A word to the wise

[Nosybear]

After the Brew Day from Hell yesterday (and yes, it was a Helles), the following were my "lessons-relearned":

1. Build a wind screen. Colorado does not suck but it occasionally blows. And takes your flame with it.
2. Decoction takes a long time. When doing a decoction mash, make sure you don't have somewhere to be later that day. Picking grandkids up from the airport is not something that can wait.
3. The density of wort can vary greatly in an unstirred kettle. Don't trust your beer to a single reading without stirring first. I'm now out of DME and have much more beer than I'd planned.

 

[jeffpn]

I'm now out of DME and have much more beer than I'd planned.

First world problems! :lol:

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

and have much more beer than I'd planned

I didn't think that was possible lol I like to have at least 15 gallons on hand, you never know when friends show up and drink you dry in 2 days lol

 

[Nosybear]

Problem's not excess beer, it's not hitting the numbers. Being an engineer and process geek, an unexpected good result is (not quite) just as bad as an unexpected bad one: Something didn't go as planned. (Sigh) I'll just have to drink that extra beer to drown my sorrows....

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

cheers the that

 

[Nosybear]

I'll email you one, once conditioned.... ;-)

 

[Nosybear]

Had a bottle bomb go off in the basement a couple nights ago. It was a Belgian Dark Strong I'd done by first brewing a Blonde, then running the wort onto the yeast cake and oxygenating. Bottom line is it had stalled due to poor yeast health and I didn't realize it. Moral of the story, if your final gravity is way high, suspect something. Taste for sweetness - sugar sweetness - and if you find lingering, cloying sweetness (think soda), it's not done.

And, sadly, it's good beer but I'm having to dump the batch for safety reasons.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

you can always run it through a new yeast bath, just cold crash then pull off the top and add another pack or 2 of yeast, just like anew fermintation

 

[sbaclimber]

Had a bottle bomb go off in the basement a couple nights ago. It was a Belgian Dark Strong I'd done by first brewing a Blonde, then running the wort onto the yeast cake and oxygenating. Bottom line is it had stalled due to poor yeast health and I didn't realize it. Moral of the story, if your final gravity is way high, suspect something. Taste for sweetness - sugar sweetness - and if you find lingering, cloying sweetness (think soda), it's not done.

And, sadly, it's good beer but I'm having to dump the batch for safety reasons.

Sounds kinda stupid (and like a lot of work...), but couldn't you dump all of the bottles back into a fermentor with a bit of fresh yeast, and "re-"ferment down to a desirable FG before rebottling?

 

[Nosybear]

Sadly, I'd already added a "finishing" yeast because I knew my gravity was too high. No, this one goes down the drain. A shame because the beer is good, independently verified by a friend who got at least a couple of ounces out of a bottle.... My first thought was infection but when I couldn't smell or taste anything off, I thought of the process, of adding the candi syrup and watching fermentation grind to a halt, of knowing that the yeast will gladly eat the simple sugars in the syrup and leave the maltose behind.... There are a couple of lessons-learned in this one and with each bottle I open (mea culpa!), I'll burn them into the aging synapses....

 

[thorn rose]

As you develop new skills, don't forget the old one: You never know when you might have to make another extract-and-steep batch....
by (qua oc cho, hat oc cho)

 

[GreenFuzz]

I'm using an 8-gallon Speidel fermentor for five gallon batches.... And have still had to install blowoff tubes for a Belgian Blonde! Better safe than cleaning up an exploding carboy - use blowoff tubes for at least the first few days!

I'm curious how much karusen goes through the blowoff tube. I just got a 60L Speidel because my last batch of Barleywine made a complete mess even with a blowoff tube. I know the 60L is overkill for a 5 gal batch but I really hate a prolonged cleanup session!

 

[Nosybear]

With a 60 liter container holding 20 liters of fermenting beer, it's highly unlikely you will ever need a blowoff tube. Note I didn't say it was certain, just highly unlikely.

 

[BOB357]

Thought my 30 liter Speidel was overkill when I saw my marking for 5 gallons wasn't very far above the mid point. Wow! Sixty liters is OSHA approved safe Gotta admit though, I still use Fermcap-S.