New system, new wort

[CU_tony]

Today I had a bunch of firsts
First brew outside
First brew with propane (instead of an electric stove)
First brew with nylon sparge bag (instead of cloth sack from previous kits)

Let me say, even with a borrowed rusty propane burner, temps were quicker to get to, and easier to maintain for the whole process, plus I had no problems keeping a nice boil going vs the stove which struggled.

I chilled and transferred to a bottling bucket to split my 2 gallons into two one gallon carboys and the wort is the most dense and cloudy I've ever seen!

This is the highest OG batch I've tried, aimed for 1.065 and got 1.077 vs 1.054 being my previous highest..

Is the wort supposed to be cloudy and appear to have chunks of grain in suspension or does this look like an issue with the bag or maybe something else?

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[wilserbrewer]

No worry, that's called trub. You got a good break it will settle out and make nice beer. Proceed and ferment it

 

[mongoose33]

Mine usually look like that. If your fermentor has clear sides, you can see the boiling, roiling, tempest-in-a-fermentor going on during fermentation.

It'll settle out.

 

[CU_tony]

From my previous batches with a cheap fabric bag from a kit, the wort was cloudy, but I dont recall seeing grain in suspension. I also was surprised by the hydrometer practically popping out of the test tube because of the high OG so I dont doubt that grain floats better in this sticky concoction!

 

[Sammy86]

Looks good to me! Brew on!

 

[CU_tony]

24 hrs after pitching and I've had to make my first two blow off tubes! Is this normally the case with higher OG beers?

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[Sammy86]

24 hrs after pitching and I've had to make my first two blow off tubes! Is this normally the case with higher OG beers?

I use blowoff tubes on all my brews regardless of SG...usually 3-4 days and then switch to a regular 3 piece airlock

Brew on!

 

[tracyk]

Yeah, especially with Notty yeast. Have that blow-off tube ready!

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

From my previous batches with a cheap fabric bag from a kit, the wort was cloudy, but I dont recall seeing grain in suspension. I also was surprised by the hydrometer practically popping out of the test tube because of the high OG so I dont doubt that grain floats better in this sticky concoction!

Cloudy is good. If you are seeing actual good sized grain pieces, check you bag and be sure there isn't a hole.

 

[CU_tony]

I checked the new nylon sparge bag that the LHBS recommended and can't find any holes, the bottom of the spare bag has a bigger mesh than the walls, but the old muslin bag I was using seems to have a larger spacing between fibers...
I did stir the mash a few times, which was nicer than rotating and poking a bag of grain

 

[CU_tony]

New nylon sparge bag with the wall on the left and floor on the right

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[CU_tony]

The old muslin (?) Grain bag that didn't seem to have any issues

And the top of Notty which looks pretty grainy to me. FWIW Burton looked similarly grainy yesterday and now is milky/krauseny

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[CU_tony]

Things have calmed down a bit, I'm going to switch back to airlocks today and let these babies ride for another two weeks (ish)

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[kristiismean]

They are looking really good. Luckily those three piece airlocks are easy to put tubes on...

 

[CU_tony]

So brewed again today, Boulevard Single Wide IPA clone
Same nylon "sparge bag" and my wort in the primary looks like it has grain in suspension, am I crazy? The LHBS guy looked at my photos from last week's OG reading and said it was just proteins, however this looks to me (and is hard to photograph) like small chunks of grain getting through the bag from light stirring during the mash
Also once again I way overshot my OG target and have a 1.082 beer that is not going to finish close to the intended clone beer most likely...

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[CU_tony]

Do i simply need to filter from my BK to a bottling bucket before racking to carboys to eliminate anything I perceive as grain?

 

[The_Bishop]

You need a much finer bag. In a pinch, hit the local Lowes or Home Depot and go to the paint department. Get a 5 gallon paint strainer bag, they come in packages of 2 and they're pretty cheap. Give it a quick wash and rinse it well, and you'll be all set.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Yeah, that really does look like grain bits. +1 on getting a finer bag.

 

[CU_tony]

Just wanting a 2nd opinion here, I found these on home depot's website which will definitely work for my 4 gallon BK
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Workforce-5-gal-Elastic-Top-Strainers-2-Pack-11573-36WF/202061360

I also remember when I bought my "sparge bag" with the different mesh on the bottom than the fine mesh on the sides, I saw what looked like a bag at the LHBS that seemed to be all the fine mesh on the sides.
Is there any merit in trying another bag from LHBS probably around $5 vs 2 paint bags for around $5... any reason to think that the LHBS nylon grain bag made from one type of nylon mesh would be more effective or last longer, etc?

 

[jjw5015]

That is hop particles and proteins. remember pellets are just pulverized and compressed leaves, so when they hit water you're going to get an expansion that looks like that. Grains are only going to get through if there is a hole in the bag.

 

[JimRausch]

That's one reason I ferment in an opaque bucket- so I don't obscess over what the fermentation looks like.

 

[Morrey]

A HBT sponsor, Mr. Wilser who responded to your post, makes fine mesh BIAB products that keep most of the particulate from grain powder and hops out of your wort. Your current bag is possibly not containing the sediment as much as you'd hope for. Wilser bags are designed specifically for this use.

Aggressive yeast strains, as you have seen, need fermentation vessels with adequate headspace to account for high yeast activity potential. When I use highly active yeast strains from starters like WLP300 for Hefeweizens, I'll use a 7.8G fermenter for a 5G batch. You want to shoot for a vessel allowing 30% headspace or free space for krausen and excessive foaming along with a blowoff tube in a sanitizer solution.

 

[CU_tony]

I changed a lot of variables on this particular batch, the largest I thought was the sparge bag. It also was the first time I brewed with propane, and also was the first time I didnt use a hop sack since I did some moderate amount of research and concluded that any of the possible side effects from hop material making it into the primary would be pretty negligible.

This past weekend I got 5 gallons of second runnings from a local (soon to be) brewhouse that I stumbled upon and probably annoyed the brewer with questions until I asked about the full pail of wort that didnt make it into the BK (he hit his 51 gallons in BK and was going to pour this down a drain!!)
I eagerly scampered away with a full pail (and lid thankfully) and proceeded to spend my Sunday night boiling the two halves of the bucket and hopping one half with the full hop bill.
I didnt use a hop sack for this batch and the gravity sample that I pulled from the primary after thoroughly mixing the two halves was much clearer than my last two batches with a "sparge bag"
To me this indicates that my mash is the problem and its not just simply hop matter (though that could be adding to it)

My next batch will be using a finer bag for sure to see if that helps the problem at all. This time I will brew a recipe Ive done before and the only change will be the bag (and im likely going to scale up to 5 gallons since I just scored a 2nd free 5gal glass carboy!!)

The only thing preventing me from buying a wilser bag at this point is that Im using a 4gal BK and I KNOW that will be upgraded sooner rather than later, and now Im slapping myself since last week I drilled a hole in the thing for a thermometer... Ive had the darn thing for over a decade and now Ill need to find a stopper for the hole (which im sure exists) if I want to move this guy back to the kitchen