Monday, April 21, 2008
Scotch Ale - More Good News
The addition of the Nottingham Ale yeast seems to have done the trick. The beer has cleared up immensely and fermentation has finally begun to slow. That means I should be able to bottle this weekend and consequently, brew the Light this weekend as well. So it looks like it's going to be a very beery, busy weekend for me.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Scotch Ale - Bad and Good News
Ok, first the bad news.
I'm an idiot. It didn't strike me that I might have a stuck fermentation until this morning. I guess I didn't think of it because it was still bubbling and normally stuck fermentations seem to stop altogether. However, the SG reading I took (1.032) confirms the stuck fermentation. I really should have seen this coming because I've been keeping the carboy at pretty low temps and this beer had a pretty high OG.
I doubt this will have any major effect on the beer. It tasted fine when I pulled the sample (as fine as a half-fermented beer can taste). If I've learned one thing about home brewing it's that it's pretty idiot-tolerant. I think that's why it's such a great hobby. The learning curve is such that any shmuck can start homebrewing and make a pretty decent beer even his first time. He can make tons of mistakes and still make a good beer.
Anyhoo, I digress.
The other bad news is that this throws off my brew schedule. Assuming I'm able to bottle next weekend it will only have been in the bottle two weeks come graduation and won't be optimal or maybe even drinkable (it really should age 4-6 weeks). Also, I'll have to push back when I brew the Light, although that should still be drinkable by graduation as it really only needs about a week to brew and a week in the bottle to carbonate. There's still a slight chance it might not be ready though.
So the good news is that I pitched some dry Nottingham Ale yeast and that should get things going again. If you'll remember, Nottingham is a relatively fast fermenter so odds that I can bottle next weekend are good. The other good news is that now I will be more cognizant of a stuck fermentation when brewing high gravity beers at low temperatures.
I'll post again when the Nottingham starts kicking in, so stay tuned.
I'm an idiot. It didn't strike me that I might have a stuck fermentation until this morning. I guess I didn't think of it because it was still bubbling and normally stuck fermentations seem to stop altogether. However, the SG reading I took (1.032) confirms the stuck fermentation. I really should have seen this coming because I've been keeping the carboy at pretty low temps and this beer had a pretty high OG.
I doubt this will have any major effect on the beer. It tasted fine when I pulled the sample (as fine as a half-fermented beer can taste). If I've learned one thing about home brewing it's that it's pretty idiot-tolerant. I think that's why it's such a great hobby. The learning curve is such that any shmuck can start homebrewing and make a pretty decent beer even his first time. He can make tons of mistakes and still make a good beer.
Anyhoo, I digress.
The other bad news is that this throws off my brew schedule. Assuming I'm able to bottle next weekend it will only have been in the bottle two weeks come graduation and won't be optimal or maybe even drinkable (it really should age 4-6 weeks). Also, I'll have to push back when I brew the Light, although that should still be drinkable by graduation as it really only needs about a week to brew and a week in the bottle to carbonate. There's still a slight chance it might not be ready though.
So the good news is that I pitched some dry Nottingham Ale yeast and that should get things going again. If you'll remember, Nottingham is a relatively fast fermenter so odds that I can bottle next weekend are good. The other good news is that now I will be more cognizant of a stuck fermentation when brewing high gravity beers at low temperatures.
I'll post again when the Nottingham starts kicking in, so stay tuned.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Scotch Ale - Still Going, and Going, and Going...
I wasn't able to bottle the Scotch Ale this weekend like I had planned. The darn thing is still fermenting. Mind you, it's slowed down some, but it's been going pretty steadily for the past two weeks. I still have yet to put on the airlock, partly because I'm lazy and partly because it wasn't until very recently that I could tell the krausen had subsided. The blowoff tube is still attached, of course, and it's bubbling out about every 7 seconds or so. Hopefully it will stop some time this week so I can bottle next weekend. It looks like I might be bottling on Saturday and then brewing the Light Ale on Sunday.
Here's why I think this batch is taking so long to ferment. Primarily, the fact that the OG was 1.092. There's a lot of fermentables in there and the yeast need time to chew them all up. I should mention that I calculated what my OG should be based on the given ingredients and it was closer to my actual reading than to what the recipe said it should be. I'm not really sure if I should feel reassured by that or not.
Second, my cooling method works quite well and the carboy is kept down around 61-64F. I think this might slow down the yeast a little bit, but it's better than having fruity esters in the beer.
Anyway, that's what's going on. I'm waiting to take a SG reading until the primary fermentation has completed, but I'm guessing it's going to be around 1.020 so this beer is probably going to end up having an 8-9% ABV. I'm thinking it's going to end up being a Strong Scotch Ale. I'll update again when I finally do take that reading.
Here's why I think this batch is taking so long to ferment. Primarily, the fact that the OG was 1.092. There's a lot of fermentables in there and the yeast need time to chew them all up. I should mention that I calculated what my OG should be based on the given ingredients and it was closer to my actual reading than to what the recipe said it should be. I'm not really sure if I should feel reassured by that or not.
Second, my cooling method works quite well and the carboy is kept down around 61-64F. I think this might slow down the yeast a little bit, but it's better than having fruity esters in the beer.
Anyway, that's what's going on. I'm waiting to take a SG reading until the primary fermentation has completed, but I'm guessing it's going to be around 1.020 so this beer is probably going to end up having an 8-9% ABV. I'm thinking it's going to end up being a Strong Scotch Ale. I'll update again when I finally do take that reading.
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