Random Promise (AG no4)

[Dave 666]

Well got another 30 litre bucket this morning and as an afternoon few hours to myself thought why not start my third brew in a week!.

A bit random but currently in the middle of doing a 14 litre batch.

2.85kg Golden Promise
0.25 flaked wheat

Got hold of some Citra hops so will add about 10g Cascade + 10g Citra in the last 10 mins of the boil and maybe 25g of each after flame out (below 75°) with plans to add about 100g of mixed hops for dry hopping in due course. Yeast of choice will be MJ M44 (US West Coast) which I'm hoping will work well.

Aiming for a light very hoppy APA\IPA style. Estimated ABV will be about 5.01% if I get my OG of 1051 & FG of 1013 right.

 

[Dave 666]

Well not to sure what went wrong, my measurements of 3.1kg grain for a 14 litre brew should have given me an OG of 1051. But with 12 litres of cooled brew I got an OG of 1041, way off the mark. Not sure what I did wrong as followed the same process as in the past, just a different outcome.

Needless to say I never topped up to 14 litres & just left it at 12 litres. Only issue seeing as I was way off with my OG is not having a clue what the FG aught to be. It was calculated as being 1013, but I guess that will be different to now. Ah well, might still get an unexpected random decent brew out of this.

 

[Dutto]

Getting a decent brew is underselling what can happen!

Normally on something like this it turns out to be a fantastic brew.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to work out what you did right so you can't repeat it.

Enjoy! It's part of the whole brewing experience!

 

[Portreath]

Indeed, you should still come out with a good brew. I made (and still do) a tun of mistakes in my first half a dozen brews. little errors make for big learning.

 

[Dave 666]

Even going through my notes gives no clue what happened at all!. All bubbling away nicely and no indication of any issues of concern. The only clue could be in that I added more grain than I would of for the pot size (15 litre) as I wanted to make a more concentrated brew and then add extra water in the FV to offset the extra grain. But I still calculated the grain for a 14 litre end brew, just that I ended up with a far lower OG at 12 litres before I really topped up much cooled water at all. I'll just accept that what happened has happened and will look forwards to the resulting brew and seeing how it looks and tastes.

 

[Dave 666]

8 days on and fermentation is going on if slowing down a lot now, this is slow compared to previous brews. But will dry hop this in a day or 2 if finished when I take a gravity reading. Not sure what I'll dry hop with just yet, but got another 100g of each Cascade & Citra, but want to keep that for my next brew, so will see what's left in my open packs in the freezer.

 

[Dave 666]

And still fermenting, is MJ M44 supposed to take this long for a brew like this?, been 10 days now!. What, with a spoilt other brew quite reluctant to open for inspection to see what's going on.

 

[Dutto]

No. Fermentation will take as long as it takes; and that depends on:

• Amount of fermentable sugars present in the brew.
• Amount and type of yeast being used.
• Fermentation temperature.
• Anything else that I have forgotten to list.

Be patient.

 

[Portreath]

Agreed @Dutto, patients is key. I have a stout that's been in the FV for ten days and still going slowly along @ around 20-22c. I'm using MJ36 Liberty Bell and at present the brew is about 3-4 points of target FG.

 

[Dave 666]

Sounds like it might be done, going to leave it another day or so then take a reading I think.