Well now you haven't got enough bittering. I would recommend using both the Chinook AND the Apollo for bittering. 
Yeast question
- Thread starter redrocker652002
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Thank you for that. My plan is to leave it in the fermenter for at least 2 weeks, I think the Bry97 said that is how long to go, then add the dry hops and wait about 3 to 5 days and either keg or bottle depending on what is available at the time. I mistyped that part so I am glad you caught it. I am going to run two batches as I have just about finished my 805 similar beer as well. Thanks again for the input, it is most appreciated.
Good call I actually updated Brewfather when I saw that and included both and it kicked it up to about 56 or so I think. Forgot to change the post. Sorry and thanks for catching it.Well now you haven't got enough bittering. I would recommend using both the Chinook AND the Apollo for bittering.
So, here is my final recipe. Per Brewfather ABV is around 6.4% and IBU is at about 56. I think I am in the ballpark here.
12 pounds 2 Row
2 pounds Munich malt
4oz 60L
4oz 20L
4oz Honey Malt (game time decision on this one, the package isn't opened yet. LOL)
Hops:
.5oz Chinook at 60
.5oz Apollo at 60
.5oz Amarillo at 10
1oz Citra at 5
1oz Citra at 1
2oz Citra Dry hop
.5oz Amarillo Dry hop
Bry97 yeast
While I type this, I still cannot help but wonder if I am overloading the Citra, but I bought it so might as well give it a try. Unless somebody has a really strong argument against. LOL. RR
12 pounds 2 Row
2 pounds Munich malt
4oz 60L
4oz 20L
4oz Honey Malt (game time decision on this one, the package isn't opened yet. LOL)
Hops:
.5oz Chinook at 60
.5oz Apollo at 60
.5oz Amarillo at 10
1oz Citra at 5
1oz Citra at 1
2oz Citra Dry hop
.5oz Amarillo Dry hop
Bry97 yeast
While I type this, I still cannot help but wonder if I am overloading the Citra, but I bought it so might as well give it a try. Unless somebody has a really strong argument against. LOL. RR
Update. My OG according to brewfather was supposed to be 1.061. I am at 1.052. I am bummed, but going to continue on. All I care about is the beer tastes good. So we shall see. Obviously I am not getting quite the efficiency that I thought. Oh well Cooling down to about 80 or so, pitching Bry97 and we will see where we go.
Quick update, closet is sitting about 65 or so and both my beers are bubbling away. I did not hit my numbers on the IPA, but we will see how it tastes. On the good side, I kept mash temp anywhere between 147 to 155, so I also felt good about that. Maybe just did not grab as much sugar from he grain as I hoped, but it is what it is. I will try and keep this updated until I get it in the glass. Rock On!!!!!
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A few things come to mind:
- Was your final (post boil) volume correct?
- Did you have much wort left over in the kettle, with the trub?
- How finely or coarsely was your grist milled? Most big suppliers (NB, MoreBeer, etc.) mill like crap, very coarsely.
- How well did you lauter (drain) the wort?
- Did you sparge (rinse) the grain and how well?
The other thing is your settings in Brewfather. The mash and/or brewhouse efficiency may be set (or estimated) too high.
It usually takes a few brews to hone in on the correct efficiency prediction.
I did not check my post boil, my bad. My preboil was low also so I wasn't expecting to hit it, just was hoping to get a bit closer.
I have maybe a quarter gallon, if that, left over. I did a dunk sparge and ended up with a small amount left there too. I have calculated my preboil amount to be somewhere between 6.75 and 7 gallons for me to get down to 5 into the fermenter.
Grain was milled by Morebeer. I have asked for a second milling and they have told me they do not do that, so who knows. I am thinking of getting a mill of my own to do it myself, but cannot justify the expense right now.
The bazooka screen I have in my boil kettle was a bit clogged, but I got most of it out. I sprayed a bunch of starsan on my hand and basically cleared the trub from the screen to get the last of the liquid out. I ended up with 5 gallons in the bucket.
I agree I think I am too high on my numbers in Brewfather. I have to play around with it. Not sure what to do there, but I figure knowing the OG, I can mess with the efficiency until I get the OG in Brewfather to match my OG of the batch.
