Post primary dilemma

[Wicked Wally's]

Ugh. What a drag it is getting old. I brewed my first batch in almost six years on Sunday. Everything was going to plan. Hit my starting gravity at 1.065 with both hydrometer and refractometer. Then I had the bright idea of pulling some wort to mix with my 2lb jar of PB2, and left it to cool down before adding to primary and promptly forgot about it. Now I'm three days into primary and I won't risk it. I can't put it in secondary either cause it's full of unfermented wort. I guess I'll have to freeze the whole mess until I make another stout and then throw it in at the end of the boil. Think I should get a new jar and dump it into secondary dry?

 

[Zambi]

What's PB2?

 

[GFHomebrew]

Ugh. What a drag it is getting old. I brewed my first batch in almost six years on Sunday. Everything was going to plan. Hit my starting gravity at 1.065 with both hydrometer and refractometer. Then I had the bright idea of pulling some wort to mix with my 2lb jar of PB2, and left it to cool down before adding to primary and promptly forgot about it. Now I'm three days into primary and I won't risk it. I can't put it in secondary either cause it's full of unfermented wort. I guess I'll have to freeze the whole mess until I make another stout and then throw it in at the end of the boil. Think I should get a new jar and dump it into secondary dry?

Now I havnt done this myself and you'd need some serious gahooners to try it but Martin Keen from The Hombrew Challenge swares that his most authentic Guinness brew has a small portion of the wort just left to wild ferment added back at packaging WTF.
Heard it on this pody

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6J...i=GCmNIkl2QcCYbqjB9vmB8g&utm_source=copy-link

Method and recipie is in the podcast information

 

[Blackmuse]

Ugh. What a drag it is getting old. I brewed my first batch in almost six years on Sunday. Everything was going to plan. Hit my starting gravity at 1.065 with both hydrometer and refractometer. Then I had the bright idea of pulling some wort to mix with my 2lb jar of PB2, and left it to cool down before adding to primary and promptly forgot about it. Now I'm three days into primary and I won't risk it. I can't put it in secondary either cause it's full of unfermented wort. I guess I'll have to freeze the whole mess until I make another stout and then throw it in at the end of the boil. Think I should get a new jar and dump it into secondary dry?

You have a couple options - does it look like the wort started fermenting with wild yeast? If not you can reboil it for 10 minutes and mix in your PB2.

If you'd rather not take the chance then just boil a bit of water and blend with the PB2 to add to the secondary...

That's my 2 cents anyway

 

[Steve Ruch]

Now I havnt done this myself and you'd need some serious gahooners to try it but Matrin Keen from The Hombrew Challenge swares that his most authentic Guinness brew has a small portion of the wort just left to wild ferment added back at packaging WTF.
Heard it on this pody

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6J...i=GCmNIkl2QcCYbqjB9vmB8g&utm_source=copy-link

Method and recipie is in the podcast information

One time I was going to cold steep the dark grains for a stout, but left the grains out at room temperature overnight. It came out way closer to Guinness than I entended.

 

[Wicked Wally's]

You have a couple options - does it look like the wort started fermenting with wild yeast? If not you can reboil it for 10 minutes and mix in your PB2.

If you'd rather not take the chance then just boil a bit of water and blend with the PB2 to add to the secondary...

That's my 2 cents anyway

My main concern is not contamination but unfermented wort. I have it in a sealed container that was washed with starsaand If I put it into Secondary, the leftover yeast will start to eat it and I don't know if this will cause off flavors or something.

 

[GFHomebrew]

My main concern is not contamination but unfermented wort. I have it in a sealed container that was washed with starsaand If I put it into Secondary, the leftover yeast will start to eat it and I don't know if this will cause off flavors or something.

Left over wort in my mind = contamination especially if left for a day or two.
Just go with what you've go in the fermentor.
Or boil and cool that left over wort to sanitize it again.

 

[Blackmuse]

My main concern is not contamination but unfermented wort. I have it in a sealed container that was washed with starsaand If I put it into Secondary, the leftover yeast will start to eat it and I don't know if this will cause off flavors or something.

Oh no! It will just kick up a bit of fermentation again. I do this all the time with honey, maple syrup etc. In the case with honey and maple syrup they are simple sugars and the yeast eat it up completely and easily. It can dry the beer out and I no longer do it as often for this reason... But I digress -

- The Germans have a term called Speise - which is what you have in your jar there - unfermented wort saved from the same batch as the one fermenting. The Germans will add this "Speise" to the beer when it is time to bottle - it is like adding priming sugar to restart fermentation and bottle condition the beer to achieve the desired Co2. They of course have a very specific measurement of how much speise is needed to achieve the desired Co2. - I have done this successfully myself.

If you are worried that the wort is contaminated you can simply re-boil, cool to temp where you can mix in pb2 and add to the fermenter. Heck, if there is any sugar in the PB2 (which I assume there is) it will kick up another round of fermentation anyway!

Then again, simply cup or two of water boiled for 5-10 minutes should work too.

Good Luck!

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

What's PB2?

PB2 is powdered peanut butter. I think it is mainly used as a tasty protein source.

