Irish Ale Fix

[DKS]

I made an Irish ale using my new little brown pumps for the first time and ended up way over OG. Made 1/2 the 46lt batch that was a bit sickly sweet and not dry enough.Heres specs.
Red 45Lt
Irish Red Ale


Type: All Grain
Date: 7/09/2011
Batch Size: 45.00 L
Brewer: Daz
Boil Size: 50.46 L Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Equipment 45lt
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 74.00
Taste Notes: Finished a bit sweet and cloying Needs to be dryer First 1/2 batch. Not a bad beer but not an Irish red ale to speak of. Try a dif yeast with 2nd 1/2 of batch to dry it out.

Recipe Specs
----------------


Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.75 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 85.65 %
0.35 kg Caraaroma (256.1 EBC) Grain 3.88 %
0.35 kg Carared (Weyermann) (47.3 EBC) Grain 3.88 %
0.30 kg Crystal (Joe White) (141.8 EBC) Grain 3.32 %
65.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.10 %] (60 min) Hops 17.5 IBU
24.00 gm Northern Brewer [9.00 %] (15 min) Hops 5.7 IBU
24.00 gm Fuggles [5.10 %] (5 min) Hops 1.3 IBU
20.00 gm Fuggles [5.10 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
2.39 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
2.39 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
2.39 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Misc
0.30 kg Brown Sugar, Light (15.8 EBC) Sugar 3.27 %
2 Pkgs Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) [Cultured] Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.060 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.59 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.00 %
Bitterness: 24.5 IBU Calories: 568 cal/l
Est Color: 22.0 EBC Color: Color


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out Total Grain Weight: 8.75 kg
Sparge Water: 36.41 L Grain Temperature: 22.2 C
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C TunTemperature: 22.2 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 22.82 L of water at 71.9 C 65.6 C



Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) Volumes of CO2: 2.6
Pressure/Weight: 169.2 KPA Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 15.6 C Age for: 28.0 days

Efficiency was better than my usuall, Ill take that as a learning experiance for my new gear (ie: recirc of mash/ pumps) and have made adjustments to calculations since.
With 2nd 1/2 of batch in cube. Questions now are:
Would I be able to dry this thing out with an alternative yeast with a similar profile?
How else can I keep the body in it but make it dryer?

Im not concerned about alc% of finished beer if it high its high, so what.
Thoughts? I was thinking yeast Maybe you have other ideas.Cheers
Daz

 

[brettprevans]

OG and sweetness are neccesarily related. given the relatively small OGs your talking about, id say your yeast hadnt finished fermenting (ie under attenuated).

as for dryness, thats more about mash temp. I would have said your mash temp was ok for an irish red. I mashed my 2010 3rd place vicbrew irish red at those temps. but if you want a dryer beer you could mash slightly lower. although im suspecting its a stalled ferment more than anything. although re reading your post FG was 1012 which is ok.

your % crystal is fine

nfi man. w1084 is a cracker of a yeast. 2 packets in such a small beer should gave canned through.

 

[Lecterfan]

I'm still trying to make a 'great' red ale. For me, your (measured) FG of 1.014 and 24 IBUs is a bit of a concern - not going to get much dryness out of that. Wy1084 sometimes needs extra rousing towards the end of ferment as although it has a dry finish, this can easily be hidden by residual sweetness. I would be thinking it is under attenuated and would be looking at the behaviour of wy1084 for that. I often finish off beers up to 22c with wy1084 to get rid of the last few gravity points.

Just my 2c...one of the few yeasts I've used a lot of. YMMV as they say.

 

[Bribie G]

Wy 1084 is more than likely related to Guinness strain, I always run mine at least 22 and if it wants to go up to 25 I let it. I currently have a FES on some yeast cake from the Irish Red I put into CC the other day. It's at 20 and the krausen is hardly setting the world on fire, so I've switched the fridge off and see how it goes over the next couple of days.

If you're BABBing in a couple of weeks I'm entering a red in the Minicomp if you want to try a beer made on 1084 at those temps.

 

[DKS]

OG and sweetness are neccesarily related. given the relatively small OGs your talking about, id say your yeast hadnt finished fermenting (ie under attenuated).

as for dryness, thats more about mash temp. I would have said your mash temp was ok for an irish red. I mashed my 2010 3rd place vicbrew irish red at those temps. but if you want a dryer beer you could mash slightly lower. although im suspecting its a stalled ferment more than anything. although re reading your post FG was 1012 which is ok.

your % crystal is fine

nfi man. w1084 is a cracker of a yeast. 2 packets in such a small beer should gave canned through.

Thanks for your interest CM2,
FG stopped at 1014, but because sg was over I pushed on to keg stage. I guess I could have added water at that stage but thought I probably would have thinned it out.
The 2pkts was actually slurry saved from a previous brew but reguardless volume of yeast should have been more than capable and was stable a few days. Also it didnt dry any over the month or so in the keg.
Mash temp was pretty well on the knocker. My double batches looses, oh, maybe a degree over 60mins.

Dont get me wrong it was not a bad beer but the reason I went to double batch was to tweak an average beer to a great beer and thats what Im looking for.
Ive posted at Beersmith.com asking why when I formulate a recipe my final gravs are always a little high no matter how I try to tweak basemalt, crystals, adjuncts etc in the grain bill. Seems Im always looking for those few extra points. Cheers
Daz

 

[katzke]

Ive posted at Beersmith.com asking why when I formulate a recipe my final gravs are always a little high no matter how I try to tweak basemalt, crystals, adjuncts etc in the grain bill. Seems Im always looking for those few extra points. Cheers
Daz

You sure your mash temp is what you think it is? Thermometers are notorious for reading incorrect. Check in ice water, at boil, and against a different thermometer at mash temp or close. I run hot tap water over mine to check close to mash temps.

I gave up on dial thermometers as I found mine was close at 0 and boil and off in the middle. Never was the same twice either.

I now use a glass stick with a stainless sheath. Never have broken it or my hydro. Your results may be different.