IPA with nz hops

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Permalink Reply by Ralph on February 3, 2012 at 7:22pm

Hi Chris, what is the "orange mark" on the hydrometer? Mine does not have one so I have no idea what the SG is on the orange mark.

The high mash temperature should give you a full bodied beer which is likely to finish with a higher gravity than if you had the mash temperature lower.

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Permalink Reply by Chris P on February 3, 2012 at 7:43pm

Hey Ralph

1.040 is the orange mark. So in 6 and a bit days it has only dropped .014 . Because I did mash so high I now don't have a clue as to how low it will end up. Haha gotta love the first crack at BIAB. 

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Permalink Reply by Ralph on February 3, 2012 at 7:50pm

That is way high for a 7 day ferment. Sounds like your ferment is not going great either??

Is there a bad batch of US05 around? Have you kept the yeast refrigerated? Bought it from someone that has kept it temperature controlled, and checked that it is not past its use by date? Did you rehydrate the yeast in preboiled water at about 30 deg C before pitching?

I would probably pitch more yeast into yours as well. All my BIAB attempts fermented like crazy and some of them I probably mashed at close to 70 deg.

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Permalink Reply by Chris P on February 3, 2012 at 8:16pm

To be honest I have never rehydrated the yeast on any of my brews to date usually I have a slow take off and then it rockets away and is all ready for bottling within two weeks. I have another sachet of the 05 I can pitch in the morning. Will do the starter this time and hopefully it takes off. I hope the yeast isn't bad as this is the "go to" yeast for me so far. I may try out the WhiteLabs in the future now that Brewshop has them. Thanks for the tip 

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Permalink Reply by craig shilliday on February 3, 2012 at 3:44pm

hi Ralph

This is the grain bill,it's BIAB by the way.

4.8kg NZ MILD MALT (MALTEUROP)

830G NZ Munich

140 UK CRYSTAL

340 CARAPILS.

I did'nt get great efficiency with this only 62% i normally get at least high 60 early 70 .

I mashed at  67  but i used PH 5.2  for the first time,when i checked with hydrometer early it has dropped 1 point in about 5 days and pressure has built up on airlock again when i closed it maybe it's just very slow.

 

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Permalink Reply by Ralph on February 3, 2012 at 7:20pm

Craig, that sounds terribly slow. Most of the drop in Gravity should happen in the first 5 days or so with US05 if you have good yeast. I would grab some fresh yeast and try throwing some more fresh yeast at it if I were you.

The recipe looks quite high in crystal malt (munich+ crystal) but I would think it should still finish lower than 1024

Have you had a taste of it? If the ferment was really slow to start it is quite easy to get other bugs growing and if the yeast is stressed it sometimes makes pretty strange flavours.

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Permalink Reply by craig shilliday on February 3, 2012 at 7:49pm

Ralph

Yep not good i have done a few beers but this has been the worst , i will grab another yeast in the morning and pitch out of interest what would you change in the grain bill.

Im still learning about grains so is munich and crystal a bit to much in this.

Thanks for your help.

PS   I have tried it and its pretty good any way but just want to know why i am having slight problems with fermentation .

 

Cheers

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Permalink Reply by Ralph on February 3, 2012 at 8:05pm

Actually I had a bit more of a look at the recipe and it is probably fine. As you brew more you will get used to what flavours are coming from what ingredients and may find that you prefer different combinations of hops with different combinations of malts. From my experience I probably would have had slightly less munich and a bit more of a couple of different types of crystal malt to give the malt character more depth, but I might be brewing with different combinations of hops to what you are.

Great to hear it is tasting alright. I would expect it to finish down around 1.015 or under. 

If the ferment is now active, it may have just been slow to start and it is possible that the yeast will have now built itself up to a critical mass and that it will finish fermenting alright without addition of more yeast. I generally leave my brews for at least 2 weeks before I even check the SG, and by 2 weeks it is usually about where I want it to be.

Something else to consider is adding a yeast nutrient to your brew as this can help the yeast along. Is cheap from home brew stores.

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Permalink Reply by craig shilliday on February 13, 2012 at 3:44pm

Hi Ralph

I pitched another yeast on the beer but it never changed i used a S 04  , there was a slight coating on the hydrometer when i checked  after leaving it for about a week  but this may have just been the new yeast .??

I have bottled today and it tastes pretty good at moment but wonder if i have an infection.

Thanks

Time will tell

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Permalink Reply by Ralph on February 13, 2012 at 4:52pm

1.023 is probably in the range of where S04 would go down to. I would have thought that S05 would have gone down further though as S05 is supposed to attenuate lower than S04.

It is possible the high percentage of crystal malts will have contributed quite a few unfermentable maltodextrins into your wort which is why you have a high FG. This probably means that your beer will have a lot of body and more residual sweetness than usual. If you have done a high bitterness IPA this residual sweetness and body may be balanced by the bitterness and it could still be good beer?

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Permalink Reply by craig shilliday on February 3, 2012 at 3:48pm

Hi Ralph

sorry forgot to say Hydrometer is correct also

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Permalink Reply by Trevor Courtney on February 13, 2012 at 6:25pm

I just made one with Super Alpha at 60min, Motueka, Nelson Sauvin & NZ Cascade at 15 mins, NZ Cascade at 5 mins, NZ Cascade dry hop. Will bottle end this week.

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