DFH 120 minute clone

[bottlebomber]

finish at 1.038

*shudder*

 

[beerman0001]

Scottland where you happy with your dry hopping? I have the 10# of sugar in and have left it alone for 2 days now going to check sg tomorrow (damn thing still eating) will be finishing around 1.018 or so.

 

[scottland]

Awesome job on the ferment, and yes, I was pretty satisfied with the hop aroma. It's really hard to get hop aroma into a beer like this, but I don't feel that more hops would have helped.

 

[beerman0001]

Thanks for the all the great info going to let it relax for a few weeks then get onto the dry hoping.

 

[one8tvw]

how were you adding your sugar? pulling a sample to read gravity, then mix sugar in sample and toss it back in.

 

[beerman0001]

I added the sugar right to the fermenter nice easy stir with a whisk.

 

[one8tvw]

I added the sugar right to the fermenter nice easy stir with a whisk.

i dont have bucket fermenters so that might be a little hard for me, but i can always stir a carboy with my brew spoon held upside down

 

[beerman0001]

i dont have bucket fermenters so that might be a little hard for me, but i can always stir a carboy with my brew spoon held upside down

Then pull out enough to be able to stir the sugar into then pitch back in.

 

[beerman0001]

Ck the sg today and it has gone down to 1.012 my og was 1.096 + .076for the 10# of sugar for a total og of 1.172. Should I add some more sugar to bring up the fg??

 

[bottlebomber]

Ck the sg today and it has gone down to 1.012 my og was 1.096 + .076for the 10# of sugar for a total og of 1.172. Should I add some more sugar to bring up the fg??

Daaaaamn. At this point you have to wonder how much further it can go. I'd be pretty happy with that though.

 

[beerman0001]

I'm not sure if I should be happy or not.. Guess I will know in a few months. I do like my IPAS to finish in the 1.010 to 1.014 range though. The damn yeast would not stop eating.

 

[scottland]

I think you're fine. Taste it to see, but I doubt you'll wish it was sweeter. Awesome result!!

 

[Brad1775]

I hope I was pulli g numbers out of my ass, 1.038 IS terrifyingly sweet. I on e messed up a dunkleweizen that ended at 1.028, I hated it. to reiterate, my OG was 1.000, I think, maybe higher, then American II (1272) until gravity was at 1.050, I think (scientist my ass.... I'm trying to be an alchemist) and added 5 lbs sugars so far... it's gotten up to 1.060 as of yesterday, and I think I'm done adding sugar. I think my gravity started too high, and I didn't let it get low enough, but it's still bubbling away, I think I'm good. I added sugar dry to fermenter, and gave a few quick turns of the bucket to ensure the previous additions were fully mixed. I added large grain demarara sugar as well, it sinks a bunch, I figured it might pool in the bottom

 

[pennisim]

Just stopped adding sugar to mine before I went away for a week for Christmas. Starting volume range used to calc gravity from sugar. Started with 1.092 og.
added 16lb sugar

OG now: (11gal): 1.1589
OG now: (10.5gal): 1.162

so thats 1.017 fg

11gal: 18.64-22.46% (depending on formula)
10.5gal: 19.03-23.05%

 

[Brad1775]

I am curious about your number pennisim; I calculated mine to be about 1.100 og, but I checked and it was 1.112, dunnoo.... but my real question is "Did you measure the final gravity with a hydrometer? I have a reading of 1.060 right now, at a month, kept the level below 1.065, stopped once it started to rise above 1.058. I don't think my yeast is dead, this just might take a while, but, due to problems/setbacks, I can only guess at my original gravity and final gravity. the hopville calulator says I should expect it to get down to 1.034, I hope so, but I have no idea if I calculated right.... I had 4 gallons at start of fermentation, after having topped off a 3.5 gallon boil to 5 gallons, while using 17.5 lbs light pilsen lme, and 1 lbs amber DME (spilled 1 gallon on day 3, yet, my volume is back to 5 gallons after only 7 pounds of sugar additions. I am "in over my head" and wish there were a few dogfish head sharks circling to let me know what's up.....

 

[Brad1775]

I am drinking DFH 120 minute right now, so, obviously my spelling and grammmer is off. *drunk*, and I only have 32 posts. man. what will I be up to by the time I have 200 posts.

 

[beerman0001]

SO you are at 1.060. Is the gravity dropping at all?

 

[Brad1775]

slowly yes, by my calculations it's 15% away from finished at about 15%, I added some DAP, and areated. it's 4 weeks into fermenting. I had added 5 pounds of sugar out of the intended 6. I could keep going, but I don't think it's a good idea. then again, I coudl rack to secondary off the yeast, and make a starter of trappist high gravity again.

