Hello, heavy beer, and airlocks

[lgp]

First off, hello. My name's Luke. My wife and I recently decided to pick up homebrewing (me) and homewining (her). I'm on my second batch of brew, and the first is bottled and should be ready to chill this weekend or next. I had a couple of questions for you guys, and searched around but didn't really get full clarity.

1. My first brew was intended to be a scotch ale/milk stout cross. Partial mash with 2 cans of LME, and about 6 pounds of specialty grains. I WAY overheated the mash to the point where the liquid started scorching out and I had to add about twice the liquid I originally intended to get a decent consistency (ended up being about 3qt/lb, but I only extracted half of that). Went to boil and carboy OK other than that. OG was 1.065ish (was expecting closer to 1.080 based on the BrewersFriend calculator), and after about 8 days at 70F, fermentation stopped, and FG was 1.035. Bottled it anyway after about 12 days in primary. Tried a beer after 1 week and it was still every bit as flat as it was when I bottled it.

I'm planning on trying another one this weekend (2 weeks now), but I'm wondering a few things on this one - did overcooking the mash cause the sugars to become indigestible, crashing out the fermentation at 1.035? Or could/would something else have caused that? Also, I'm assuming since secondary fermentation or conditioning in the primary for weeks on end after fermentation finishes is common practice, that no matter what there's always enough yeast in suspension to complete bottle carbonation? I added the right amount of corn sugar, and we'll see, but I was very surprised at the lack of carbonation after 1 week. I figured it'd be more like the primary fermentation, where the bulk of the carbonation happens in the first week?

2. As for my second brew, it's a spiced pumpkin ale, partial mash. I nailed the predicted OG from BrewersFriend (1.062) and the fermentation has been robust, but the last few days the airlock has been bubbling between 1:30 and 0:50, speeding up and slowing down over the course of a day or so. I know that the bubbles don't really mean anything, but the bucket is kept at a steady temperature in a tub with a swamp, and isn't disturbed or anything. Is this normal? My LHBS told me to start checking FG after the bubbles slowed to consistent 2:00+ intervals - is this sound advice?

Thanks in advance!

 

[frydaddy81]

I'm not sure the scorching would have caused the problem; however, with a 1.065, I would definitely try making a starter. The yeast needs to be pumped up a bit before pitching in that gravity.

 

[WrQth]

Stouts or the like take longer to carb naturally like 4-5 weeks and also gives it some time to condition allowing the flavors to meld and mellow.

 

[sfish]

you said: after about 8 days at 70F, fermentation stopped, and FG was 1.035.

What was the antisipated FG? When you tasted it was it sweet?
Are you sure it stopped? Did you take a seocnd reading? 12 days may not be long enough to finish, watch out for bottle bombs

 

[lgp]

I'm not sure the scorching would have caused the problem; however, with a 1.065, I would definitely try making a starter. The yeast needs to be pumped up a bit before pitching in that gravity.

Will not pitching with a starter really cause the yeast to not finish fermenting?

Stouts or the like take longer to carb naturally like 4-5 weeks and also gives it some time to condition allowing the flavors to meld and mellow.

That's good to know, I'll crack another one this weekend and try not to get bummed out. lol

you said: after about 8 days at 70F, fermentation stopped, and FG was 1.035.

What was the antisipated FG? When you tasted it was it sweet?
Are you sure it stopped? Did you take a seocnd reading? 12 days may not be long enough to finish, watch out for bottle bombs

Anticipated FG was 1.024. It was very sweet at 1.035. It's a milk stout, but I only put 1lb of lactose in the boil and it was way too sweet for that, I think. Between LME and grains I had 14lbs of malts. I took three readings between day 8 and day 12, and it stayed at 1.035 the whole time.

 

[frydaddy81]

Will not pitching with a starter really cause the yeast to not finish fermenting?


That's good to know, I'll crack another one this weekend and try not to get bummed out. lol


Anticipated FG was 1.024. It was very sweet at 1.035. It's a milk stout, but I only put 1lb of lactose in the boil and it was way too sweet for that, I think. Between LME and grains I had 14lbs of malts. I took three readings between day 8 and day 12, and it stayed at 1.035 the whole time.

The starter will increase your pitching rate, fire off fermentation faster and allow a longer fermentation to make sure you reach your final gravity. I almost always use a starter now.

 

[Rolsom]

Hello lgp.

I've only been brewing since April, but have made 3 big brews so far, a Belgian dubbel, Scottish wee heavy, and an imperial stout.
When I made the Belgian and the wee heavy I did not have the setup for making a yeast starter but I put in two containers of liquid yeast on both of those, I used two packs of Nottingham dry yeast for my imperial.
From what I understand, the yeast will not do well in high alcohol, and most of the yeast will die, you are counting on a reduced number of yeast cells that can acclimatize to the high alcohol environment.
The yeast strains are also important.

Bigger brews are good to leave in secondary for an extended period of time, it gives the yeast time to work and clean up. Both the belg (1.5 months in secondary)and wee (3 months in secondary) turned out excellent. I'm going to bottle my imperial in the next week or two. I brewed the imperial back in May and was planning on making that my beer for New Years (yes, two months bottle conditioning).
I'm probably going to add another pack of Nottingham to my bottling bucket, I'm not sure how much yeast has survived.

 

[aprichman]

6 pounds of specialty grains? That's WAY too much for a 5 gallon batch. What "specialty grains" did you use? If it's 6 lbs of caramel malts the future isn't looking bright for your first batch.

 

[m00ps]

holy crap yeah. I go by a rule of thumb to stay at 20% or less with specialty grains (which is basically all the crytsal/cara and dark roasted malts). 6lbs in a 5gal batch is going to make beer youd have to chew with your teeth