Also, this is a BIAB setup, not sure what to do about the lautering part. But I am learning. The other batch I did, a kit from Morebeer, the OG was spot on. So, maybe it was something I did. Thanks for the reply, Rock on!!!!!
OK, so I set the OG on Brewfather to what I got, 1.052 and changed the efficiency number until the grain bill was about where my recipe was. So, if I did it right, I got about 62% efficiency and should have added a pound plus of 2 row, half pound of munich and slight amounts of the crystals. Does this sound about right? should I adjust my efficiency number down for now and assume I am going to be in that area for batches going forward?
You have no control over the mash efficiency when someone else does the milling. They may change the mill gap at any time and the mill may wear and change the gap.
Ah, you have the option of a much finer milling. I use a Corona style mill and it works well with BIAB. Being so cheap for the mill means the difference in the cost of the lesser amount of grain it will pay for itself quickly. For an example here is one on Amazon, not necessarily the cheapest price for one.
https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Qual...ocphy=9020241&hvtargid=pla-275636958843&psc=1
Before you adjust for the efficiency you got, you need to make more beer to see if it stays constant or if your technique improves the efficiency....unless you get a mill like I mentioned. Then you need to make at least 2 batches before you adjust for efficiency.
Quick update. Most of the activity in the airlock has completed. It has been in the bucket in my closet for 8 days, so I thought I would give it a gravity and taste test. Here is what I found:
Gravity: 1.003 which, given the 1.052 OG puts me at about 6.4 ABV. Not bad.
Taste test: Grapefruit lemon and citrus, finished a bit dry though. Warm and uncarbonated it didn't taste bad. I am hoping once it is carbonated and cold it will be ever better.
Next step: Take another reading on Tuesday or Wednesday and add dry hops. If all goes well, kegging or bottling will take place either Saturday or Sunday morning.
I know I missed my OG number, but the yeast did it's thing and put me in the right ABV range, so I am pretty happy there. Might adjust the grain bill next time to get my OG up a bit.
Gravity: 1.003 which, given the 1.052 OG puts me at about 6.4 ABV. Not bad.
Taste test: Grapefruit lemon and citrus, finished a bit dry though. Warm and uncarbonated it didn't taste bad. I am hoping once it is carbonated and cold it will be ever better.
Next step: Take another reading on Tuesday or Wednesday and add dry hops. If all goes well, kegging or bottling will take place either Saturday or Sunday morning.
I know I missed my OG number, but the yeast did it's thing and put me in the right ABV range, so I am pretty happy there. Might adjust the grain bill next time to get my OG up a bit.
That's quite low for FG, hence the (unexpected) dryness. Your wort must have been very fermentable, possibly due to mashing at low(er) temps.
Did you end up using Nottingham?
BRY-97. It took off fast. I bet if I would have hit the 1.061 that Brewfather said I should have, it would have been a bit better. I might try it again and add a pound or two of 2 row and munich and see what I end up with.
Heck, now I am being told on the other forum that my number is off? Poster said that he does not think BRY97 would ferment to that low of a FG. I swear I don't think I am built for this. I thought I had a pretty good beer here, but now I am wondering. Oh well, guess I will just wait and see. Damn it.
Why? If it's done fermenting it's done fermenting, and if it tastes good it tastes good.
Lallemand says that BRY-97 should attentuate 78-84%. So maybe your SG reading is off a little. How did you measure and did you make the appropriate corrections?
I used my Hydrometer on that as well. I thought I had it nailed pretty well, but I could have missed by a point or two. The wort may have been warm too. I put it in the fridge but never actually took the temp before I tested it. I tested my hydrometer with room temp water this morning, and it read just about 1.000 so I think I am ok there. But who knows. LOL.
BrewnWKopperKat
(Ο_Ο)
The other common possibility is contamination / infection. Over attenuation can be caused by almost anything added after the boil.
I see from that topic that you are planning to take an additional FG measurement in a couple of days.
from that 'other' other forum, where they have a wiki that consolidates and peer reviews content:
"Your beer is ready to bottle or keg when:
- The gravity is stable at its true terminal gravity over readings at least two days apart. The true terminal gravity can only be determined by running a Forced Fermentation Test (not a beginner technique), but it's reasonable to use the estimated FG from your recipe or brewing software.
