infection? (chocolate stout)

[donjonson]

recipe is listed at the bottom of this post.

backstory:

brew day was good OG was 1.058 (should have been 1.048)

fermentation started in like 3 hours, and stoped in like3 days. hardly any krausen the whole time and it fell back in around day 4. gravity at that time was 1.024:

I let it go for a few more days thinking grav would continue to drop. it did not budge. and a second krausen started to form on the surface. I swirled and turnd temp up to 77. to get it to attenuate. after a week the krausen was quite thick again but the grav did not budge. the krausen looks a little strange and the beer has an sort of hay (or straw) odor? grave is still at 1.024. I did add lactose and a few ounces of dark chocolate during the boil. not sure if that affects the krausen behavior but it bugs me that is gets bigger and bigger yet no fermentation is happening. It makes me think that it might be an infection. beer tasts ok but a little mellower than I might expect. image of krausen is below

Type: All Grain Date: 7/29/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal Brewer: Phil Billoni
Boil Size: 7.63 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Marks BrewHouse
End of Boil Volume 6.50 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal Est Mash Efficiency 75.2 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7 lbs 13.7 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 72.1 %
1 lbs 0.3 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.4 %
1 lbs 0.3 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3 9.4 %
8.0 oz Roasted Barley (Crisp) (695.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.6 %
0.74 oz Northern Brewer [8.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 19.7 IBUs
0.25 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.80 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 2.9 IBUs
1.38 oz chocolate (Boil 15.0 mins) Spice 7 -
8.0 oz Milk Sugar (Lactose) [Boil for 15 min](0.0 SRM) Sugar 8 4.6 %
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 9 -
4.00 oz cocoa powder (Boil 0.0 mins) Spice 10 -
0.75 tsp Vanilla Extract (Boil 0.0 mins) Spice 11 -
1.0 pkg British Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1098) [124.21 ml] Yeast 12 -
0.66 oz Chocolate Extract (Bottling 0.0 mins) Flavor 13 -

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.058 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.3 %
Bitterness: 22.6 IBUs Calories: 192.7 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 41.9 SRM

Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 14.3 oz
Sparge Water: 4.33 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.20

Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 3.40 gal of water at 171.9 F 156.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Add 1.30 gal of water at 205.8 F 168.0 F

 

[donjonson]

the OG was 10 points too high and the FG is 10 points too high. is it possible that the fermentables are all gone? is it possible that I just mashed at too high of a temperature? i know the lactose adds some unfermentable sugar but not 10 points worth. I added 8 oz for a 5 gal batch

 

[donjonson]

Am I beating a dead horse?

 

[dcp27]

the lactose would add about 5 points, so your FG isn't out of the question. was the chocolate you added real chocolate? if so, the oils in that would kill your head retention which is possibly why you never had much of a krausen.

an infection wouldn't form a krausen, just a pellicle. here's a bunch of examples if you need a comparison: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/post-your-infection-71400/

 

[donjonson]

Ok thanks. I knew the chocolate would affect the head retention but I was following a recipe from beersmith cloud that got good reviews. Only a small amount of chocolate was put in. It tastes fine so im going to cold crash, keg and hope for the best

Im thinking that the krausen like stuff on top might be a byproduct of the chocolate or something. Oils or protines that cling to something and floated up. Im not sure.

 

[BluesNBrews]

I had a similar experience with a chocolate stout I now have in secondary. I used about 8 oz. of chocolate in the boil though, but the OG and FG were both higher than I expected, the krausen was very small, looking very similar to the picture in this thread. Fermentation barely lasted 3 days. What disturbs me about mine is that it is very, very cloudy and I didn't realize until after the boil that I had forgot to use a whirlfloc tablet. Besides that, I don't have the experience to know why it's so cloudy, but I will continue on and keg it in a couple of weeks, hoping with time it will clear up. Cheers!

 

[donjonson]

I had a similar experience with a chocolate stout I now have in secondary. I used about 8 oz. of chocolate in the boil though, but the OG and FG were both higher than I expected, the krausen was very small, looking very similar to the picture in this thread. Fermentation barely lasted 3 days. What disturbs me about mine is that it is very, very cloudy and I didn't realize until after the boil that I had forgot to use a whirlfloc tablet. Besides that, I don't have the experience to know why it's so cloudy, but I will continue on and keg it in a couple of weeks, hoping with time it will clear up. Cheers!

Mine turned out great! Don't worry I guess its all normal

 

[BluesNBrews]

Good to hear, I will keep my fingers crossed. Thanks.