spittybug
Well-Known Member
I have a recipe for a Guinness clone that I have found to be pretty spot on and that I have brewed often. All grain, herms.
I just brewed it again and realized I didn't have any crushed barley on hand so I scrambled to find that pearled barley was a suitable substitute. I understand it has been dehusked and polished a bit compared to what I usually use. But, it is available in my local supermarket. It went through the mill with the rest of the grains. All went fine with brew day, mashed low and slow per usual to get a nice fermentable wort. The roasted stuff went in really late to give color and flavor without getting a chance to overly bitter it. While I didn't check it, my familiarity with my water and with a light grain mash has me add ~5ml of lactic acid to get the pH into the low 5 range for a 5 gallon batch. Yeast was Nottingham with a starter made.
Fermentation started ~18hrs after pitching and was pretty fast. Healthy quantity of sludge post fermentation. It basically went from 1.053 to 1.020 in 48 hours and absolutely flatlined. I left it there for a few days, no change. Thinking Tilt was crudded up, I took a sample and used hydrometer. When all was said and done, it was ~1.018. Should have gone down to ~1.008 so I was concerned my dry Irish stout was going to be sweet. I tasted. Not at all sweet. Tastes like it should. I'm in the process of carbing it up and putting on tap with a little added lactic for the characteristic Guinness twang. ABV has obviously taken a hit, but I drink by volume, not numbers!
While certainly a happy outcome, I'm very curious as to how a 1.018 beer tastes dry not sweet and why every other time I've done this beer (albeit with a difference in the crushed barley component) it has been ~10 points lower yet tastes essentially the same. Odd. Ideas? TIA.
As an aside, is there a rule of thumb for just how much difference mash temp makes to fermentability? Say going 145 vs. 155 = x points of gravity? I keep meaning to do some tests of my own but never get around to it.
I just brewed it again and realized I didn't have any crushed barley on hand so I scrambled to find that pearled barley was a suitable substitute. I understand it has been dehusked and polished a bit compared to what I usually use. But, it is available in my local supermarket. It went through the mill with the rest of the grains. All went fine with brew day, mashed low and slow per usual to get a nice fermentable wort. The roasted stuff went in really late to give color and flavor without getting a chance to overly bitter it. While I didn't check it, my familiarity with my water and with a light grain mash has me add ~5ml of lactic acid to get the pH into the low 5 range for a 5 gallon batch. Yeast was Nottingham with a starter made.
Fermentation started ~18hrs after pitching and was pretty fast. Healthy quantity of sludge post fermentation. It basically went from 1.053 to 1.020 in 48 hours and absolutely flatlined. I left it there for a few days, no change. Thinking Tilt was crudded up, I took a sample and used hydrometer. When all was said and done, it was ~1.018. Should have gone down to ~1.008 so I was concerned my dry Irish stout was going to be sweet. I tasted. Not at all sweet. Tastes like it should. I'm in the process of carbing it up and putting on tap with a little added lactic for the characteristic Guinness twang. ABV has obviously taken a hit, but I drink by volume, not numbers!
While certainly a happy outcome, I'm very curious as to how a 1.018 beer tastes dry not sweet and why every other time I've done this beer (albeit with a difference in the crushed barley component) it has been ~10 points lower yet tastes essentially the same. Odd. Ideas? TIA.
As an aside, is there a rule of thumb for just how much difference mash temp makes to fermentability? Say going 145 vs. 155 = x points of gravity? I keep meaning to do some tests of my own but never get around to it.
