Old Ale and Molassas

[BitterSweetBrews]

It has been a little over a week. The Windsor yeast stalled out at 1.040. I am not totally sure why. I pitched 1 pack for 5.25 gallons. It is supposed to handle 1.070 wort. I roused it up last Friday by lifting the bucket and swirling it around. I also raised the temp to 68. Sunday, it was at 1.039. It tastes fine, with no off flavors. I don't think I under pitched.

I have another idea about why it may have stalled. When I doughed in, I know I misread the temp on my kettle thermometer. The water was 10 degrees high (one of the reasons I like brewing electric, set it and forget it). I didn't realize this until I looked closer at the round thermometer on the kettle. The initial mash temp was at 165, not 155. I recirculated and it took 10 minutes to get it cooled down. I am afraid the higher mash temp may have messed with some of the grain enzymes during the initial mash and now I may have a lot of unfermentable sugars. I have posted this on other boards and some people have said that 10 minutes at the beginning may not matter. I am not sure. I am just thinking that when mashing out you heat to 165 to stop the enzymatic conversions.

Anyway, with nothing to lose I decided to add some more yeast. Yesterday I made a small 1.030 starter with a pack of Nottingham. I did this so the yeast would already be going when pitched. I added it this morning. Time will tell.

 

[robdogj]

It has been a little over a week. The Windsor yeast stalled out at 1.040. I am not totally sure why. I pitched 1 pack for 5.25 gallons. It is supposed to handle 1.070 wort. I roused it up last Friday by lifting the bucket and swirling it around. I also raised the temp to 68. Sunday, it was at 1.039. It tastes fine, with no off flavors. I don't think I under pitched.

I have another idea about why it may have stalled. When I doughed in, I know I misread the temp on my kettle thermometer. The water was 10 degrees high (one of the reasons I like brewing electric, set it and forget it). I didn't realize this until I looked closer at the round thermometer on the kettle. The initial mash temp was at 165, not 155. I recirculated and it took 10 minutes to get it cooled down. I am afraid the higher mash temp may have messed with some of the grain enzymes during the initial mash and now I may have a lot of unfermentable sugars. I have posted this on other boards and some people have said that 10 minutes at the beginning may not matter. I am not sure. I am just thinking that when mashing out you heat to 165 to stop the enzymatic conversions.

Anyway, with nothing to lose I decided to add some more yeast. Yesterday I made a small 1.030 starter with a pack of Nottingham. I did this so the yeast would already be going when pitched. I added it this morning. Time will tell.

how did you Ole Ale turn out?

 

[smata67]

I bottled Jamil's Old Treacle of Mine recipe two months ago. Used the recommended Lyles Black Treacle and London Ale WLP013. Pretty much loyal to the recipe in Styles, except I went with 5 oz instead of 8 oz of treacle for a 5G batch. Good thing. The treacle flavor comes through VERY strongly, I would recommend not using any more than 1 oz/gallon of treacle. I'd probably go with .5 oz/gallon if I could do over so the flavor comes through more subtly. Mine finished a tad high at 1.024, but this particular batch was 50/50 LME/grain, so not surprised. Still, got 71% attenuation out of WLP013, which is right in the middle of its range. It actually drinks very smoothly given how young it is and its 8.5% ABV, but I intend on keeping off of it for another 4 months.

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

how did you Ole Ale turn out?

It has been a year, but as I recall it was not what I expected. It was a good beer but not what I would consider an old ale when compared to something like Old Rasputin or Founders Curmedgons Better Half.

I made it again last fall and brewed on my electric system this time. I added a little more molasses. This time the OG was 1.075 and the FG 1.020. It turned out really good and the other members of my beer club really liked it.

I actually entered it into the AHA HomebrewCon contest, but unfortunately it looks like it will never be graded with the virus situation..

 

[rshortt]

So when you re-brewed the only recipe change was more molasses?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

It has been a year, but as I recall it was not what I expected. It was a good beer but not what I would consider an old ale when compared to something like Old Rasputin or Founders Curmedgons Better Half.

That may be a question of expectations. Isn't Old Rasputin a Russian stout? And Better Half is 12.7%, which is double the typical old ale. Your argument might be more convincing if you were comparing to commercial British examples.

Remember that essentially these beers represent a folk memory of the old stock ales, it's best to think of them as strong members of the mild family, with some aged characteristics (either through actual ageing or faking it a bit). It's perhaps most obvious with some of the southern old ales like Harveys, which is 4.3% on cask and only 3.6% in bottle (and I've just noticed they now do a 0.5% version, which I'm now really interested to try). But even the northern ones which tend to be rather stronger, tend to be only up in the 6% range give or take - the Gale's one at over 10% really is an exception.