42 total batches under my belt; one I dumped likely prematurely; it was probably ok.... this one I'm not so sure about.
This is my most common recipe, I've done it with various minor tweaks probably at least half a dozen times, so I know how it is supposed to behave. It is roughly half and half 2-row and white wheat malt, with a little bit of carapils. Yeast is WB-06. Normally it's a quick finisher, tastes very good, cheap, just one of my all around favorites. It was my base recipe for my first attempt at a fruit addition in the fermenter (shredded fresh orange peel) which came out great.
So I've got a 10 gallon batch that is two weeks in, normally kegging time. I go to keg yesterday (yup, put one of them in the keg first). Gravity reading: 1.025
It normally finishes 1.009 to 1.011 depending. This is a 3.6% sugar bomb. The flavor/aroma character is more apple than the normal orange.
It is undrinkable as is, too sweet.
Even though WB-06 is dry, I mix it up in a starter for reuse so effectively for me it is like liquid. I've read before that to get the best flavors out of it, you need to "stress" the yeast by reducing oxygen and underpitching.
Looking at my notes I've been trending more in that direction with each batch. My second to last batch that finished at about 1.010-11, I splashed the wort on the way into the fermenter, and pitched half a normal size starter.
This time I still used half the normal size starter in each carboy, but with two additional changes: Used a hose to drain to the middle of the carboy from the kettle, so very little splashing (O2 likely very low) and also I added some yeast nutrient during the boil, which I usually don't do. It was about 6 TSP in a 10 gallon batch; just over half of what is recommended on the package.
Fermentation on this is normally fairly vigorous/it blows off. This was much more subdued with only about a half inch of krausen at the most. I guess that was a sign.
Any ideas on exactly what went wrong? Just went too far down the "stress the yeast" path and finally hit the wall?
What should I do with the non-kegged carboy? If no other ideas, I'm thinking throw some gluco in and see what happens.
This is my most common recipe, I've done it with various minor tweaks probably at least half a dozen times, so I know how it is supposed to behave. It is roughly half and half 2-row and white wheat malt, with a little bit of carapils. Yeast is WB-06. Normally it's a quick finisher, tastes very good, cheap, just one of my all around favorites. It was my base recipe for my first attempt at a fruit addition in the fermenter (shredded fresh orange peel) which came out great.
So I've got a 10 gallon batch that is two weeks in, normally kegging time. I go to keg yesterday (yup, put one of them in the keg first). Gravity reading: 1.025
It normally finishes 1.009 to 1.011 depending. This is a 3.6% sugar bomb. The flavor/aroma character is more apple than the normal orange.It is undrinkable as is, too sweet.
Even though WB-06 is dry, I mix it up in a starter for reuse so effectively for me it is like liquid. I've read before that to get the best flavors out of it, you need to "stress" the yeast by reducing oxygen and underpitching.
Looking at my notes I've been trending more in that direction with each batch. My second to last batch that finished at about 1.010-11, I splashed the wort on the way into the fermenter, and pitched half a normal size starter.
This time I still used half the normal size starter in each carboy, but with two additional changes: Used a hose to drain to the middle of the carboy from the kettle, so very little splashing (O2 likely very low) and also I added some yeast nutrient during the boil, which I usually don't do. It was about 6 TSP in a 10 gallon batch; just over half of what is recommended on the package.
Fermentation on this is normally fairly vigorous/it blows off. This was much more subdued with only about a half inch of krausen at the most. I guess that was a sign.
Any ideas on exactly what went wrong? Just went too far down the "stress the yeast" path and finally hit the wall?
What should I do with the non-kegged carboy? If no other ideas, I'm thinking throw some gluco in and see what happens.
