RIS Gravity Came in Low - Should I Juice It?

[BakerStreetBeers]

I brewed a slightly modified version of Brewpastor's Dark Night of the Soul recipe yesterday. I've never tackled anything this big before. It exceeds the normal capacity of my system, so I decided to do a reiterated mash. I mashed half the grain bill, took the first 4.5 gallons of the runnings and used this to mash the 2nd half (as if it were mash/sparge water). Built myself a spreadsheet to do the math on the volumes and everything. I also did my first partigyle off this thing -- 4.5 gallons at 1.035 that should be something nice and porterlike.

OG came it at 1.099 vs. an anticipated 1.134. I know what I did wrong. The sugars in the second runnings/small beer were (at least mostly) supposed to be in the RIS. I ran my numbers with a pretty low efficiency (65%) or it could have been a lot worse.

I wouldn't worry about it, but there are about 130 IBUs in this thing -- the main adjustment I made to BP's recipe was bringing this down from 178. I'm a little concerned that my OG:IBU ratio is now too out of whack. Though it's been said that over 100 IBUs the increases are not perceptible to the pallette.

Didn't have time to do anything but shrug shoulders and pitch yeast last night. I threw it on a WLP100 Cali Ale yeast cake and it's churning like nuts a day later.

Things I'm considering:

RDWHAB -- Gonna do this anyway.

Boil up some sugar -- demarra, maple syrup, molasses, DME? to try and get this up at least 10 or 20 points or so.

Go with huge fruit in secondary -- 10 lbs cherries maybe?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

You didn't do anything wrong, you just attempted an extremely big all grain beer. It can be done, but it's a tough nut to crack. If your expected gravity exceeds 1.100, expect to have issues. The simple solution would have been skipping the partigyle, and including that extra 4.5 gallons in the original brew. Then boil it down. Actually, 1.099 is pretty darn good!

Careful with the molasses - it's strong stuff!

 

[BakerStreetBeers]

The simple solution would have been skipping the partigyle, and including that extra 4.5 gallons in the original brew. Then boil it down.

That's what I came to realize. Wouldn't have done it anyway -- didn't have near enough time yesterday.

Gotta say that that was the strangest wort to work with. Throw the hydrometer in there and its almost immediately motionless. Give it a spin and it goes around maybe one or two times before stopping. And that was only about 75% of what I was going for!

So, you don't see any general issue with adding more sugars to the already fermenting wort? I'm actually leaning toward the maple syrup since I happen to have some around -- enough for 10 or 12 points at least.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Actually, you're doing your yeast a favor by step fermenting. Maple syrup can impart some strong flavors as well, so don't try to add too many points with it. Honey, candi sugar, and malt extract are all fairly neutral.

 

[BakerStreetBeers]

Well, this is interesting (to me, at least).

This morning, visible fermentation (from the airlock) had ceased. Beer was in the hot water closet (approx. mid 60s +). Oh crap, my first potentially stuck fermentation. Put the bucket in my bedroom and turned on a little heat (~72). Got home this evening, no activity. Sterilized a wine thief, pulled a sample -- it still seemed pretty thick. Possible stuck fermentation? Let's agitate the sucker a bit with the wine thief, get some O2 in there and maybe it will restart. Take the sample into the kitchen and my gravity is what? 1.022? From 1.099 on Sunday at 9 pm? 10% abv in 48 hours?

More interesting (again, to me) is that the sample tastes pretty darn good. Actually a bit of sweetness to it which is surprising since my OG/FG were supposed to be 1.13x and 1.03x (my mash wasn't quite as I wanted), and I was shooting for a much lower IBU:OG ratio than I ended up with. Granted I drank a few before my testing and by the end of my ~3oz sample was picking up a bit of alcohol burn and maybe a touch of hop astringency. But given that it's two days old, it's pretty darn good. At this point I think that adding more sugars could actually be detrimental. I'll get quite a bit more alcohol, and only a little more body.

Once I realized that I was holding a 10% abv beverage I put most of the hydrometer sample in the fridge for further evaluation tomorrow.

Almost forgot, a beer of this magnitude (if it comes out drinkable) needs a good name, particularly since I plan to bottle and gift it for many years to come (again assuming etc.) I was working on something varying off of brewpastor's great name: Dark Night of the Soul, on which recipe this beer is largely based. But I think it was his entry under color (Void of Light) that inspired me to my (tentative) name for this brew: None More Black.

 

[sirsloop]

If you're at 1.022 you're in real good shape. I'd rock the primary a little and warm up the wort.... see if you can coax a couple more points out of it. You could always use a little beano to drop it a few more points. At this rate you're already nipping on 80% attenuation which is pretty good.

 

[BakerStreetBeers]

If you're at 1.022 you're in real good shape. I'd rock the primary a little and warm up the wort.... see if you can coax a couple more points out of it. You could always use a little beano to drop it a few more points. At this rate you're already nipping on 80% attenuation which is pretty good.

Thanks for the feedback sirsloop. Wow! I hadn't run the math, but 80%. Wort should be plenty warm (75ish). And, I think I just jostled it plenty using the wine thief as a stirrer -- was trying to aerate it, but hoping now I just mostly mixed in CO2 from the bucket headspace. I read a couple of things about beano on here, but thought it might have been a joke What the hay is that supposed to do anyway?

At this point I think I will forgo any additives at this point and let it sit for a full 14 days in primary, then rack to secondary for at least two weeks before bottling.

 

[sirsloop]

Beano breaks down some of the unfermentable sugars into simple sugars so the yeasties can eat em. As long as your yeast isn't knocked out by the alcohol you should get a little more attenuation out of it. There are some concerns with beano continuing to break down sugars until there is nothing left. With a big beer like this you are probably already at the upper limits of the yeast so they will stop fermenting as the alcohol content rises.

 

[ameadrat]

I'm of a differnt school if you hit 1030, you have 9.5%alcohol and a great amount of body. If you bottle, it will drop some and age extremly well. I try to finish my big beers between 1025 and 1030. If I drop to low I will Lactose it back up. Note I only bottle my beers and I like them big and aged. If you like your finish on the lite side take it down to 1015.

 

[ameadrat]

as to your patigyle next time add 2-3 lbs of rock sugar(found at a chinese store) to the boil then in secondary fermetation ad 1/2 lb starbucks arbian or cafe vienna coffee and some oaked that has been soaking in a pint of bourbon for about a month. Makes a great parti-gyle. DO NOT GRIND the beans put them in whole. cooffee with your beer and a hint of bourbon.

 

[sirsloop]

1030 is DAMN sweet, even with ~10% alcohol...

 

[BakerStreetBeers]

Yeah, original recipe had FG at 1.033 which is probably a bit sweet for me. But I appreciate ameadat's input as well and based on my hydrometer reading I think I will leave it where it is. It may drop a point or two before I bottle and maybe even afterward.

Appreciate the input from everyone.

 

[EvilTOJ]

If you really must drop the points a few more, some champagne yeast will do ya fine.

 

[ameadrat]

If its too sweet use some french oak in secondary. I am a malt head another option is too soak the oak in bourbon or what ever(not scotch)