Emergency Fermentation Question

[lars]

As i figure it, with 14 pounds of any extract in 5 gallons, your starting gravity was over 1.090. Trying to get the yeast to start in the 7% beer is going to be a chore.

I had a feeling about this. Brewski states his OG as 1.061. Sounded low to me and was why I was asking about his hydrometer. Again, it may be time to double check that hydrometer.

[brew captain]

Damn Tim, you're right. ProMash pegs that at 1.107!!! Maybe the Windsor fermentation was successful after all?


Cheers!

[brahn]

Duh, good catch Tim. Sounds like the beer's done after all. I doubt it's a problem with the hydrometer though, I always had a tough time getting an accurate OG reading from an extract batch because the boiled wort doesn't fully mix with the water used to top up the fermenter.

[Brewski]

when i took that OG reading, i knew it sounded off... but i've tested my hydrometer on water and it was an even 1.0, and all my other readings from past batches were accurate, so i doubted it was a problem with the instrument itself... but, i've never done a batch this heavy in malt extract so brahn, what you say makes a lot of sense about the late water additions not completely mixing with the wort. thanks a lot guys, ill rack to the secondary now that i'm confident the primary fermentation is complete. hopefully the extra yeast additions and stirring don't negatively effect the final product.

[brew captain]

So... how did this saga end Brewski???



Cheers!

[Brewski]

the yeast definitely worked... this beer is strong hah. i'm guessing it's somewhere near 10% ABV. the beer is decent, i'm definitely going to make some tweaks next time i do a winter warmer though. it's really malty, which i'm not a huge fan of... it's a little too sweet. next time ill go lighter on the malts and maybe heavier on the hops.

i did have one failure though, on the oaked stout i made. something must have gone wrong in the secondary, it has a really strong off flavor... it was so bad that i dumped them all out. what a waste. oh well, that was my first wasted batch, hopefully ill learn my lesson. now i know what you guys mean about the risks of using a secondary. i'm still not exactly sure what went wrong, i mean i'm guessing it got oxygen in it, but i'm not sure how. can that happen simply by not having beer filled to the top of the carboy used in secondary?

[brahn]

It may or may not be from oxygen ... can you describe the off flavor? If this happens again, you might want to save at least a couple bottles and bring them to a club event so someone can help you maybe figure out what went wrong.

[kevinham]

If you need help identifying the off flavor you got I would look through this http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

Any of those sound like what you tasted?

[Brewski]

i wish i could bring them in to get your opinion, but i live in pennsylvania. i can't really describe what the flavor tasted like, but i can describe what i did and this might help. after the primary was done, i bottled two beers, then transferred the rest to a 5 gallon carboy for secondary. i also added oak cubes for flavoring. i let it sit for about two months before bottling the rest, but, unfortunately they didn't turn out very well.

i bottled two beers so i'd be able to compare the regular stout with the stout that aged in oak cubes. the two that i bottled after primary turned out great, wish i would have just bottled them all then! oh well, live and learn

[brahn]

Heh, good point about the club meeting, I forgot that you're in Pennsylvania.

How did you sanitize/sterilize the oak? That could have introduced spoilage organisms. It could be oxidation, but if you were careful transferring to the carboy that shouldn't be a problem.

[Rezzin]

Was it astringent at all? Like puckering type flavor or was it more sort of like a bandaid or maybe something like cough syrup by chance?

[jward]

How much oak did you add? Also, if you have storage you should consider keeping a beer to see if the flavor will age off or otherwise mellow. Time has a way of making higher gravity beers better.

[Brewski]

i'd say it was puckering. just like a weird sour flavor. tough to describe, but definitely bad enough where i'm confident that time wouldn't have mellowed it away.

i didn't sanitize the oak cubes. i ordered them online from a brewery supply website, and dumped them into the secondary straight from the package... so i just figured they would be safe to use as is. wrong assumption?

[dhempy]

i'd say it was puckering. just like a weird sour flavor. tough to describe, but definitely bad enough where i'm confident that time wouldn't have mellowed it away.

i didn't sanitize the oak cubes. i ordered them online from a brewery supply website, and dumped them into the secondary straight from the package... so i just figured they would be safe to use as is. wrong assumption?

Maybe so ... everyone I've talked with about oaking (and I've done it 3 times this way) say to rinse them with an Iodophor solution. Oskaar (Pete) probably can give a more definitive answer as he does this frequently. Others probably can too.

Dan

[Rezzin]

If it tasted SOUR then perhaps it's an infection of some sort. Assuming you sanitized your racking equipment and the secondary vessel, I would think your infection may have come from the oak cubes. I've always 'soaked' them in star san for about a minute then dropped them in. Works fine for me.