Brewed a recent NEIPA and its been in the fermenter almost a week. I use Tilts with all my fermentations and the results of this latest one look a little odd. I thought I'd check in with the forum to get thoughts. I have brewed this basic recipe several times with good results. There were a couple of differences with this one I'll mention.
First I used Cellar Science Hazy for the first time. Typically I use Lalbrew Verdant or NE (or a combo) which I typically rehydrate. The packaging on the Cellar Science said no need to aerate or rehydrate. I had already aerated the wort when I read that (side question to this topic is it really ok to not aerate?) but didn't rehydrate - just sprinkled on top dry.
Second I added some maltodextrin to the recipe. I typically blow past my FG goal with my NEIPAs and would like them to have a little more body so tried some malto this batch.
Third somewhat related to #2. I upgraded my brewing setup and was able to control mash temp at 154-155 much better than in the past. Previously I was BIAB in my garage so temp was a little varied and usually trended lower than as the mash continued. Hindsight both 2 and 3 would effect FG and I maybe should have just changed one variable at a time, but did both.
Fourth I did use fermentation to purge the keg this is eventually going into. I seriously doubt this had any effect but it is a difference. The tank was purged by the next day and I took it out of the loop and just put the blow off tube into a a star san bucket.
I attached pictures of the latest and a more typical profile from a previous brew. Note I have not dry hopped yet, only boil and whirlpool hops. My process is to let fermentation complete, soft crash and then dry hop. The first rise in temp is natural and then I typically elevate with a ferm wrap. The temperature looks pretty jagged but I think that is more related to sampling time for that data. The gravity profile is what I'm more interested in. When it first started leveling out around 1.040 I was pretty nervous things were going to get stuck but it's still chugging a long. It's just a very weird linear decline vs all other fermentations I've tracked with a tilt. I'm not really worried. It looks like it will get there eventually, but just curious thoughts from others.
One potential theory is I did have one other brew with weird tilt data (that one was all over the place - gravity increased and decreased significantly at times) and turned out there was a big glob of krausen stuck on the end of the tilt. I could see that being the case here with it gradually falling off leading to the slow decline after high krausen. I'm in a stainless steel conical so don't have visibility to see the sensor. If that is the case fermentation may be complete and then I'm curious thoughts on how long to let this go. I know some responses will be to take samples with a standard hydrometer, but I'm pretty crazy about avoiding potential O2 in my NEIPAs and while I could do that with a bit of CO2 pressure to reduce O2 I'd rather avoid opening anything up.
First I used Cellar Science Hazy for the first time. Typically I use Lalbrew Verdant or NE (or a combo) which I typically rehydrate. The packaging on the Cellar Science said no need to aerate or rehydrate. I had already aerated the wort when I read that (side question to this topic is it really ok to not aerate?) but didn't rehydrate - just sprinkled on top dry.
Second I added some maltodextrin to the recipe. I typically blow past my FG goal with my NEIPAs and would like them to have a little more body so tried some malto this batch.
Third somewhat related to #2. I upgraded my brewing setup and was able to control mash temp at 154-155 much better than in the past. Previously I was BIAB in my garage so temp was a little varied and usually trended lower than as the mash continued. Hindsight both 2 and 3 would effect FG and I maybe should have just changed one variable at a time, but did both.
Fourth I did use fermentation to purge the keg this is eventually going into. I seriously doubt this had any effect but it is a difference. The tank was purged by the next day and I took it out of the loop and just put the blow off tube into a a star san bucket.
I attached pictures of the latest and a more typical profile from a previous brew. Note I have not dry hopped yet, only boil and whirlpool hops. My process is to let fermentation complete, soft crash and then dry hop. The first rise in temp is natural and then I typically elevate with a ferm wrap. The temperature looks pretty jagged but I think that is more related to sampling time for that data. The gravity profile is what I'm more interested in. When it first started leveling out around 1.040 I was pretty nervous things were going to get stuck but it's still chugging a long. It's just a very weird linear decline vs all other fermentations I've tracked with a tilt. I'm not really worried. It looks like it will get there eventually, but just curious thoughts from others.
One potential theory is I did have one other brew with weird tilt data (that one was all over the place - gravity increased and decreased significantly at times) and turned out there was a big glob of krausen stuck on the end of the tilt. I could see that being the case here with it gradually falling off leading to the slow decline after high krausen. I'm in a stainless steel conical so don't have visibility to see the sensor. If that is the case fermentation may be complete and then I'm curious thoughts on how long to let this go. I know some responses will be to take samples with a standard hydrometer, but I'm pretty crazy about avoiding potential O2 in my NEIPAs and while I could do that with a bit of CO2 pressure to reduce O2 I'd rather avoid opening anything up.
