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kierank

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I have asked about this issue before and it has raised it's ugly head again. I made up a brew a couple of months and had it stored in a cube. I decided to ferment it 6 days ago. S.G. started at 1046 and after 6 days fermenting at 20 deg. C , checked it last night and F.G is at 1026. I pitched a Craft Series U K dark ale yeast (dry) to start with. After checking it last night I gave it a stir and added a yeast that I had washed from a dark ale brew just to see if I could restart my brew. The only thing I can come up with is the yeast has been sitting on the shelf in the brew shop and has gotten too hot and most of it has died. Anybody had similar issues. Any suggestions? Kieran

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Well assuming that everything else has been done properly it would only leave the yeast as the culprit. I don't know whether the craft series yeasts are 7g like the normal kits or if they're less, but if it's the latter and you've made a standard sized brew around 20L then it's a big underpitch and no surprise if it did indeed stall. If it's the former, then perhaps pitching it dry killed too many cells and it stalled. Either way, you probably did the right thing pitching the other yeast to get it going again.

 

Having said all that, 1.026 after five days doesn't necessarily mean that it's stalled, but having dropped only 20 points in that time does sound rather slow. Given it's been stored in a cube I'm guessing it's an all grain batch; what was the mash temperature? Too high and it will result in a high FG although 1.026 sounds pretty ridiculous.

 

I'd give it a few more days and check it and see where it's at. And yeah.. yeast should ideally be stored in the fridge, not room temp.

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yes it is an all grain brew, 60 min mash started at 73 deg C and finished at 70. Is this temp. too high. should I be aiming around 68 to 70 deg. The yeast I used was a 10 g pack and pitched in a 20 lt batch I turned the temp. up to 25 deg last night and checked it this morning still hovering around 1024. is there anything I can do to rescue this brew? If it doesn't move any further I'll end up with a stout less than 3% ABV

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yes it is an all grain brew' date=' 60 min mash started at 73 deg C and finished at 70. Is this temp. too high. should I be aiming around 68 to 70 deg. The yeast I used was a 10 g pack and pitched in a 20 lt batch I turned the temp. up to 25 deg last night and checked it this morning still hovering around 1024. is there anything I can do to rescue this brew? If it doesn't move any further I'll end up with a stout less than 3% ABV[/quote']Dry pitching yeast doesn't do it any favours but in this case the main issue is your mash temp, it is way too high. Rests in the low 70s can be used towards the end of the mash for short periods to aid in head retention but you don't want to start it up there. You've just created a bunch of dextrins that won't ferment, hence the SG is stuck in the 1.020s. Anywhere from the low to high 60s is where it should be mashed; a good middle ground is about 66-67 degrees.
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Other than for contamination risk reasons, is there any reason that one couldn't add some highly fermentable sugars in a higher than expected SG. Something like dextrose would get ABV higher and may assist in thinning it out a little wouldn't it? Or am I talking out my ar$e? biggrin

 

I know it wouldn't be best practice but why couldn't/shouldn't it be done? People say adding too much dextrose will not add anything to the beer except higher ABV and thinner body, if that's the desired result wouldn't it help.

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I agree with hairy...it should be a nice thick bodied mid strength ale!

 

I made the same mistake with my first ever porter AG last year... I could have simply added ice cold water to mash but didn't think of that at the time...anyway I avoid that now...

 

I always set strike water in my mash tun before I mash in now no more than 1 degrees difference...

 

If you recirculate the wort you can raise the mash if it drops depending on your system,

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Other than for contamination risk reasons' date=' is there any reason that one couldn't add some highly fermentable sugars in a higher than expected SG. Something like dextrose would get ABV higher and may assist in thinning it out a little wouldn't it? Or am I talking out my ar$e? [img']biggrin[/img]

 

I know it wouldn't be best practice but why couldn't/shouldn't it be done? People say adding too much dextrose will not add anything to the beer except higher ABV and thinner body, if that's the desired result wouldn't it help.

I dunno... it still wouldn't turn the unfermentable sugars into fermentable ones, so the high FG would most likely remain as it is. The only thing it would do is increase the ABV. Usually when it's used to thin a beer out, it is used in place of some of the malt rather than in addition to it.

 

While on the subject' date=' what is an Ideal mash temp for lagers/ Pils. I use the brew in a bag method.[/quote']You could use a single infusion at 65-66C for 90 minutes. I use a Hochkurz mash on my lagers; 63C for 40 minutes, 72C for 15-20 minutes before mash out at 78C. Gives a nice low FG but retains foam well in the glass.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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OK I am now out of my depth completely, why does a change of 4 or 5 dge. make such a difference? I understand that that at certain temperatures alpha and beta enzimes are released to convert the starches in the grain to sugar, so what happens when mashing at the low end of the scale compared to the higher end. Just curious. Kieran

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In the couple of weeks of thorough research, I have been doing I believe I can answer this.

 

Beta-amylase are most active between about approx. 55°-66°C. They convert the starches into maltose which is a highly fermentable sugar. So mashing at these temps will produce a much more fermentable wort. This will result in a lower FG beer with a thinner body and crisper mouthfeel, which are desired characteristics of a Lager.

 

Alpha-amylase are more active at warmer temps of around 68°-72°C and convert starches into maltose as well non fermentable dextrins. Mashing at these temps will result in a higher FG and will leave a slightly sweeter and fuller body.

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