Hi all. I'm a relatively inexperienced brewer, but I've brewed a half dozen or so partial mash-in-a-bag batches thanks to DeathBrewer's tutorial (among other helpful posts here). I recently made a holiday spiced ale based on Jamil's Ol' Yule Loggy recipe in Brewing Classic Styles. It's the first high gravity beer I've done. Here's the recipe (FYI, I ferment in Mr. Beers, so my recipes are 2.4-2.5 gallons):
I mashed at 155, +/- about 1 degree for 60 mins. Boil was 90 mins (took out the hops after 70 mins). OG was 1.087.
I pitched my yeast at 68F or so, and it took off like a shot. Too fast, in fact. When I checked the temp that night it was around 70, and by the next morning, it had shot up to 74-75. I finally got the temps under control by the end of the second day, and it's been cruising along at 64-66 ever since. Based on the aggressiveness of the fermentation, I checked the SG at 10 days, and it was 1.027. I checked again after 21 days and it was still 1.027 (I know my OG came in high, but the attenuation was still substantially less than the 78% predicted by the recipe). The hydrometer samples taste fine, as I am going for a sweeter beer with a good amount of mouthfeel.
I generally am pretty good about RDWHAHB-ing; the one thing that really concerns me as a novice brewer is bottle bombs. If the SG is stable for 10 days to a week, should I bottle this batch up and just put the high final gravity down to a learning experience? Or do I need to be worried about this beer getting over-carbed once the priming sugar and slightly warmer temps wake the yeasties up? Should I bring the fermenter up to 70 to see if fermentation starts up again?
Thanks in advance for reading, and for any advice. This site and its contributors are a tremendous resource.
-Adam
Code:
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 3.25 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 2.40 gal
Bottling Volume: 2.15 gal
Estimated OG: 1.080 SG
Estimated FG: 1.017 SG
Estimated Color: 27.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 53.1 IBUs
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 62.7 %
6.1 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 2 6.0 %
3.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.0 %
0.38 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - First Wort 70.0 min Hop 4 43.9 IBUs
0.25 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - First Wort 70.0 min Hop 5 9.3 IBUs
1 lbs 8.0 oz Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 6 23.5 %
0.50 tsp Spice Mix (Boil 1.0 mins) Spice 7 -
5.0 oz Molasses [Boil for 1 min](80.0 SRM) Sugar 8 4.9 %
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 9 -I pitched my yeast at 68F or so, and it took off like a shot. Too fast, in fact. When I checked the temp that night it was around 70, and by the next morning, it had shot up to 74-75. I finally got the temps under control by the end of the second day, and it's been cruising along at 64-66 ever since. Based on the aggressiveness of the fermentation, I checked the SG at 10 days, and it was 1.027. I checked again after 21 days and it was still 1.027 (I know my OG came in high, but the attenuation was still substantially less than the 78% predicted by the recipe). The hydrometer samples taste fine, as I am going for a sweeter beer with a good amount of mouthfeel.
I generally am pretty good about RDWHAHB-ing; the one thing that really concerns me as a novice brewer is bottle bombs. If the SG is stable for 10 days to a week, should I bottle this batch up and just put the high final gravity down to a learning experience? Or do I need to be worried about this beer getting over-carbed once the priming sugar and slightly warmer temps wake the yeasties up? Should I bring the fermenter up to 70 to see if fermentation starts up again?
Thanks in advance for reading, and for any advice. This site and its contributors are a tremendous resource.
-Adam
