Weird results on day 1.

[mattjgalloway]

I had a brew day yesterday (my 4th overall), and broke one of the key rules which will help determine why something has happened. I changed up a lot of variables! I did my first BIAB, I used Whirlfloc for the first time, and I am attempting a lower alcohol IPA.

Here is the recipe I was going for:
0.55kg Maris Otter 5EBC
0.12kg Crystal 150EBC
0.10kg Caramalt 30EBC

* Mosaic hops on a schedule I've used before - so at least that variable I didn't change!
* US-05 yeast.
* 1 gallon / 4.5 litres.
* Used StarSan for the first time on a complete brew day.
* I ended up not having enough space in my pot to put the whole boil volume during mashing. So I kept 1 litre back and added before boiling.
* Mashed at around 67C for 1 hour.

I really was playing it loose yesterday when I was brewing! But I paid attention to sanitation (I always do) and I made sure volumes and temperatures were good.

I had an estimated OG of 1.039 and hit that exactly. So I'm pretty pleased with that.

Attached is a picture of the brew about 18 hours after pitching. It's starting to bubble away nicely, but I have never seen it look like that before. Sure, it's only my 4th brew day, but the other 3 looked exactly the same.

Also, it's *really* dark. It wasn't supposed to be this dark. BrewSmith says 24.8 EBC. This looks a lot darker than that from what I can tell.

I'm not worried just yet, but just a little confused, especially with the colour.

Any thoughts?!

 

[m00ps]

well from the recipe you posted, youve got a whopping 28-29% crystal malts in there. That would explain the color. That is way, way too high for an IPA. I dont like to put any crystal in mine and would limit it to 10% even in something like a chocolate stout

crystal malts also provide a lot of unfermentable dextrins if I remember right which may explain the weird floaty looking krausen

 

[mattjgalloway]

Yeh, it is certainly a weird recipe I know that. This brew is a bit of a sample to go a little "mad". I tasted the wort (the sample I took for the OG reading) and it was actually pretty nice! I really like the flavour of the crystal malts.

I know it won't really be an IPA. It's an attempt to create something a little unique and really sample the flavours of the things I've got. Like I say, it was pretty tasty so far!

 

[m00ps]

actually taking a second look at that, I think you're pretty short on headspace. Might want to rig a blowoff unless you want a mess on your hands. Just a heads up. Fermentation usually peaks 36-48hrs in most cases for me

 

[mattjgalloway]

Yeh it's got a blowoff. The tube in the photo is the blow off. It's bubbling away nicely into the tub of sanitiser. The last two brews bubbled over a little, so I'm sure this one will too!

 

[Biscuits]

As a 1 gallon recipe, I calculated your color to be @ 33.2 EBC.

 

[Hello]

Looks like break material, which is fine. The amount of crystal, as you were already told, is the cause of the dark color. In spite of the dark color, it will be slightly lighter. The volume itself makes the wort look slightly darker. It will still be dark. You will need a blow off.

 

[mattjgalloway]

Looks like break material, which is fine.

That's good to know. On my last brews, the break material settled pretty much straight away. Then got churned up when the beer was vigorously fermenting. Do you know why it's floating in this one?

 

[mattjgalloway]

As a 1 gallon recipe, I calculated your color to be @ 33.2 EBC.

Hmm. BrewSmith says 24.8 EBC. Any idea why it would be different? It's 4.5 litres I've been going for to be precise.

Also, isn't even 33.2 meant to be a lot lighter than that? Of course, it's really hard to see in the photo so maybe you can't answer that!

 

[Biscuits]

I usually deal with American metrics...so, converting it may make it a little off.

With 4.5 litre = roughly 1.2 gal.

Marris Otter = 3(SRM) or @ 6.8 EBC
Crystal = 60(SRM) or @ 158 EBC
Cara = 10(SRM) or @ 25 EBC

I put you roughly at 11.5 SRM which is @ 29.3 EBC