The beer that wasn't to be?

[rycov]

With dry yeast it's a good idea to rehydrate it. Apparently when yeast are dry they are real susceptible to whatever they come into contact with, before they are hydrated their cell walls will let in contaminates that will kill a bunch of the yeast and knock down your overall viability up to maybe %50.

i just wait untill my beer is in the fermenter and open it up and dump straight in. doesnt come into contact with anything. my hands are always sanitized and i just tear the corner of the packet. i cant really see where putting it in water first is any cleaner (not that it may not be important for other reasons)

 

[jfr1111]

At what temperature are you mashing at and is your thermometer calibrated ? Mashing at 168+F by error would yield some conversion (pretty poor, low efficiency) and probably result in stuck, poorly attenuated beer.

Don't ask me how I know this.

 

[Salmonhouse]

i just wait untill my beer is in the fermenter and open it up and dump straight in. doesnt come into contact with anything. my hands are always sanitized and i just tear the corner of the packet. i cant really see where putting it in water first is any cleaner (not that it may not be important for other reasons)

That's not exactly what i was getting at. It's the sugars in your wort the nix the yeast, before they are hydrated they cant cope too well.

 

[rycov]

oh ok. when you said contaminates i thought you meant unclean stuff, not sugar.

 

[Salmonhouse]

Yeah, my bad!

Admittedly, I don't understand the microbiology of it or anything, I'm just going on what Dr. Chris White of White Labs has said.

 

[thetmaxx]

At what temperature are you mashing at and is your thermometer calibrated ? Mashing at 168+F by error would yield some conversion (pretty poor, low efficiency) and probably result in stuck, poorly attenuated beer.

Don't ask me how I know this.

the thermometer is brand new floating style. And my esb I hit 154 dead on w/ preheating mash tun, didn't preheat on either before that, so if anything probably a little low

 

[rycov]

what esb did you brew? i just did one based off of motor brewers ESB in the recipe section, hit my numbers and the next day, bam, that thing went off. although i think i used s-04, and he calls for something else. but it was the first time i had to use a blow off tube

 

[midfielder5]

you moved the beer: from primary into secondary into a bottling bucket into bottles, then back to primary, hoping it'd finish? then you have a bottling bucket & re-bottle in your future?

wow, not to discourage you but I personally would have not done all that work for a beer that started out rough, w/ a half-a$$ed grain bill.

Anyways, I would like to know how it turns out. Good luck!

I made an ok not great beer last year. it sat in a keg, i got sick of nursing/ forcing it down, so i bottled some up & tossed the rest two days ago. I waited over 3 months w/ it in the keg, so no need to give me "it could improve" song n dance. it was an overhopped kolsch w/ too much caramel malt. I'm glad I dumped much of it.

 

[phishfood]

Didn't want to mess with it, but today I happened to walk in to the fermentation room and noticed bubbles on the surface of the beer in the carboys. Also noticed that today the house was warmer from the sunlight. The carboy read 72F. We keep the house at 68, and the carboy usually reads such. Is it possible the almost 4F increase kicked it off again?

Didn't see anyone respond to this, so I will.

Warmer beer cannot hold as much CO2 as colder beer. So as beer warms up, it will tend to release CO2, which is probably what you were seeing. If the hydrometer reading isn't changing, the beer isn't fermenting.

 

[thetmaxx]

Didn't see anyone respond to this, so I will.

Warmer beer cannot hold as much CO2 as colder beer. So as beer warms up, it will tend to release CO2, which is probably what you were seeing. If the hydrometer reading isn't changing, the beer isn't fermenting.

Wow, hadn't even thought of that being the reason! Makes sense.

After I shook it up it has been bubbling now @ steady 68, so I will take reading again and see if anything has been happening

 

[thetmaxx]

what esb did you brew? i just did one based off of motor brewers ESB in the recipe section, hit my numbers and the next day, bam, that thing went off. although i think i used s-04, and he calls for something else. but it was the first time i had to use a blow off tube

one from brew masters warehouse recipe list. I used wyeast ESB yeast, and I think that has been going well. Was going to use Essex, or s-04, but he had that so I thought I would give it a try.

 

[rycov]

yeah. i just used the s-04 because i was ordering from midwest and they didn't have the yeast the recipe called for. i've heard good things about s-04 so i figured i'd give it a shot. smells pretty good right now, had a really active fermentation, just waiting to see how it tastes!

 

[thetmaxx]

I used Essex in the red, and really has lots if fruity aromas, curious to see how it is out of the bottle.

Checked the messed up stout, was still 1.040 when I pitched the champagne yeast. Then I swirled them in good, and it fizzed up again, ill check it end of the week and see how it goes.

 

[thetmaxx]

OK, I want to update status/ get advise on where to go from here:

Pitched Champagne yeast 2 weeks ago, agitated, checked 1 week later still @ 1.040... Agitated Again... And today (One week Later @ 1.040) It appears there is nothing left in this beer to ferment! If I bottle now do you think it will carb properly and taste something like beer?
My biggest concern is WILL IT CARB?
don't the yeast usually take a little priming sugar and use up that extra boost of food to do their job?
So do you think they have already used the priming sugar from when I bottled the first time?

Sorry for so many questions, but it is my first time with a beer that didn't "just work."

Thanks again

 

[thetmaxx]

OK, so I did bottle this, it carbed very nice, and turned out to be a pretty interesting stout. in a good way. so thanks for all the help, and I will not be intentionally brewing this again, LOL