Hello everybody,
First time poster. I've made 6 kits before going all-grain, and i'm worried that i've messed up my first batch. After two weeks in the fermenter the gravity dropped from 1076 to 1022, which is good, but i feel a distinct grainy taste to the brew. I intend to keep it in the primary for another week, then move it into a glass carboy for 6 months @ cellar temperature ( 10-12 Celsius/ 52Fahrenheit) before bottling it.
Process:
1. Gear :
8.2 kg(18lbs) Grains
61% 5kg(11 lbs) Weyermann Pale Ale - 5,5 - 7,5 EBC
12% 1kg(2.2 lbs) Weyermann Roasted Barley - 1.000 - 1.300 EBC
12% 1kg(2.2 lbs) Weyermann Carapils 2,5 - 6,5 EBC
12% 1kg(2.2 lbs) Weyermann Carafa 800 - 1000 EBC
2.4% 0.2kg(0.4 lbs) Brewferm Chocolate 900 EBC.
My intention was to use half of the Roasted Barley and Carafa but there was a misunderstanding during the milling process and i was left with 8.2kg/18 lbs of mixed grains milled finer than expected. I decided to do it anyway.
71 gr(2.5oz) Tettnanger -3.8% alpha acids- @min 30
15 gr(0.5oz) Cascade - 8%- @min 10
33 gr(1.2oz) Cascade - at flame out- I left all of the above for another 5 minutes.
Yeast: Safale S04
OG: 1076
After two weeks in the fermeter the gravity is 1022
Estimated bitterness: 40 IBU.
Colour: Black
2. Mashing(one step):
I'm using a home made styrofoam masher which keeps my 30L( 8 gallons) pot at temperature, without major loses( 2C,35F/hour).
Mashed all my grains in the 30L pot @67 Celsius(153 F) for 90 minutes using 22L(5.8 gallons) of water. It came out really, really thick. I don't know about the mash PH but the bottled water i used was at 7.
3. Sparging
I used 15L(4Gallons) of water @ 82Celsius(179F).
Using another 30L(8gallon) pot and a gauze "filter" i could drain the wort from the mash then pour the hot water over the drained grains. This took over an hour because i had to do it in 3 rounds - i couln't fit all the mash in the gauze at once- that is why i'm not sure about the water/grains ratio.
It felt like making sweet coffee.
Wort collected: 26L(6.8 Gallons)
4. Boil
I did a 120 min boil to get the wort down to 20 L(5 gallons). Cooled it, pitched the yeast @ 20 Celsius( 68F) and stored it. It started bubbling later that day.
Now for the question: Is it possible to get rid of the husky taste -it is not subtle. I've read that cold conditioning could do that. Do you think dry hopping a week before bottling could cover it? I know stouts don't usually have aroma hops ..still...i want to save my beer.
Besides this, the fermenting beer tastes really, really roasted.
Thank you for taking the time to answer
First time poster. I've made 6 kits before going all-grain, and i'm worried that i've messed up my first batch. After two weeks in the fermenter the gravity dropped from 1076 to 1022, which is good, but i feel a distinct grainy taste to the brew. I intend to keep it in the primary for another week, then move it into a glass carboy for 6 months @ cellar temperature ( 10-12 Celsius/ 52Fahrenheit) before bottling it.
Process:
1. Gear :
8.2 kg(18lbs) Grains
61% 5kg(11 lbs) Weyermann Pale Ale - 5,5 - 7,5 EBC
12% 1kg(2.2 lbs) Weyermann Roasted Barley - 1.000 - 1.300 EBC
12% 1kg(2.2 lbs) Weyermann Carapils 2,5 - 6,5 EBC
12% 1kg(2.2 lbs) Weyermann Carafa 800 - 1000 EBC
2.4% 0.2kg(0.4 lbs) Brewferm Chocolate 900 EBC.
My intention was to use half of the Roasted Barley and Carafa but there was a misunderstanding during the milling process and i was left with 8.2kg/18 lbs of mixed grains milled finer than expected. I decided to do it anyway.
71 gr(2.5oz) Tettnanger -3.8% alpha acids- @min 30
15 gr(0.5oz) Cascade - 8%- @min 10
33 gr(1.2oz) Cascade - at flame out- I left all of the above for another 5 minutes.
Yeast: Safale S04
OG: 1076
After two weeks in the fermeter the gravity is 1022
Estimated bitterness: 40 IBU.
Colour: Black
2. Mashing(one step):
I'm using a home made styrofoam masher which keeps my 30L( 8 gallons) pot at temperature, without major loses( 2C,35F/hour).
Mashed all my grains in the 30L pot @67 Celsius(153 F) for 90 minutes using 22L(5.8 gallons) of water. It came out really, really thick. I don't know about the mash PH but the bottled water i used was at 7.
3. Sparging
I used 15L(4Gallons) of water @ 82Celsius(179F).
Using another 30L(8gallon) pot and a gauze "filter" i could drain the wort from the mash then pour the hot water over the drained grains. This took over an hour because i had to do it in 3 rounds - i couln't fit all the mash in the gauze at once- that is why i'm not sure about the water/grains ratio.
It felt like making sweet coffee.
Wort collected: 26L(6.8 Gallons)
4. Boil
I did a 120 min boil to get the wort down to 20 L(5 gallons). Cooled it, pitched the yeast @ 20 Celsius( 68F) and stored it. It started bubbling later that day.
Now for the question: Is it possible to get rid of the husky taste -it is not subtle. I've read that cold conditioning could do that. Do you think dry hopping a week before bottling could cover it? I know stouts don't usually have aroma hops ..still...i want to save my beer.
Besides this, the fermenting beer tastes really, really roasted.
Thank you for taking the time to answer