Some advice needed for a newbie

[mattsibum]

Hi all,

Threw my 4th or 5th brew on a couple of weeks ago, was planning to bottle it a few days ago, around the 10 day mark, but the SG is still pretty high in comparison to the other brews I have done. This one is 13 days now in the fermenter, and stuck on 1014-1015 (from OG 1056).

Is that too high to be bottling tomorrow? It has been sitting on that SG since the beginning of the week, but I don't know how to get it to go lower (if even possible).

Heres what I did (if that helps):

- Coopers Bootmaker Pale Can
- Half a box of BE3
- Deliverance IPA grain kit with 1.5kg sugar
- Mangrove Jacks West coast yeast
- Citra hops added to boil with the grain kit.
- dry hopped with galaxy after fermenter stopped bubbling (about 3-4 day mark)

I am thinking of just bottling it and seeing how it goes, but would be keen for some feedback if anyone has any, for this brew or for future ones

Cheers
Matt

 

[MHB]

One point, what you put in is really important. How much water is just important!
Brew maths is all about concentrations, mass in volume (or mass/mass same same).
Clearly you are making more than a standard 23L brew but how much more is important.

Which leads to the point, one packet of yeast is at the low end of the recommended pitching range for a single brew, its a cripplingly low pitch for a double brew.

One of the common and easy ways to tell how yeast is preforming is apparent attenuation (AA%) (change over OG as a percentage), for this brew (56-15)/56*100 = 41/56*100 = 73% which is pretty low, for one of the Chico yeasts you would expect 75-78%.
The other way to tell is time, if you have enough yeast the brew will be over in 7 days max (FG in 4-5 days).

Using an appropriate pitch rate will give you better beer faster, which is all to the good.
Mark

 

[mattsibum]

One point, what you put in is really important. How much water is just important!
Brew maths is all about concentrations, mass in volume (or mass/mass same same).
Clearly you are making more than a standard 23L brew but how much more is important.

Which leads to the point, one packet of yeast is at the low end of the recommended pitching range for a single brew, its a cripplingly low pitch for a double brew.

One of the common and easy ways to tell how yeast is preforming is apparent attenuation (AA%) (change over OG as a percentage), for this brew (56-15)/56*100 = 41/56*100 = 73% which is pretty low, for one of the Chico yeasts you would expect 75-78%.
The other way to tell is time, if you have enough yeast the brew will be over in 7 days max (FG in 4-5 days).

Using an appropriate pitch rate will give you better beer faster, which is all to the good.
Mark

Thanks Mark, some great advice there. I did wonder if the yeast I put in was enough. BTW it is a 23L batch. Is there anything I can do now to salvage it or throw it out and start again?

Matt

 

[mongey]

what was the grain kit. Is that like a tin of extract , a fresh wort kit or actual grain that you steep or mash ?

your og 1056 seems pretty low for all those ingredients at 23l .if its 1014 I'd say it went pretty well