Stupid Refractometer...Stupid Me

[boomguy]

Wanted to start doing some 1 gallon batches to get used to ratios and grain boils so I bought a refractometer. Yay new toy, yay calibrated it, yay checked it agianst my hydrometer for a partial mash stout, perfect I thought, all is good. No! Not all is good because I started using it with my stout, all was good until the stout became stuck at 1.024 from 1.050. Monitored it for a week no movement, yes using the the refractometer. Stupid me. Read all about stuck fermentations, read all abut the pros and cons of repitching and yeast energizer, read everything except how to really use a refractometer. So I pitched more yeast, Nottingham, with some energizer and still nothing. Showing pure frustration SWMBO said have you compensated for the alcohol in the batch.... blank look.... really I had no idea. More research, check with hydrometer and yes the stout was sitting at 1.012! Idiot. Thank god one of us has a degree in organic chem..... not me. Anyways the big question now is I have a mild yeast flavor in the stout and is there anything I can add at this point to mask this mild flavor?

 

[Epimetheus]

I don't think you can mask a yeasty flavor without modifying so much stuff it would no longer be close to what you intended. OTOH, you started experimenting on gallon batches to learn the process. This time you learned a refractometer is not accurate for FG. So I would call it a success.

 

[fuzzy2133]

coffee stout? probably could at least dilute the yeast taste.

 

[boomguy]

Thats kind of what I had in mind , the coffee, or I have heard about people adding chocolate as well but I'm not sure when. Would dry hopping at this point help offset the yeast flavor? Here is the recipe that I used.

LB Oz
3 12 Coopers Stout Kit
1 12.2 Amber Malt Extract Syrup
1 8.69 American Crystal 60L
1 1.64 American Two-row Pale
~ 14.1 Quaker Quick Oats
~ 8.82 Chocolate Malt
~ 8.82 Brown Sugar

Time OZ
45 min 0.988 Cascade ~ leaf
30 min 0.494 Cascade ~ leaf
10 min 0.247 Goldings, ~ pellet