Imperial IPA

[wesasmith]

Hey HBT,
I got a quick question.

So our second homebrew batch hit the two week mark in the primary fermenter. I took a Hydrometer reading and was suprised to see that the hydro was still reading 1.030, the OG was 1.071.

My brother and I are planning on racking to a second fermenter, and pitching more yeast . Does this sound like a suitable solution?

One more question
did not make a yeast starter. Reasoning, we didn't know to / plan for it. I assume the starter would have helped with the higher gravity.

Any input is much appreciated.

 

[Bierliebhaber]

Lets start with the grain bill, the yeast used, temp you pitched at, and the temp it fermented at. These will give everyone a little more to go on to help you out.

 

[wesasmith]

Grain bill
10lb great western 2 row pale
2lb crystal 20
1lb Munich malt

Yeast
White Labs, California yeast.

Pitched at 69degrees

Fermenting temp was around 65-70 degrees. Weather in northern California has been around 65-75 over the past couple of weeks. Kept the carboy in my closet.

 

[AT-JeffT]

How many cells did you pitch? One vial or did you make a starter?

 

[wesasmith]

We only pitched a vial, no starter. A mistake I plan on not repeating.

 

[Bierliebhaber]

Sorry, mash temp?

 

[wesasmith]

My apologies, we mashed at 153, for 60 minutes, and fly sparged at 170-175.

 

[Bierliebhaber]

Well, that's a lot of crystal for a 5gal batch. Other than that, it looks like the primary culprit for your high FG is a low pitch rate, like you already surmised.

I would suggest just racking onto rehydrated dry yeast. It's much cheaper than making a starter with liquid yeast. You may find dry yeast from $1-3. The other option is to rack the beer to a secondary. Use some DME to make 1-2qts of 1.030-1.040 wort and reactivate the remaining yeast cake in the primary. Add the reactivated yeast to the beer in secondary. 3oz in 1qt or 6 oz of DME in 2qts should do the trick.

 

[wesasmith]

Well, that's a lot of crystal for a 5gal batch. Other than that, it looks like the primary culprit for your high FG is a low pitch rate, like you already surmised.

I would suggest just racking onto rehydrated dry yeast. It's much cheaper than making a starter with liquid yeast. You may find dry yeast from $1-3. The other option is to rack to a secondary. Use some DME to make 1-2qts of 1.030-1.040 wort and reactivate the remaining yeast cake. Add the reactivated yeast to the beer in secondary. 3oz in 1qt or 6 oz of DME in 2qts should do the trick.

Thanks Bierliebhaber,

For future reference, how much crystal malt do you recommend for a 5 gallon batch?

 

[Bierliebhaber]

Thanks Bierliebhaber,

For future reference, how much crystal malt do you recommend for a 5 gallon batch?

As a rule of thumb, for most beers I try not to go over 1# per 5gal. It starts getting too sweet beyond that. You probably could have dropped the crystal to 1/2 lb and raised the Munich to 2-3 lbs. It's not the exact same flavor, but you'll get the malty sweetness without sacrificing fermentability.

I just brewed an IIPA yesterday and the grain bill looked like this for 6gal:

14lbs Pale malt
3lbs German Munich
.5lb C-60 Patagonia
1.5 oz Brit Choc
1lb malt extract to boost OG

 

[heckels]

I don't particularly agree with nor more than a lb per 5 gallon batch. It's all dependent grain bill, style, etc.

What you hear as a rule of thumb in most circles is to not exceed 15% of the grain bill. In your 13lb grain bill above, 2 lbs is just over 15%.

For me personally, I use between 15-18% crystal on my IPA and IIPA recipes depending on the hopping. If you're going after 90 IBU you can use some extra crystal to leave some residual sweetness to balance the hop bitterness.

Ultimately, it comes down to your personal preference.

 

[IL1kebeer]

Good advice on a high amount of crystal leading to a sweeter beer and FG, however; no one addressed why your FG would be higher with a large amount of crystal.

