive off the oxygen with it's co2 production the same way. Aerate new wort and try to leave the fermented portion still until you pour the new one in and just let them mix? Or skip aerating because the yeast population is already high enough and can skip the reproductive phase?

 

[ElJefeBrews]

Half ounce of cascade for .75 gallons is A LOT. Personally I would let the two beers ferment separately and mix them at bottling

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I tasted some of the flat leftover wart from the fridge. It had IPA hop action that over powered the malty sweet finish. Plus are you ever supposed to boil cascade's or are they more of an aroma hop?
The ferment kicked off nicely and I kept it cool by setting it in a tray of water. I was shooting for 6% but I'll never know because the hydrometer was too tall for my vessel. I am Prob looking at 5% because there was some wort left over and my lhbs was out of glass 3's.
My instinct is to go for continuous / batch hybrid with maybe a Malo-lacto secondary to knock out some of those tannins people are always complaining about. But I'm sure I am making things too complicated for a newb like myself.

 

[ElJefeBrews]

I tasted some of the flat leftover wart from the fridge. It had IPA hop action that over powered the malty sweet finish. Plus are you ever supposed to boil cascade's or are they more of an aroma hop?
The ferment kicked off nicely and I kept it cool by setting it in a tray of water. I was shooting for 6% but I'll never know because the hydrometer was too tall for my vessel. I am Prob looking at 5% because there was some wort left over and my lhbs was out of glass 3's.
My instinct is to go for continuous / batch hybrid with maybe a Malo-lacto secondary to knock out some of those tannins people are always complaining about. But I'm sure I am making things too complicated for a newb like myself.

You are over thinking things. Can't blame you though, I was the same way when I first started. Think really simple, like just 2 row and crystal malt and 1 or 2 different hops simple. You have to get to know your ingredients before you can start thinking how to make a beer out of them.

Get a hydrometer tube so you can pull out a small sample. If you clean and sanitize properly you can just pour the sample back into the beer. That's what I've always done, I'm a small batch brewer too.

Cascade has mild bittering power. I wouldn't use it by itself to bitter an IPA but it should do just fine with an APA.

forget about the lacto idea. You're overthinking things. Tannins have more to do with how you handle the grain and I'm not sure you can get them out once they're in, but I could be wrong on that.

 

[ElJefeBrews]

I tasted some of the flat leftover wart from the fridge. It had IPA hop action that over powered the malty sweet finish. Plus are you ever supposed to boil cascade's or are they more of an aroma hop?
The ferment kicked off nicely and I kept it cool by setting it in a tray of water. I was shooting for 6% but I'll never know because the hydrometer was too tall for my vessel. I am Prob looking at 5% because there was some wort left over and my lhbs was out of glass 3's.
My instinct is to go for continuous / batch hybrid with maybe a Malo-lacto secondary to knock out some of those tannins people are always complaining about. But I'm sure I am making things too complicated for a newb like myself.

You are over thinking things. Can't blame you though, I was the same way when I first started. Think really simple, like just 2 row and crystal malt and 1 or 2 different hops simple. You have to get to know your ingredients before you can start thinking how to make a beer out of them.

Get a hydrometer tube so you can pull out a small sample. If you clean and sanitize properly you can just pour the sample back into the beer. That's what I've always done, I'm a small batch brewer too.

Cascade has mild bittering power. I wouldn't use it by itself to bitter an IPA but it should do just fine with an APA. But they are great for flavor and Aroma.

forget about the lacto idea. You're overthinking things. Tannins have more to do with how you handle the grain and I'm not sure you can get them out once they're in, but I could be wrong on that.

 

[ElJefeBrews]

I tasted some of the flat leftover wart from the fridge. It had IPA hop action that over powered the malty sweet finish. Plus are you ever supposed to boil cascade's or are they more of an aroma hop?
The ferment kicked off nicely and I kept it cool by setting it in a tray of water. I was shooting for 6% but I'll never know because the hydrometer was too tall for my vessel. I am Prob looking at 5% because there was some wort left over and my lhbs was out of glass 3's.
My instinct is to go for continuous / batch hybrid with maybe a Malo-lacto secondary to knock out some of those tannins people are always complaining about. But I'm sure I am making things too complicated for a newb like myself.

You are over thinking things. Can't blame you though, I was the same way when I first started. Think really simple, like just 2 row and crystal malt and 1 or 2 different hops simple. You have to get to know your ingredients before you can start thinking how to make a beer out of them. SMaSh beers are great for learning what ingredients do.

Get a hydrometer tube so you can pull out a small sample. If you clean and sanitize properly you can just pour the sample back into the beer. That's what I've always done, I'm a small batch brewer too.

Cascade has mild bittering power. I wouldn't use it by itself to bitter an IPA but it should do just fine with an APA. But they are great for flavor and Aroma.

forget about the lacto idea. You're overthinking things. Tannins have more to do with how you handle the grain and I'm not sure you can get them out once they're in, but I could be wrong on that.

 

[worianxun]

I would let the two beers ferment separately and mix them at bottling

 

[MrFancyPlants]

All right, at least two votes for fermenting separately and blending at bottling. I am going to listen to you and do as you suggest. I completely agree that I need to get the basics down before I start trying a ton of new things. I do have a few follow up questions.
What is the down side of having a two stage or more fermentation? Figuring out the proper amount of aeration for the new wort? Increased chance of infection? Has anyone tried and had good or bad results?
Would the hop character mellow out over time at all? It is interesting that I get a lot of bitterness up front and an overpowering finish, but it seems like something is missing in the middle.
I do get why the LHBS staff recommended starting out with extract as that would have saved me about 4 hours Maybe for the next batch I use the rest of grain and extend it with some extract up to four gallons, use a small amount of bittering hops and blend that with my .75 at bottling.

Thanks for holding my hand through this annoying newb phase.

 

[ElJefeBrews]

All right, at least two votes for fermenting separately and blending at bottling. I am going to listen to you and do as you suggest. I completely agree that I need to get the basics down before I start trying a ton of new things. I do have a few follow up questions.
What is the down side of having a two stage or more fermentation? Figuring out the proper amount of aeration for the new wort? Increased chance of infection? Has anyone tried and had good or bad results?
Would the hop character mellow out over time at all? It is interesting that I get a lot of bitterness up front and an overpowering finish, but it seems like something is missing in the middle.
I do get why the LHBS staff recommended starting out with extract as that would have saved me about 4 hours Maybe for the next batch I use the rest of grain and extend it with some extract up to four gallons, use a small amount of bittering hops and blend that with my .75 at bottling.

Thanks for holding my hand through this annoying newb phase.

By 2 stage fermentation do you mean fermenting the first beer, brewing another beer and pouring it into the first beer? I guess you COULD do that but you might stress the yeast, I'm just not sure. DO NOT aerate at this point. Once it's fermented, adding oxygen will oxidize it, not aerate, and your beer will taste like wet paper.

You're getting a lot of bitterness up front because you overdid the bittering hops. I've noticed bitterness takes longer to fade than flavor and Aroma. Maybe you could try brewing an unhopped wort (boil it to sanitize it though) and fermenting that, then add those 2 together at bottling. That might neutralize the bitterness and it will be an interesting experiment.

I also started all grain and it was a huge learning curve. Now I always recommend starting with extract. We've all been that newbie overwhelmed with all the possibilities. That's why we're here to help.