 

[Wicked Wally's]

Oh no! It will just kick up a bit of fermentation again. I do this all the time with honey, maple syrup etc. In the case with honey and maple syrup they are simple sugars and the yeast eat it up completely and easily. It can dry the beer out and I no longer do it as often for this reason... But I digress -

- The Germans have a term called Speise - which is what you have in your jar there - unfermented wort saved from the same batch as the one fermenting. The Germans will add this "Speise" to the beer when it is time to bottle - it is like adding priming sugar to restart fermentation and bottle condition the beer to achieve the desired Co2. They of course have a very specific measurement of how much speise is needed to achieve the desired Co2. - I have done this successfully myself.

If you are worried that the wort is contaminated you can simply re-boil, cool to temp where you can mix in pb2 and add to the fermenter. Heck, if there is any sugar in the PB2 (which I assume there is) it will kick up another round of fermentation anyway!

Then again, simply cup or two of water boiled for 5-10 minutes should work too.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll do that. I actually think I have a stuck fermentation at this point anyway. Either I didn't aerate enough or my US 05 packet was bad or just didn't have enough hungry soldiers. After 36 hours it went from 1.066 to only 1.048. Constant 70°F. I'm may toss in a new packet with a quart of starter to get it going again.

 

[Donoroto]

After 36 hours it went from 1.066 to only 1.048.

How was that 1.048 measured? If refractometer, it's wrong.

 

[Blackmuse]

How was that 1.048 measured? If refractometer, it's wrong.

Very true statement! You'll need to do the conversion thingy... lol - I always use a hydrometer for post fermentation as the whole conversion piece just seemed too complicated! - Heck, sometimes I don't even bother taking a reading! lol - I can just tell its done and I rack and carbonate! (I don't think its a good practice per-se but I haven't had any issues)

 

[Minbari]

Very true statement! You'll need to do the conversion thingy... lol - I always use a hydrometer for post fermentation as the whole conversion piece just seemed too complicated! - Heck, sometimes I don't even bother taking a reading! lol - I can just tell its done and I rack and carbonate! (I don't think its a good practice per-se but I haven't had any issues)

same here, I use my tilts to tell when it is done. they are reasonably accurate, I am sure they arent perfect.

 

[Wicked Wally's]

How was that 1.048 measured? If refractometer, it's wrong.

Yes! I used both to check pre boil gravity and they matched but only the refractometer for post fermentation. I just bought this and didn't realize there was a learning curve.

 

[Wicked Wally's]

This is what I have. I was sure no calculations were necessary

 

[Wicked Wally's]

Anyway, I reboiled the wort/ PB2 slurry, cooled it down to 70°F, mixed another packet of US 05 into it and carefully swirled it into the fermenter. Two hours later it was bubbling like crazy. It's now seven hours later and it's still bubbling. Now I just hope it doesn't develop an infection or, when it's all done, taste like shit. I'll let you all know how it turns out. Thanks.

 

[Donoroto]

Anyway, I reboiled the wort/ PB2 slurry, cooled it down to 70°F, mixed another packet of US 05 into it and carefully swirled it into the fermenter. Two hours later it was bubbling like crazy. It's now seven hours later and it's still bubbling. Now I just hope it doesn't develop an infection or, when it's all done, taste like shit. I'll let you all know how it turns out. Thanks.

Well then it is going well! Good.

Refractometers are thrown off by the alcohol in fermented wort (beer). It is predictable though, so as @Blackmuse and @Minbari noted, it is possible to build a conversion table to counter the effects of the alcohol - there's even an Excel spreadsheet on Brewer's Friend somewhere to help you do this. But normally a refractometer will read high for beer, like 1.048 for something really closer to 1.020 perhaps.

 

[Minbari]

Well then it is going well! Good.

Refractometers are thrown off by the alcohol in fermented wort (beer). It is predictable though, so as @Blackmuse and @Minbari noted, it is possible to build a conversion table to counter the effects of the alcohol - there's even an Excel spreadsheet on Brewer's Friend somewhere to help you do this. But normally a refractometer will read high for beer, like 1.048 for something really closer to 1.020 perhaps.

I will add, if you dont care what the actual SG is, a refractometer will show you a trend. so if you want to know if your fermentation is done, take a reading, wait 12 hours and take another one. if they are the same, then your fermentation is most likely finished. just dont rely on it to be a correct reading without using the conversion table.

the conversion table I use is usually pretty close, within 3 pts or so.

 

[Blackmuse]

so if you want to know if your fermentation is done, take a reading, wait 12 hours and take another one. if they are the same, then your fermentation is most likely finished. just dont rely on it to be a correct reading without using the conversion table.

Hadn't thought of this! Neat idea.

 

[Wicked Wally's]

So it's been 48 hours and no more activity. The krausen is minimal, about 1/2". Gravity is down to 1.023 using my hydrometer. That's calculates out to be an abv of 5.64. It should be about 6.5 or so. Tastes pretty damn good though. Even my wife thinks so and she despises stouts. I've decided not to bother going to secondary with this one and plan on adding my adjuncts tomorrow and just letting it sit for another two weeks before bottling. I have a 1/4 lb of cocoa nibs that I roasted along with three vanilla beans and 1/4 lb of espresso beans. They've been soaking in about three cups of vodka for a month. That plus two cups of brewed espresso in a covered and sanitized Pyrex vessel in the fridge. It will turn out fine, I suppose.