To the OP: if you didn't already know, the sugars in crystal malt and roasted malts are unfermentable. This means that they will raise your FG since these particular sugars won't be touched by the yeast. As a result, having a grainbill with large amount of crystal and/or roasted malts will usually mean a higher FG and a sweeter beer (as others have already addressed).

That being said, 2lbs of crystal won't give you a 1.030 FG beer, even with a mash temp of 153, so you likely have a stalled fermentation due to your pitch rate and subsequent yeast health. The unfermentables just make the number look worse.

Pitch rates and yeast health are extra important with higher FG beers, along with proper oxygenation. Beers above 1.070 tend to stall if you have a poor fermentation, at least that's what I've read and heard from others' experiences. I've always used a starter for my big beers and never had any issues. If you aren't equipped to make a starter then you can pitch more vials or use dry yeast.

 

[wesasmith]

Good advice on a high amount of crystal leading to a sweeter beer and FG, however; no one addressed why your FG would be higher with a large amount of crystal.

To the OP: if you didn't already know, the sugars in crystal malt and roasted malts are unfermentable. This means that they will raise your FG since these particular sugars won't be touched by the yeast. As a result, having a grainbill with large amount of crystal and/or roasted malts will usually mean a higher FG and a sweeter beer (as others have already addressed).

That being said, 2lbs of crystal won't give you a 1.030 FG beer, even with a mash temp of 153, so you likely have a stalled fermentation due to your pitch rate and subsequent yeast health. The unfermentables just make the number look worse.

Pitch rates and yeast health are extra important with higher FG beers, along with proper oxygenation. Beers above 1.070 tend to stall if you have a poor fermentation, at least that's what I've read and heard from others' experiences. I've always used a starter for my big beers and never had any issues. If you aren't equipped to make a starter then you can pitch more vials or use dry yeast.

For my latest batch, I purchased everything needed to make a starter. And I plan on making a starter for my higher gravity beers going forward.

I plan on later today buying another vial today.Do You recommend making another starter for this pitch. I ask because my gravity is drastically lower then my OG.

 

[IL1kebeer]

For my latest batch, I purchased everything needed to make a starter. And I plan on making a starter for my higher gravity beers going forward. I plan on later today buying another vial today.Do You recommend making another starter for this pitch. I ask because my gravity is drastically lower then my OG.

Pitching your second pitch at high krausen is definitely the best route to go, since the yeast are awake and active and will chomp through your wort immediately. I would pitch a vial in a pint starter and pitch that starter after 12 hours.

 

[wesasmith]

Pitching your second pitch at high krausen is definitely the best route to go, since the yeast are awake and active and will chomp through your wort immediately. I would pitch a vial in a pint starter and pitch that starter after 12 hours.

OK,
Should I rack to a bottle bucket, clean/sanitize my carboy out, then add wort and yeast? Or just pitch the starter after 12hours?

 

[IL1kebeer]

OK, Should I rack to a bottle bucket, clean/sanitize my carboy out, then add wort and yeast? Or just pitch the starter after 12hours?

Pitch the starter from the flask (or other starter vessel) directly to your carboy with your wort still in it. You do not need to move around your wort or rack anything.

 

[wesasmith]

Pitch the starter from the flask (or other starter vessel) directly to your carboy with your wort still in it. You do not need to move around your wort or rack anything.

Went ahead and made the yeast starter and will pitch in 12hrs.
Thanks for the input fellas.

One question,
My local homebrew store recommend possibly heating the batch, to stir the yeast up. How would one go about doing a this?

 

[FRS]

To the OP: if you didn't already know, the sugars in crystal malt and roasted malts are unfermentable....

Just a minor clarification, crystal malts are about 35-60% fermentable, with the darker roasts being less fermentable. See this thread for details:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/testing-fermentability-crystal-malt-208361/

 

[IL1kebeer]

Just a minor clarification, crystal malts are about 35-60% fermentable, with the darker roasts being less fermentable. See this thread for details: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/testing-fermentability-crystal-malt-208361/

Thanks for the correction and the link.