Need some expertise (is my beer alcoholic?!)

[IslandLizard]

^ Why didn't you write it like this the first time when you posted it? ^

Much better and more comprehensible, won't you agree?

 

[CascadesBrewer]

It's the Beginners Forum, so we're cutting him a break and trying to help getting him on track and brew beer.

When I look back at my notes on my first few all grain batches (which was probably after 15 or so extract brews and a year into brewing) it is clear that I did not know what the hell I was doing. Once I got into the flow if it, I could brew a standard batch on auto-pilot and lots of things that seemed very confusing just became second nature.

let me try to not confuse you once again.

Good luck on your next batch! Hopefully you learned a lot from this one.

 

[bracconiere]

with such a low FG, you could probably get an estimate of alcohol with a vinometer....their pretty cheap...

i used them when i was trying to make sake, because you don't get a 'OG' reading with it either, but dry rice wine...

 

[IslandLizard]

The original recipe does not mention the use of White Labs London Fog (WLP066). This is the first time you mention it. BTW, it's not a Wyeast product, which DO need to be "smacked," to break the nutrient pod inside, then shaken, etc.

WLP066, London Fog, is a decent alternative for A38 Juice, that's not the problem.

Have you calibrated your thermometer? Does it read 32F in melting ice chips and 210-212F in boiling water? Or close enough?
The glass "floating" thermometers are notoriously slow to respond to temp changes, and can be inaccurate. There are better alternatives. If interested, do a search.

 

[IslandLizard]

(sterilizing equipment while this all happens like my siphon and my airlock etc)

Not to nag you, but have you ordered How to Brew, 4th Ed. yet?

Palmer, in his very eloquent style, explains the difference between clean, sanitary, and sterile. And how to get to these stages. Sterile is very difficult to attain and is only needed in some cases, but sanitary is good enough for most we homebrewers do.

Do you use Starsan? Or some other product?

 

[balrog]

Makes much more sense, thanks. I was hung up on what some words mean to me in how you were describing the process. But with the posted recipe and your specifics of process, it makes much more sense.

Was your final gravity 1.002 or 1.020?
And what does your hydrometer read for clean tap water?

 

[beernutz]

You're coming late to the party, where were you when we needed you?

I know, it's all a bit confusing, we're slowly getting it unraveled.
The OP's phrasing, terminology, process, and/or his process descriptions can use improvement too, so we can actually communicate, using the same (brewer's) language.

It's the Beginners Forum, so we're cutting him a break and trying to help getting him on track and brew beer.

He did post the recipe in his OP:
https://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/moonshine-still-blog/juicy-neipa-new-england-ipa-recipe

From what I gather, as he said, he followed that recipe closely. If so, he would have used Imperial Yeast Ale Juice A38. I posted the specs and gravity predictions of that earlier.

Reading his yeast "dumping" method, he may have left half or more of the yeast in the bottom of the pack. There are instructions printed on the back of each Imperial Ale yeast pack, and their website is very informative. There is no mention of "slapping" the pack, it needs to be shaken and kneaded to get the settled slurry into suspension, before pitching.

When I read your first sentence I thought of that Die Hard line, Welcome to the party pal!

Doh!, I skimmed right over the link to the recipe in the originl post which would have answered both my questions. Thanks for the push in the right direction and I think you have unraveled the mystery of the yeast bag.

 

[IslandLizard]

Welcome to the party pal!

There are not that many movies that withstand the test of time, but that one surely does!
Alan Rickman became a legend there.

The OP posted an updated version of his brewing process, it's become somewhat clearer now what he did.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

I'm not sure how that is supposed to come out at 55IBU (a recipe issue, not a fault of the OP) - all hops are added at 180* or dry hop and they talk about the bitterness from their final dry hop.

 

[IslandLizard]

I'm not sure how that is supposed to come out at 55IBU (a recipe issue, not a fault of the OP) - all hops are added at 180* or dry hop and they talk about the bitterness from their final dry hop.

These guys aren't very good brewers, obviously, it's a shaky recipe. Why would one use German Pilsner malt for a NEIPA, if there was a choice?
Where's the warning about avoiding oxygen exposure once fermentation starts? After dry hopping? During packaging?

There is no duration (time) listed for the 180F hopstand. But 5 oz of those hops for can certainly add 40-60 IBU per BeerSmith 2 (temperature factor is not calculated). I still get a lot of bittering from 5-8 oz (total) of split 160F and 140F whirlpool hops. I only using 6 grams of Warrior at 60' for bittering, 13 IBUs, it's barely detectable, so that's not the cause.

Droid recipe, who lists minerals with 1 decimal precision?
What the heck is Chlorine doing there, it's supposed to be Chloride:

• Calcium: 116.4 ppm
• Magnesium: 4.0 ppm
• Sodium: 14.0 ppm
• Sulfates: 78.6 ppm
• Chlorine: 154.9 ppm
• Bicarbonates: 25 ppm

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

So I read this whole thread and think that it probably has plenty of alcohol in it. I think that he mashed at a low temperature like 145 degrees or so which created a very fermentable wort to start with. Then with the addition of sugar, it brought down that FG past what you would normally see with an all malt batch, plus his FG was probably measured at room temp and so isn’t temp corrected which would add a couple points (like maybe 1.004). Which sounds about right for a well attenuated beer that was probably fermented on the warm side. Give it some time like you planned, bottle it up and enjoy.

 

[brewdog69]

so everyone,

update and ill probably go to a new thread.

its been one week since i bottled, and so i wanted to do a carb test more than anything so i popped one open.

carb: very good, probably fully carbonated, great pop off sound and bubbles.

smell: very good, hops coming through big time. very very good smell.

taste: ok. EXTREMELY dry. too dry even for a brut classification lol.

so my question to you all is: having read what you read, what could have gone wrong?

or: what can i do to improve dryness next time and get more of the 'flavor' to come through. or---will it come with more time in the bottle? i didnt expect it to be perfect, but i wanted to try a one week tester. anything to add would be appreciated. thank you!

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Based on your results I stand by my theory that you mashed at a lower temp than you thought, but the main culprit is the sugar. Because the yeast turns all the sugar into alcohol not leaving any sweetness behind. To have a sweeter beer mash at a higher temp to leave a portion of the sugars unfermentable to the yeast.

 

[IslandLizard]

too dry even for a brut classification lol.

Of course there is no such thing.
A brut can never be too brut. Learn to appreciate brutness!