Apologies in advance for the length of this post.
I brewed a weizenbock style beer at the end of June but when I visited my LHBS they were totally out of wheat malt. In it's place the guy recommended Crystal Wheat. It is obviously a much darker malt but that wasnt really an issue seeing as i was brewing a weizenbock anyway. I was, however, concerned about the level of fermentables i could extract from this kind of malt. The guy at the LHBS assured me it would be fine and would produce a rich and full bodied beer. I am relatively new to brewing and, in the moment, i bowed to his superioir knowledge and took the crystal wheat.
I went ahead with my brew with the crystal wheat making up over 50% of my grain bill.
My mash efficiency was slightly lower than anticipated so i added some DME to the boil to help with this. the starting gravity was 1056 with 10L wort going into the FV. I used Danstar Munich Wheat yeast which too off within the 24 hours but stopped after about 72 hours. I check and gravity reading was 1028. i tried everything to get this beer going again, i.e. rousing the yeast, raising temp etc, but nothing worked.
I then came on here and it was quickly suggested that my level of fermentable sugars would have been greatly affected by the crystal wheat.
not wanting to ditch the beer, i set about diluting the wort and added A LOT of sugar in order to both thin it down a bit (so it would be less clawing) and also increase the ABV. i added 1kg of brewing sugar (dextrose) and 1kg of brown sugar (I know!) along with 4L of water which i boiled with hops to make a hop tea - I did this to try it keep the IBU's in check.
at the same time i pitched new yeast and some yeast nutrient. again, i know! i guess i thought the yeast would need a bit of help to get back going in the alcoholic enviroment.
anyway, the fermentation took off like a rocket and stank to high heaven - like really stank (of sulpher etc). after a few days i took another gravity reading and could hardly believe my eyes as it read 1.001. (WTF?!) i had a taste at this stage and it wasnt tasting the best. some harsh alcohol burn and a bit sour.
there is no doubt that i have royaly screwed this brew and any critisism, constructive or otherwise, from the forum will be accepted. however, i really want to understand how the hell it ended up with such a low gravity reading. and before you ask i have checked and double checked this with 2 different hydrometers. any ideas?
also, i am currently debating with myself whether or not to dump this beer. again, any thoughts on this subject would be appreciated, i.e. is the beer likely to improve with significant aging?
many thanks for taking the time to read this sorry tale.
I brewed a weizenbock style beer at the end of June but when I visited my LHBS they were totally out of wheat malt. In it's place the guy recommended Crystal Wheat. It is obviously a much darker malt but that wasnt really an issue seeing as i was brewing a weizenbock anyway. I was, however, concerned about the level of fermentables i could extract from this kind of malt. The guy at the LHBS assured me it would be fine and would produce a rich and full bodied beer. I am relatively new to brewing and, in the moment, i bowed to his superioir knowledge and took the crystal wheat.
I went ahead with my brew with the crystal wheat making up over 50% of my grain bill.
My mash efficiency was slightly lower than anticipated so i added some DME to the boil to help with this. the starting gravity was 1056 with 10L wort going into the FV. I used Danstar Munich Wheat yeast which too off within the 24 hours but stopped after about 72 hours. I check and gravity reading was 1028. i tried everything to get this beer going again, i.e. rousing the yeast, raising temp etc, but nothing worked.
I then came on here and it was quickly suggested that my level of fermentable sugars would have been greatly affected by the crystal wheat.
not wanting to ditch the beer, i set about diluting the wort and added A LOT of sugar in order to both thin it down a bit (so it would be less clawing) and also increase the ABV. i added 1kg of brewing sugar (dextrose) and 1kg of brown sugar (I know!) along with 4L of water which i boiled with hops to make a hop tea - I did this to try it keep the IBU's in check.
at the same time i pitched new yeast and some yeast nutrient. again, i know! i guess i thought the yeast would need a bit of help to get back going in the alcoholic enviroment.
anyway, the fermentation took off like a rocket and stank to high heaven - like really stank (of sulpher etc). after a few days i took another gravity reading and could hardly believe my eyes as it read 1.001. (WTF?!) i had a taste at this stage and it wasnt tasting the best. some harsh alcohol burn and a bit sour.
there is no doubt that i have royaly screwed this brew and any critisism, constructive or otherwise, from the forum will be accepted. however, i really want to understand how the hell it ended up with such a low gravity reading. and before you ask i have checked and double checked this with 2 different hydrometers. any ideas?
also, i am currently debating with myself whether or not to dump this beer. again, any thoughts on this subject would be appreciated, i.e. is the beer likely to improve with significant aging?
many thanks for taking the time to read this sorry tale.