Funky Doppelbock Sludge - What have I done?

[TimelessCynic]

So I decided to try and recreate the best and most technically challenging beer i have ever made. A doppel bock that I brewed on Christmas Eve and tapped on May 24th. It was so absolutely lovely in all regards that i brewed it again yesterday. For some reason i have a very thick sludge like wort now fermenting in my Carboy. I followed my original steps as close as my memory and records would allow.

I doughed in the night before at 105F (should have been 95 but I missed the mark - culprit?)

The following day i added near boiling water with each infusion and rested for 30 minutes each time. I mixed the mash quickly at each infusion to avoid hot spots. I did notice a slightly sour smell that was not present the previous time i made this beer. When I tastes the wort the sour taste was prevelant but not entirely off putting.

The infusion schedule was as follows and i hit my temps.

113
122
149
162

When draining my mash it got stuck frequently so i stirred around the braided hose i use for a filter to get the mash through and into my kettle.

Sparged near 168.

Boiled it, cooled it and now it is thick like motor oil.

Ive never dumped a beer. I want to with this one as I cannot see how fermenting it will make it any thinner, like normal beer.

I used 16 pounds of grain and my OG was 1.073 around 70% effeciency.

Any ideas? I'm overly upset about my recent and first failure with homebrewing.

Thanks






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[giraffe]

if you dough in over-night in the summertime, you are likely to get lactic fermentation of the grain. It will sour, and the sourness will carry over. (the bacteria, of course, will be dead and it wont sour more)

But the sludge doesnt make sense, if you read 1.073, your gravity is 1.073, that should be its "thickness". Sometimes high gravity (though usually talking 1.100 not 1.070) worts look viscous, and will ferment out.

And I have never had a all barley mash stick.... was your grind overly flour-y? Did you get good hot and cold breaks?

 

[TimelessCynic]

Yes. I grind very fine. It's always been ok in the past. Never had a stuck mash either. My hot and cold break is always good.

I'm confused. I guess in a couple of weeks I'll know if it will thin out to normal levels.

Thanks for the comments.


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[VladOfTrub]

Resting mash over night in a temp band that makes lactobacillus happy isn't a good idea. Mash pH was low due to lacto. If pre-mash is part of the schedule, mash is rested at a temp below the point where bacteria and enzymatic action kick in. Pre-mashing is more so for the decoction process. The soaking softens the husk so that when the decoction is boiled, starch that is stuck in the tips of the husk enter into solution more easily. The husk partially de-aerates during soaking. The action helps to form the filter bed when fly sparge is used. Before the advent of sour malt a brewer would take a small percentage of malt and rest it at blood temp until it began to sour. The mash would be added into the main mash to adjust pH.

Why the wort is like motor oil might have something to do with viscosity. It might be tied into the stuck sparge. A high viscosity mash that has jelled and that is loaded with protein gum is tough to sparge. When a proteolytic rest is part of the process, protein mud forms on top of the filter bed. When the mash is stirred up during sparging, protein mud is washed into the wort. Where it has to be dealt with later on in the process.

What is accomplished during the 113F rest?

Since, you have to boil water for infusions, why not try a tri-decoction? Boiling mash or boiling water, what's the difference? That way, you can play around with conversion temps in the decoctions as well as in the main mash.

It's too bad there's a slight sour taste. Did the wort taste odd in any other way? Ferment it out. If it tastes funky, instead of calling it a Doppelbock, call it something Belgian.

 

[TimelessCynic]

Lol. Call it belgian! I can't drink that sour stuff. May just toss it. But I will wait and see.

Your questions are good and I have no real answers other than this is how i did it the first time with awesome results and I was following something i read online.

I decoct most of my beers. I am a big fan of the process.

If this beer comes out wierd after the ferment i will remake it without doughing in the night before and with a standard triple decoct.


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