dleonard
Well-Known Member
So, I just built a single tier brew stand. I treated myself to a hopback and was really excited about it. As my batch, I decided to cast off reason, and max out the system (in terms of grain and hops used). I did an Avery Maharaja Clone.
While I started off trying to brew a 5 gallon batch, I ended up with 3 gallons of beer and trub. Basically, I thought to myself, 'Self, this hopback will act as a filter, so don't worry about dumping 8 ounces of hops directly into your boilpot there is no way things will get clogged.' Anyway, it didn't work, and I clogged up everything I had, Boilermaker, lines on the brewstand, and the wort chiller. So probably 2.5 gallons of real beer. In my exhaustion, I didn't get an O.G. reading...
Anyway, as it stands I moved it out of primary into secondary, and did take a reading. It was 1.040. I know that it did ferment some. Beersmith says that had brewday gone well I should have started with a 1.102. So according to Beersmith if I did start there, and I'm at a 1.040 now then I have 8.15% alcohol. When I tasted my sample it was dank with hops and alcohol.
Now to the question in all of this. Is there anyway to tell what the % really is, post fermenting?
My guess is that these things happened.
I undershot my boil volume on my new system which caused me to be more concentrated.
I boiled for 120 minutes which caused me to be under boil volume further.
I lost some amount more than I thought I would by tossing my hops straight in and not having them in a bag I can let drip out.
I lost some volume after I got the clogs, and had to take things apart.
Because of all of this I ended up with a gravity higher than what BeerSmith predicted, and the yeast I used, London Ale #1028, fermented to 11%, and died, and thats what I have.
Just FYI for those who are interested. Once I racked into secondary, and found the 1.040, I tossed in the 2 ounces of dry hops, and then added a smack pack of Pacman yeast. I tossed it into my fermentation fridge at 50F. So far I've seen nothing happening. I don't think anything will, but hey, who knows.
So I think I have now 2.5 gallons of 11ish% hoppy madness with a dead smack pack of Pacman yeast, and two ounces of dry hops in it.
Thoughts? Ridicule? Taste testing volunteer.
While I started off trying to brew a 5 gallon batch, I ended up with 3 gallons of beer and trub. Basically, I thought to myself, 'Self, this hopback will act as a filter, so don't worry about dumping 8 ounces of hops directly into your boilpot there is no way things will get clogged.' Anyway, it didn't work, and I clogged up everything I had, Boilermaker, lines on the brewstand, and the wort chiller. So probably 2.5 gallons of real beer. In my exhaustion, I didn't get an O.G. reading...
Anyway, as it stands I moved it out of primary into secondary, and did take a reading. It was 1.040. I know that it did ferment some. Beersmith says that had brewday gone well I should have started with a 1.102. So according to Beersmith if I did start there, and I'm at a 1.040 now then I have 8.15% alcohol. When I tasted my sample it was dank with hops and alcohol.
Now to the question in all of this. Is there anyway to tell what the % really is, post fermenting?
My guess is that these things happened.
I undershot my boil volume on my new system which caused me to be more concentrated.
I boiled for 120 minutes which caused me to be under boil volume further.
I lost some amount more than I thought I would by tossing my hops straight in and not having them in a bag I can let drip out.
I lost some volume after I got the clogs, and had to take things apart.
Because of all of this I ended up with a gravity higher than what BeerSmith predicted, and the yeast I used, London Ale #1028, fermented to 11%, and died, and thats what I have.
Just FYI for those who are interested. Once I racked into secondary, and found the 1.040, I tossed in the 2 ounces of dry hops, and then added a smack pack of Pacman yeast. I tossed it into my fermentation fridge at 50F. So far I've seen nothing happening. I don't think anything will, but hey, who knows.
So I think I have now 2.5 gallons of 11ish% hoppy madness with a dead smack pack of Pacman yeast, and two ounces of dry hops in it.
Thoughts? Ridicule? Taste testing volunteer.
