Weird bonus beer.

[Dirtyoldguy366]

I made a Surly Furious IPA kit From Northern Brewer last night. I had planned on mashing a second beer once my boil was underway but my turkey fryer wasn't working. My sparge calculations were off so I had about 1.5 gal of second runnings in my tun. Here's what I did.

The 3 gals of strike water for my second batch was on the stovetop. I turned that to heat to 170 for a second sparge. I put a can of creamed corn in the mash with the grains hoping there were a few enzymes left (temp was 152 at this point) I collected 1.5 gals of "first runnings" and batch sparged with 3 gallons. Collected a little over 3.5 gals of wort.

Added a half cup of "raw turbinado sugar" for insurance purposes. Boiled
.10 oz us saaz 8.1 AA and .20 kent goldings (~5AA) for 60 then I threw in .25 oz German Hallertauer ~4AA at flameout.

Pitched a pack of dry lager yeast and put it in my empty kegerator set to 59f.

Did I make beer?

 

[woknblues]

I bet you did. I "parti-gyled" a CDA from a large stout I made. It turned out pretty good. Essentially, I brewed an all grain 6 gallon stout and from the "semi-spent" grain bed, dunked it into 6 gallons of strike for 20 minutes to get 1.025 or so, then I added some LME to hit the gravity I wanted and brewed away.

 

[Brewrifle]

So you made a creamed ale? Sounds delicious, I'd even hope for some diacetyl to occur to really get that corn flavor to pop.

 

[Dirtyoldguy366]

It's gonna be a lager. I did taste a slight corn note but post boil I couldn't tell. Pretty sure I used too many hops for what I had in mind but I was just grabbing hop packets from the freezer. I really wished I could have taken OG but I don't have a jar for my hydrometer. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

 

[tre9er]

I really wished I could have taken OG but I don't have a jar for my hydrometer.

Just spin it in the fermenter next time...

 

[Dirtyoldguy366]

With only 3 gallons my hydrometer bottoms out in the bucket I really just wanted it to see if I needed more sugar preboil anyway. I'll know in a month or so I guess

 

[tre9er]

With only 3 gallons my hydrometer bottoms out in the bucket I really just wanted it to see if I needed more sugar preboil anyway. I'll know in a month or so I guess

time for a refractometer. I've been putting it off, too...

 

[Dirtyoldguy366]

It was the only thing on my Xmas list last year. People can't take a hint!

 

[Dirtyoldguy366]

An update!

So I bottled this beer 4 days ago and one blew up! (Never had a bottle bomb before). I was a few sheets to the wind so might have messed up my sugar calculation. I'm pretty sure I added 3 oz corn sugar for 3 gallons. Also no idea what FG was so maybe there was some sugar left that got consumed when the bottles were at room temperature.

The plan was to give it a week or so to carb up then toss the bottles into the kegerator for lagering. I'd have bulk aged it but I had a few batches finish up and wanted the space for kegs.

Anyway, I wanted to figure out what was up so I chilled one down and popped the top. Highly carbed but not overly so - just how I like my lagers. The English roasted barley from the Surly Furious is definitely there in the background which is interesting. No corn flavor or aroma detectable. Bitterness is just right but I wish I'd been more generous with the 0 minute addition as there isn't any hop aroma, although the aroma is quite nice.

Not bad for a beer that just cost me a pack of lager yeast and some extra time fiddling with it. I'm definitely going to try this again if I make a beer that's on the bigger side of what I generally make (though probably an ale next time).

The rest of the bottles are in the kegerator chilling out at 32F until this 3724 Saison finishes up (which I'm learning might be a while) or I brew something else because I get tired of waiting (which is likely). We'll see how some extended cold storage does them.

Should I worry about bottle bombs if they get warm again? They wouldn't blow at 32F would they?

Cheers!

 

[Stauffbier]

Should I worry about bottle bombs if they get warm again? They wouldn't blow at 32F would they?

Cheers!

I had a back sweetened apple cider that I didn't pasteurize. I figured putting it in the fridge at about 36F would stop fermentation. It didn't! After 6 months I cracked one open, and it was majorly over carbed. It gushed the second I popped the top. It had been slowly attenuating in the bottle all along. I took the remaining ones (just a few) out and drank them up that night, so they wouldn't blow on me.

So, long story short.... your yeast can still ferment in the fridge, but it will do it very slowly. I would suggest drinking up that batch quickly.

 

[Dirtyoldguy366]

I was afraid of that. I'll try to at least hold out til the 4th of July.

 

[Stauffbier]

I was afraid of that. I'll try to at least hold out til the 4th of July.

I'm sure that will be fine. My cider took months to show signs of over attenuating.