What Went Wrong

[Brewme]

G'day to all,

I have just made my 1st AG brew and am wondering what might have gone wrong.

It's been in the fermenter for 8 days at 20C and there is still a thick sludge on top (Krausen, I believe).

Hydrometer reads: 1.008

My method was:-

3 Kg Joe White Traditional Ale Malt
1 Kg Weyermann Ale Malt
200 gr Crystal Malt
30 gr POR hops......at start of boil
12 gr Saaz finishing hops........10 minutes before end of boil
Safale US-05 yeast

13 litres of water at 77C into an esky.
Put the grains in and gave them a stir.
1 hour later I poured the liquid into the boiler (urn).
Sparged with another 6 litres of water at 70C and added this to the urn.
Boiled for 1 hour.

When cooled, I strained the wort into the fermenter with a total of 8 litres.
Topped it up to 19 litres with SG 1.040 at 22C.

Sprinkled the yeast onto the wort and covered the fermenter with clingwrap.

After 8 days there does not appear to be any activity in the sludge.....Just bubbles not doing anything.

Should I bottle this lot and give it away as Xmas presents OR will it come good ?

Any advice so I don't stuff-up the next one ?

Cheers

 

[bignath]

G'day to all,

I have just made my 1st AG brew and am wondering what might have gone wrong.

It's been in the fermenter for 8 days at 20C and there is still a thick sludge on top (Krausen, I believe).

Hydrometer reads: 1.008

My method was:-

3 Kg Joe White Traditional Ale Malt
1 Kg Weyermann Ale Malt
200 gr Crystal Malt
30 gr POR hops......at start of boil
12 gr Saaz finishing hops........10 minutes before end of boil
Safale US-05 yeast

13 litres of water at 77C into an esky.
Put the grains in and gave them a stir.
1 hour later I poured the liquid into the boiler (urn).
Sparged with another 6 litres of water at 70C and added this to the urn.
Boiled for 1 hour.

When cooled, I strained the wort into the fermenter with a total of 8 litres.
Topped it up to 19 litres with SG 1.040 at 22C.

Sprinkled the yeast onto the wort and covered the fermenter with clingwrap.

After 8 days there does not appear to be any activity in the sludge.....Just bubbles not doing anything.

Should I bottle this lot and give it away as Xmas presents OR will it come good ?

Any advice so I don't stuff-up the next one ?

Cheers

When you say you poured the liquid

EDIT: Computer did something really weird whilst trying to reply. Hence, this type of response probably makes no sense at all..

 

[jonocarroll]

< Grrr - everyone's gonna quote the whole post to add a single point, aren't they? >

Just curious on a couple of points:

- you say 'poured into the boiler' - do you have some sort of manifold or filter-bed? How does your wort get from the mash-tun to your kettle?
- you say 'when cooled' you strained into the fermenter... was it in the kettle until then, or did you have it in a 'cube', or used a chiller?
- are you using ferment temperature control, or going by the stick-on thermometer?

What makes you think that something is wrong? Krausen will usually fall back into the brew, but not always. US-05 I might expect it to, but there's a few factors that may change it. If it smells/tastes okay then it may be perfectly okay. Don't start worrying about giving it away just yet.

Edit: Don't you hate it when you a word.

 

[cdbrown]

what does it taste like?

 

[bignath]

QuantumBrewer just said what i was trying to say before it all went weirdly wrong...

 

[Nick JD]

13 litres of water at 77C into an esky.

You've mashed at 71C. That's quite high.

You've boiled your hops in a 1.100 solution. That's twice the gooeyness you want for boiling hops.

Are you sure it's at 1.008? Seems low for that mash. I'd say it might be a sweetish beer, still drinkable, but that FG reading has me wondering if there's something else in there eating stuff.

What's it taste like?

 

[beachy]

You've mashed at 71C. That's quite high.

You've boiled your hops in a 1.100 solution. That's twice the gooeyness you want for boiling hops.

Are you sure it's at 1.008? Seems low for that mash. I'd say it might be a sweetish beer, still drinkable, but that FG reading has me wondering if there's something else in there eating stuff.

What's it taste like?

How do you get a mash temp of 71C ? The mash temp will depend a lot on the grain temp and even the esky temp.My mash always settles 9-10C below water temp.

From 1040 to 1008 ( 80% att) is very normal for US05 at any mash temp with only a small amount of crystal

There is probably nothing wrong at all just try dropping the temp to about 16C if you can and the yeast will probably drop out in a day or two

 

[whitegoose]

I don't even understand from your post what you think the problem is? The krausen?

Your gravity reading of 1.008 is great. If it doesn't move tomorrow, bottle it!

