Why is this SOOOO dry at 1.009?

[Brewpilot]

Hey, here is what I did, and it turned out no awful, but so dry and with a pretty powerful alcohol taste. The funny thing is that after a week in the primary, it was at 1.010 and it tasted great! A week later when I bottled it (from the primary) it was at 1.009 and it tasted completely different.

Grain

American 2 Row Pale (4.75lbs)
Wheat Malt (4 lbs)
American Crystal 20L (1.25 lbs)
Black Malt (1oz)

Single infusion mash settled at 156F for 50 minutes

Fly sparged 6.5 gallons
Final runoff was still 1.018
Pre boil was 1.034
Post boil was 1.045 5.25 gallons

Boil (60 min)

.5oz Kent Goldings pellets 6.0 AA @ 45 miunutes
.5oz Hallertau pellets 3.3 AA @ 15 minutes
1 tsp. Irish Moss @ 15 minutes

Cooled to 75F in 20 minutes
Added a healthy rehydrated 11g of Nottingham Yeast

Fermented for 8 days.... at 76-80F ( I KNOW BUT I AM A PILOT AND MY WIFE DOENST CONTROL THE TEMP IN THE HOUSE LIKE I WANT HER TO!)

Here is where I tasted it, at 1.010 and it was great. Let it clear and settle for another 4-5 days and it was at 1.009 and it ended up tasting REALLY dry and though no off flavors, it is pretty alcoholic (warm) tasting.

It is now bottle conditioning, I used 1 cup of clover honey that was boiled in 2 cups of water. I found it interesting that when I have used honey before, I had carbonated beer in 24 hours, NO KIDDING, then again I was using Windsor Yeast and it does not flocculate nearly as well as Nottingham. Am I waiting a while, since I pobably have alot less suspended yeast in my bottles? I have noticed ALOT less sediment than in the past few brews.

Maybe with a week or two it will carbonate and condition a little. But this is NOTHING like I thought it would taste. Any ideas fellas???

Brewpilot

 

[Desert_Sky]

the high fermenting temp is probably why you taste the fusel alcohols.

 

[david_42]

Fusel alcohols from the high ferment temperatures. They have lower taste thresholds than ethanol.

 

[Brewpilot]

I probably need to invest in some WLP yeast that can handle some higher temps than my cheap dry yeast eh? Or, hire a maid to keep the AC on in the house where I need it. I am buying a damn fridge and temp controller, that is it!

 

[Desert_Sky]

Nottingham dry yeast does pretty well at higher temps, or if you are in a dry climate, a wet towel and fan work wonders

 

[Brewpilot]

I DID use the Nottingham... because it was supposed to be a little cleaner than the Windsor to begin with. Who knows?

 

[Desert_Sky]

oops sorry. but with that said, if it was at 80 degrees during peak fermentation, I dont know too many strains that could handle those temps without off flavors.

do you live in a dry climate? have you tried the wet towel method? but then again, since your a pilot and gone alot, SWMBO would have to re-wet it every day or so. but I rely on using a wet towel everytime now, and it drops it 6-8 degrees from ambient temps

 

[Brewpilot]

I live in Indiana, where it CAN get somewhat humid. Yeah, I was on the road during day #1 and it was 77-81 degrees during the primary ferment per my wifey. Here is the deal from now on, I get about 10 consecutive days off during each month, I will brew when I am home to take care of it myself LOL I thought with the ammount of crystal malt I had, it would feel pretty full bodied. I will give it a cpl weeks in the bottles to carbonate and see what happens. It is drinkable, but not what I wanted I HATE TEMPERATURES IN THE SUMMER!!!!

 

[Desert_Sky]

one thing ive noticed.....

during peak fermentation, heat is produced so the towel needs to be wet during then. but once its slowed or stopped, the towel insulates and even though it dries out, it keeps it cool for a couple days.

 

[Brewsmith]

If you can get a bucket or even a shallow pan that the fermenter will fit in, fill it with as much water as it will hold with the carboy in it and put a t-shirt over it. The water will wick up the shirt as it evaporates. It will last several days with nobody needing to touch it.

 

[Brewpilot]

I really need a better way of keeping it cool... around 67 degrees so that even during the peak ferment, it won't get TOO HOT inside the carboy and cause issues. I did build a cooling box that is a large cardboard box with a duct that will port air conditioned air into it to use during the primary ferment. Of course I was not home to manage that process, so I didnt use it. DOH... It seems if I want to get a better outcome, I need to be there to manage it myself.
Other than that, does the recipe seem reasonable to everyone????????? It is my own design...

 

[Brewsmith]

The recipe looks fine for a wheat beer. What color are you getting with the oz of black malt?

 

[Brewpilot]

Not really much color, using it per Papazian to reduce chill haze and astringency... the color looks like I had calculated using just the 20L malt, cannot see any color from the black malt.

 

[Brewsmith]

That's about what I figured. Some times the oz. or so can give a reddish hue.

Like I said he recipe looks fine. Just try to keep the temps down next time and you shouldn't have the other problems.

It's still in the secondary, right?

 

[Brewpilot]

I dont use a secondary (yet)... read the part about the bottling portion. I used honey to carbonate, but it is carbonating alot slower than when I have used say, Windsor yeast... but, this Nottingham is ALOT more flocculant than Windsor, so I presume that is because I have less suspended yeast in the bottle to work. I will be home in about 4 days, a week after bottling, to see where it stands.

Ever used honey? Anyone ever seen a difference in flavor between using honey to carbonate and say, corn sugar????

 

[Brewsmith]

I don't have any experience with honey, and have always primed with corn sugar.

If you do notice some off flavors on a future brew, try keeping it in the primary a little longer, assuming you can steer it into proper temps. All the yeast have a way of munching on some of their by-products to get rid of them. That's essentially what happens in a diaceytl rest for a lager. Just more of the hazzards of racking or bottleing too soon.

You'll get the hang of it and the beer will improve.

 

[Brewpilot]

Currently I dont have a secondary... not a glass one, which is all I will use. It is next on my list to purchase. It was in the primary for nearly 2 weeks as it had just stopped "bubbling" when I had to head out for another 5 day trip.
I have had great luck in the past with only a single ferment, but then again, those times I had my temps much more in check.
I also think I am going to switch from honey to corn sugar, it is more predictable as far as the ammount of fermentables in a given quantity, and probably a little less expensive.