First Timer Question

[AdamNYR]

I've attempted my first brew and have been reading these forums for the last two weeks (right after I got the wort into the fermenter). I wish I had read the boards earlier, you all have invaluable advice--thank you.

My question is this: I tried to brew the Brooklyn Brew Shop Everyday IPA (1 gal). Like I said, this is my first go at it. When I was mashing out, I had a fear that the mash was too hot (it's an all grain kit) but I was using a crappy thermometer and couldn't tell. My blow off tube showed a little bit of activity for three days before I put the air lock on, then there were no visible signs. After reading many of the posts here, I convinced myself not to worry -- an active airlock is not indicative of fermentation -- just check the hydrometer reading. Only problem is, my kit didn't come with a hydrometer. I recently bought one (and upgraded my thermometer).

It's now been 2 weeks since I put the air lock on (which was after three days with a blow off setup). I took a hydrometer reading and, adjusting for temperature changes, it came out to 1.030. According to the BBS recipe, I should be bottling today, but I generally like my beer to be stronger than cough syrup. The yeast I used was Fermentis Safale US-05, and the ambient temperature in my closet has been between 63 and 70 degrees F (I live in NYC and unfortunately don't have much control over the temperature in my apartment).

I am lost as to what I should do -- leave it be for another week, pitch more yeast, or dump the brew (maybe I screwed it up by having the mash temp too high). Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

 

[SilverZero]

If you mashed too high, you probably ended up with a larger ratio of unfermentable sugars, which will leave you with a lot of body but not a lot of alcohol. Mashing at 148-152 is where you get the big-time conversion to simple sugars (yeast food), high 150s is where you get the more complex sugars that don't get digested and give you the body and such. IMHO, IPAs should be mashed low to get lots of fermentables, so it dries out nicely. You don't need a lot of body as the style calls for the hop flavors more than the malt.

Pitching more yeast won't help, as there's no more sugar for it to eat. Dumping it would be foolish. Take hydrometer readings for 3 days in a row, and if it's stable, bottle it and see how it tastes in 3 weeks.

 

[FensterBos]

You're definitely ambitious to brew an all-grain batch for your first batch.
I would say that temperature would have been your problem, but US-05 is good in the 59 to 72 F range.
Do you have an idea as to what your Original Gravity should have been?
You can try giving the beer a swirling in hopes that the yeast will find more sugar and reinitialize fermentation. I could assume that your mash temps. was too high and you made a malty beer (i.e. unfermentable sugar), but I even think 1.030 is kind of high.

 

[GallonJugs]

I had the exact same kit as you, and just bottled it this past weekend. Their kit has the terrible advice to mash uncovered, so it's really hard to maintain temps. At one point my mash got way hotter than it should have too. I don't have a hydrometer, so I don't know how much alcohol I ended up with, but I tasted some as I was bottling, and it was really delicious. No, it's not perfect, but it's a first try, and my next batch will be better. When you do bottle it, you might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[FensterBos]

Yeah, but if he bottles it and it isn't done fermenting he might get bottle bombs. Personally, I always stray on the side of caution. I would try seeing if you can get more fermentation out of the wort by swirling it with the airlock still on and seeing if you can get that gravity lower. Was the original gravity suppose to be 1.100+? I could see the FG being that high if so, but I don't know if a FG of 1.030 is common in a regular IPA, even with a high temp. mash.
Can anyone help clear this up?

 

[GallonJugs]

Yeah, but if he bottles it and it isn't done fermenting he might get bottle bombs. Personally, I always stray on the side of caution.

I agree, no harm in being cautious, just saying not to write off the batch just yet

 

[AdamNYR]

Thanks for the input guys. I guess I'll ride this one out--it did smell pretty good. Spun the wort around a bit and hopefully that'll kick start anything remaining to be fermented. I'm not sure what the OG was supposed to be, but the recipe says that it's supposed to be 6.8% ABV

Gallon -- you're right, I'm definitely covering next time. It was next to impossible to keep the temp within range; I kept running back and forth between the burner and the window because it was so erratic. The piece of garbage thermometer didn't help matters. Live and learn.