 

[Bribie G]

OK this exact thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago, after brewing an American Malt Liquor for two whole weeks and ending up in the same condition as the OP. this is something that US-05 will sometimes do to you as it is a genuine ale yeast . It won't do it every time, often it will just hang around with an annoying little scum on the top, but according to the batch it can rise to the top and sit there like the cream on a capuccino . I even rang Ross at Craftbrewer for some advice, and that's from a fairly seasoned AG brewer myself if I may modestly say.
As posted above I took a reading and kegged off straight away. Let the hydrometer be your friend, you'll be fine.

 

[haysie]

No flies on BG, iTS A US05 thing for sure, scum, krausen, fully attentuated+, no malt flavor.

 

[Bribie G]

No flies on BG, iTS A US05 thing for sure, scum, krausen, fully attentuated+, no malt flavor.

Yup, as Haysie hints at, it's great for fake lagers , even made a couple of convincing Corona fakes for rellies (no I won't post that photo again) B)

 

[BjornJ]

 

[Bribie G]

Mate I'm getting too old to have groupies h34r:

 

[BjornJ]

sorry, couldn't help myself!!!

:lol:



Bjorn

 

[Nick JD]

How do you get a mash temp of 71C ? The mash temp will depend a lot on the grain temp and even the esky temp.My mash always settles 9-10C below water temp.

From 1040 to 1008 ( 80% att) is very normal for US05 at any mash temp with only a small amount of crystal

There is probably nothing wrong at all just try dropping the temp to about 16C if you can and the yeast will probably drop out in a day or two

4.2kg of room temp (25C malt) and 13L of 77C strike water = 71C mash temperature.

1.040 of that dropping to 1.008 ... hmmmmm. Interesting.

 

[beachy]

4.2kg of room temp (25C malt) and 13L of 77C strike water = 71C mash temperature.

1.040 of that dropping to 1.008 ... hmmmmm. Interesting.

Who said the room temp was 25C ??? :blink:

1040 to 1008, 80% attenuation, VERY normal for US05 so drop the temp down to about 16C, the yeast should drop and then it is ready to bottle or keg :beer:

 

[np1962]

4.2kg of room temp (25C malt) and 13L of 77C strike water = 71C mash temperature.

1.040 of that dropping to 1.008 ... hmmmmm. Interesting.

In Adelaide yesterday morning 4.4kg grain at ambient, 16c, into ss tun with 12L @ 75c got me 66c mash temp

 

[Bribie G]

Nick what you have to appreciate is that some people do not have our luxury of living in sub tropical ambient paradise but in their defense they don't have to put up with Anna Bligh or even shudder Jean Paule Langenbroeke de la coiffure d'elegance <_<

:icon_offtopic: would you buy a used car...............

 

[Nick JD]

Sorry, I wasn't thinking some people brew in squalid conditions fit only for eskimos.

16C? Brrrr. What a shithole . I'll send you a pair of thermal dungarees and perhaps a sock to wrap your droopy nuts in.

Michael - you know you can eliminate politics from your life instantly? Ignore the media - it's easy. I'll only know WW3 has broken out when there are troops in tanks driving down the street ... and until then I'll be quite happy.

After, even happier - because finally all my home made incendiary devices will be useful :blink:

 

[Brewme]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for a quick reply.

The points I missed:-

As I don't have an elaborate setup (yet), I just wanted to have a go at AG with available equipment. I have a 26 litre esky that doesn't have a drainplug. It's a cheap model with little insulation.

The room temperature was 19-20C consistently for a few days now. When I added the grains to the hot water and stirred, I checked the mash temp was 67C.

When the time came to transfer the liquid to the boiler (urn), I picked the esky up and slowly poured the contents into the boiler which was lined with swiss voille material.

After hoisting and squeezing the bag, I tipped the grain back into the esky. Did a quick sparge with about 6 litres of hot water.

Strained the lot again through the swiss voille into the boiler.

Started the boil.

The POR hops was in a swiss voille bag. The Saaz was in a teabag form from the LHBS.

I also used Whirlfloc about 10 mins before end of boil.

Put the lid on the urn and let it cool for a few hours...16 I think.

As I don't have an appropriate sized hose to transfer the wort from the urn into the carboy, I just tipped the whole lot into the carboy, strained through the swiss voille again.

Pitched the yeast.


Today, I took another sample and the reading is still 1.008. It tasted OK but I'm not used to drinking 'flat' beer.

Peeled the clingwrap back a little and had a whiff. Smells nice and the C02 that I inhaled sure cleaned out the nasal passages.

NOW, do I have to chill it and add some Polyclar to clear it up before kegging ?

Cheers and thanks again to all for your replies / comments.


PS: If it turns out OK, I'll get a decent Chillco brand icebox and rig it up accordingly.