first AG BIAB done, some questions

[jrodder]

So I decided to do the BM Centennial Blonde. Everything went well I believe. Hit all my numbers, OG of 1.042. Mash was a bit off though, due to a couple of reasons. I never did it before with wrapping the keggle. I got the strike water to temp and mashed, but got worried when it fell below 150, so added heat, and it went to 156, you know the deal... To make it worse, I had not realized until boil time that my blichman thermometer was 2 degrees off. I was boiling at 208, instead of 210.

So, I pitched on Sunday night and it's now Friday morning. last two days the gravity has been at 1.016. I was hoping to get it down more, otherwise it's a pretty weak beer. Could it be finished due to my higher mash temps? I tried stirring it a bit now to rouse the yeast, maybe get it down a point or two at least.

If nothing else, I learned a bit. Tasted the wort, tastes very grainy. Not bad mind you, just not really all that flavorful. I am guessing its just early and not carbed, the flavor profile must change after yeast is done cleaning up.

 

[mb82]

Give it time. Less then a week old beer is never going to taste right. I'd wait at least another week and a half then test the FG. But that is me and how I brew.

 

[jrodder]

Yeah I figured as much. I used s-04, and it usually finishes pretty darn quick. I feel silly for not calibrating a new thermometer before using it in the fist brew, heh.

 

[bobeer]

I use sa-04 and 05 a lot. Mine usually finishes in about 2 weeks. The actual fermentation is probably done in half that time but I like to give the yeast time to clean up and for everything to settle. Once you bottle and let it condition that grainy taste should mellow out some.
The FG might be higher due to less fermentable sugars from the mash temp but I don't remember what temps give you more/less fermentable sugars off the top of my head. I've seen a graphic or chart around the forum somewhere that has more/less fermentable sugars vs mash temps. I'll see if I can find it and shoot it over. Regardless of your gravities I'm sure you'll find some way to choke down your blonde ale!
I made a rye pale ale a couple months ago and missed my OG by a lot. The beer didn't turn out as I expected but with time it's gotten a little better. I used some of it to steam up some blue crabs a few weeks ago and it was an awesome use for it! Good luck!

 

[tre9er]

Your probably tasting yeast. When it's still in suspension it has a bready, grainy, nutty taste almost. I taste it in young beer a lot. Carbonation and settling change a beer quite a bit.

 

[JohnSand]

Here's to your first AG!
I did my first last week, made some mistakes too. But learning is fun, and it will be beer.

 

[Setesh]

Your probably tasting yeast. When it's still in suspension it has a bready, grainy, nutty taste almost. I taste it in young beer a lot. Carbonation and settling change a beer quite a bit.

I've been brewing session beers lately (brewed this recipe twice in last few months) and I agree with tre9er. In the smaller lighter flavored beers the yeast makes a huge impact to the flavor. That and temperature are huge reasons that samples always taste different than the packaged product. Gelatin and cold crashing will do wonders to get yeast to settle out, and time in the bottle will do it too. If I take the time to cold crash before I keg I will only pull about 1/4 glass of cloudy beer off the first tap of a new keg. If I don't I will pull 2/3 glass of yeasty beer.

 

[jrodder]

Cool. This is my first session beer, as well as the first AG. I usually cold crash, so that should do it. Looks like I am finished at 1.016 though, that's a bummer. I think it had to do with the mash temps. I recalibrated the thermometer to read boiling temp proper, it was 2 degrees off. That, coupled with my inability to just let the grains sit in the insulated strike water, left me with some unfermentables I think. It's still beer!