- The yeast have dropped out and the beer is looking fairly clear (for styles that are not intended to be hazy). Chilling the beer to as close to freezing as you can get, if you can, will speed up clearing. So will using finings, such as gelatin, in the fermenter. Especially if the beer is very cold.
- The beer tastes free from off flavors that might be cured from further maturation on the yeast cake, such as diacetyl (artificial butter, slick mouthfeel), acetaldehyde (latex paint, drunk breath, browning apples, fresh cut unripe apples), or green off flavor (harshness, roughness, unpleasant in back of throat)."
Topics do quietly flow from forum to forum. Don't be surprised to see more disucssion on possible contanimation sources showing up in other forums over the next 4 to 6 week.
Recipe software fails us when it comes to estimated FG. It should be a range, not a number and certainly not a number with digits after the decimal point.
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Yeast is a living organism and it does what it wants. While not typical, sometimes due to the conditions being just right, yeast will attenuate farther than is expected. If the beer tastes good, quit worrying about the low FG. It could be a mistake in reading the hydrometer or it could just be the yeast liking the conditions and going farther than expected.
BrewnWKopperKat
(Ο_Ο)
Taking the time to confirm that fermentation has stopped (2, maybe 3, FG measurements) is a good way to help avoid a batch of gushers if one is bottling.
edits: formatting
eta: to state the obvious: the purpose of the Forced Fermentation test is to understand what the yeast want to do with this batch. I generally don't do one, but that has consequences when FG comes in lower then expected at the end of fermentation.
edits: formatting
eta: to state the obvious: the purpose of the Forced Fermentation test is to understand what the yeast want to do with this batch. I generally don't do one, but that has consequences when FG comes in lower then expected at the end of fermentation.
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Thanks to all who replied. I am still learning and I am going to run this one all the way thru and see where I end up. Going to check Gravity again in the next day or two, then once more before dry hop. I adjusted my Brewfather efficiency to show OG where I measure it at 1.054, and it states that I should be around 1.010 for FG. While 1.003 is still low, I am a bit closer I think than I thought I was. When I tasted it, I did not notice any off flavors, just a bit dry at the finish if that makes sense. My wife, who is not a beer drinker at all, did not notice anything when she tasted it either. Commented it has a very Grapefruit/Lemon taste. I will take another gravity reading maybe Tuesday and Wednesday and hope to dry hop Wednesday and bottle or keg Saturday or Sunday. All of this, of course, is if my FG number does not change. We shall see where it ends up. Once again, thank you to all who replied and putting up with my, mostly, stupid questions and ignorant rants of what I should or should not be doing. All the info is helping me get to where I want to be.
Try checking the temperature of your gravity sample, and make the correction. There is a calculator here: Hydrometer Temperature Calculator | Brewer's Friend
And they are definitely not stupid questions.
And they are definitely not stupid questions.
I will definitely keep this link for future reference. Thank you. I don't think I made note of what the temp was when I did it initially.
OK, so as a somewhat final post for this one. It has been kegged for about a week at about 12psi. I know it is not carbed all the way, but shoot me, I am impatient. I pulled a small sample from the keg, temp of the beer out was about 42 degrees. Aroma, very citrus smell to me. Smells very good, so let's continue on. LOL. Taste test: Can very much taste the Citra. Has a very citrus taste, kinda grapefruit lemon taste. Very crisp finsh. I really dig it, but wonder if another addition might calm the citra down a bit and round it out. Might try a kettle addition next time, maybe Amarillo or one of my home grown. Either way, it isn't bad, but a very strong hoppy beer that I can see if you only dig that type. I will try it again, upping the grain bill to get closer to my OG and maybe add a hop or two during the boil to try and calm the Citra a bit. But, as of now anyway, I will enjoy it as it is.
With the amount of Citra you used, I doubt that any other addition will calm it down. I love to use Citra along with Amarillo or Cascade, giving the beer orange or grapefruit flavors respectively but Citra by itself to me tastes of Mango. Try making this beer again but use a neutral bittering hop like Magnum or Nugget (one ounce works for me) and no late additions. Then dry hop with one ounce of Citra and one ounce of Amarillo.