 

[beerman0001]

I would recommend WLP099. That is what others have used with great success it can take your beer up to 25%. Are you looking to use to Trappist for the flavor profile?

 

[Brad1775]

sort of, mostly my LHBS doesn't carry wlp099, I wanted to use that. Also, I have used trappist high gravity before, it's a good yeast, I like how it tastses when added to california or american ale, just never tried something THIS big before. I might add champagne yeast later, but for now, I am goign to give it a week or two, then to secondary, and if it doesn't taste good in a month or 2, I'm going to have to add WLP099 or just distillers yeast. also lots of hash.

 

[bottlebomber]

also lots of hash.

Pothead...

 

[beerman0001]

sort of, mostly my LHBS doesn't carry wlp099, I wanted to use that. Also, I have used trappist high gravity before, it's a good yeast, I like how it tastses when added to california or american ale, just never tried something THIS big before. I might add champagne yeast later, but for now, I am goign to give it a week or two, then to secondary, and if it doesn't taste good in a month or 2, I'm going to have to add WLP099 or just distillers yeast. also lots of hash.

I think you need to be more proactive then you current train of thought. Right now you have some very hoppy syrup.

 

[Brad1775]

OK!!!! so... Uh. I went and did some brewing today, and then, since I was in the mood I went to check on the beer again. So, it turns out, that when I was worried earlier about not having dissolved all the demarara sugar that was in large grain form... I was on the right track. Today, it appears that active fermentation has re-started, I had added DAP and stirred a HECK of a lot yesterday. The temps are at 70-72 degrees in the fermentation bucket, and when I checked today, the gravity had gone UP to 1.070 from 1.065, meaning more sugar has dissolved due to aggitation... though it strikes me that I had been adding 1.005 ppg for each addition, and then agitiating at the next addition to ensure even soluability . I believe there was a layer of sugar at the bottom of the bucket, one which never really did anything but piss off my yeast cake. D'oh.

So, yeah, I want to get it below 1.025 in the end, I did some taste tests, and it seems like that is where the current release of DFH 120 minute bottles is at.

Tl: DR : I added large grain sugars dry, and they didn't dissolve until I agitated at 4 weeks, 1 week after I stopped sugar additions. I hope to get it down to 1.025, and will be happy with anything over 15%.

 

[donjonson]

Pothead...

What is hash?

 

[bja]

What is hash?

Corned beef and potatoes.

 

[bottlebomber]

What is hash?

Google it

Corned beef and potatoes.

I don't see that being good in a beer

 

[bja]

I don't see that being good in a beer

I dunno, I hear bacon beer is good.

 

[Brad1775]

Awwwwww. well... so, I had a sad day today, and now I am writing in angst, and frustration. I opened the beer up to take abv measurements, and there was a bad smell going on.... and then I realized something. I just hit 12.5 ABV last week, and maybe the american II was drying off... so I cleaned and sterilized everything, put on a hair net (my hair is getting crazy, 8" long.. .I'm a "long hair" I guess you'd say), and went to transfering the beer to a CO2 purged secondary. I doubt the beer is very happy with me, but I took it off the hop filled trub at the bottom of the bucket, and found a nearly black dying yeast cake. :-( It smells like **** and piss. and some bread.

So, I took a sample of the trub to see what had happened (I am thinking on making a pertri dish smear to see what the preveleance of yeasts in the samples were, both using the 12.5% abv wort, and a 1.040 wort with agar added) also I took another sample to spin up and get a 1 gallon starter going. I am using trappist high gravity yeast, which is top cropping, so the samples I've decanted and pulled off the top shoudl be good for a source of healthy yeast to finish off the fermentation.

I knew this would be a science experiment, but I didn't know what I was getting into!!!!! I MUST be eccentric.

 

[scottland]

Awwwwww. well... so, I had a sad day today, and now I am writing in angst, and frustration.

That's a bummer =( Always a sad day when a beer doesn't turn out right. Extra sad when it's a beer that requires this much time and attention.

 

[bottlebomber]

That's a bummer =( Always a sad day when a beer doesn't turn out right. Extra sad when it's a beer that requires this much time and attention.

Amen. To be honest though, I don't think the 3787 had what it took to make this beer happen. In my experience in using this strain, it gets to a certain attenuation very quickly but then creeeeps through the last leg of the fermentation. I don't think that's a good habit for this type of beer.