first big beer

[kid_ak]

Hi gang--I'm working on my first big-ish beer, AHS Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout (mini-mash). I have a couple questions that I'd appreciate your thoughts on.

OG was 1.09, right on target.

I stepped up to and pitched a 4L starter (WLP001), and fermentation went nicely at about 66-68*F. There was one night when it dropped to 58*, but that was about 8 days in, and I gave it a swirl and warmed it up and fermentation never seemed to lag. About 2.5 weeks in, steady readings at 1.026, a bit higher than the 1.023 target. I did make sure it was steady.

First question--any alarm bells with 1.026 instead of 1.023?

I just racked over to secondary, as I was planning on bulk conditioning this for a while before bottling. I lost a bit more volume to the trub than I expected (so, so much trub!), and there's more headspace than expected.

Second question--Is it too much headspace?

I was planning on keeping it in there for a couple months, maybe bottling in April or early May.

I've taken a snap of the secondary:

(The foam is just StarSan.)

So far it tastes sooooooooooo delicious. Really just hoping it continues on nicely and ages wonderfully.

Thanks all.
AK

 

[PT Ray]

You're golden.

It actually looks like you did pretty good on the terminal gravity. I plan on doing a Dopplebock tomorrow shooting for an O.G. 1.075+ with a terminal gravity in the low 1.020's.

Personally, I would have let that thing go in the primary for about 4 weeks. Or if the primary was a carboy just wait for it to drop clear.

 

[Haputanlas]

Man, I am very excited about trying this recipe. Please post on how it tastes when you are done.

Sorry I'm not contributing, I will wait for the more experienced guys to come in and answer your questions.


Justin

 

[Scotty_g]

90 to 26 isn't too bad, especially if the majority of the fermentables was extract. I would be pleased with that result. I found (which is no surprise to most skilled brewers) that a good rockin' starter makes a big difference as does O2. I've had better luck pitching my starter's cake rather than the whole thing, and doing a 3-day starter with oxygen works much better than a 1-day starter. I've made a clone of Chimay Blue several times, and the most recent batch had the best starter...and the lowest FG. 1.091 down to 1.017.

If you wanted to reduce the trub losses, you could have cold-crashed the primary to settle some of the yeast out. That may slow down how much activity you get in the secondary, but if you're going to give it 3 months there should be plenty of yeasties left.

 

[kid_ak]

Yeah, I had actually meant to let this sit for 4 weeks in the primary, but was moving some stuff around yesterday and, as if in a daze, just started sanitizing and racking. I agree, a bit more time in primary would've been nice.

Thanks for the replies!