First Brew Angst

[Hopping4Hops]

Did my first brew yesterday. Came up with the recipe myself after discussing it with my local supplier. Partial mash and partial boil. Mash did OK I think, preboil gravity was 1.045 (temperature corrected). Boil volume was 9L (2.3 gal) initially that finished at 4.5L (1.18 gal). Then I added 1kg (2.2 lbs) of extra light DME and topped with preboiled 5°C (41 F) water to a final volume of 10L (2.6 gal). OG 18.8 Brix which I believe translates to 1.074. I used MJ's m44 yeast rehydrated as per manufacture's instructions at 30°C and pitched in a 21°C (70F) wort. First of all I am quite disappointed over the final volume, I wasn't expecting such a great loss during boiling. The second, but most important thing that worries me is that the temperature now is 16°C (60 F). Do you think the fermentation will start at such a temp? I had an idea that I don't know if I should follow through. Since I have quite a high OG and low volume, I could boil 1-2 L (.2-.5 gal) of water and add it to the fermentor once it has cooled down to raise both the volume and the temp a bit. What do you think about that?

 

[balrog]

The website says it's range is 18-23°C so you are at the low end and it may be slow but it won't keep it from starting. You definitely want to test your boil off rate to know what your process is and what to expect, but now you have at least one data point. I would not add water at this point, the fermentation is likely already started and it would be difficult to add without introducing oxygen. And while you may raise the temp (and lower the OG a bit) the temp will come back to ambient pretty quick. I'd let it ride.

 

[Hopping4Hops]

I was thinking that since it has such a high gravity, maybe it would benefit from the extra oxygen (I am also thinking about giving it a second oxygenation even). Plus if I kickstarted the fermentation by raising the temp a bit, then the fermentation itself would raise the brew temp so ambient would only keep it from raising too much.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

in the future try and add top up water as soon as possible after (or before) you pitch, i sometimes have to add a half gallon of water if my boil was too vigorous and I didn't get my target 5.5 gallons into the fermenter.

 

[flars]

I was thinking that since it has such a high gravity, maybe it would benefit from the extra oxygen (I am also thinking about giving it a second oxygenation even). Plus if I kickstarted the fermentation by raising the temp a bit, then the fermentation itself would raise the brew temp so ambient would only keep it from raising too much.

You're still in the not so high gravity range. You won't need a second round of oxygen.

I use a water bath with an aquarium heater controlled by a STC-1000 to raise the temperature of the fermenting beer when necessary.

 

[Hopping4Hops]

I had an STC1000, however I failed to install it properly and now I think I have broken it. I pinched the yeast 22 hours ago and still no signs of fermentation. Temp on the bucket is 17C I think. Another thing that worries me now is that I while the supplier calculated the IBU on the low side for the style, specifically 40, every calculator I used just now came up with some extremely high scores. For a 10L (2.6 gal) batch of preboil SG 1.045 I used:
20g 15.5% Bravo 60'
30g 13.5% Citra 10'
25g 10.5% Hallerbrau Blanc+25g 6% Ahtanum + 10g Citra On Blowout
+10g 7% Sterling I had lying around at 60' to boost bitterness, since he told me the IBUs were low

 

[RM-MN]

I just pitched dry yeast directly onto the foam from dumping my wort into a bucket fermenter. No starter, no rehydration, and the wort was chilled to 53F. I expect it to take 36 to 48 hours to make bubbles in the airlock since it is sitting in a room that is about 60F. No worries, cool starts are slower and cleaner than warm starts.

 

[deadwolfbones]

Yeah.. that's a lot of hops.