- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
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First of all, I like a nice dry, bitter, hoppy beer as much as the next guy, but I have also apparently discovered the limit on dryness for the IPA I have been brewing. Once that limit has been passed, it just doesn't taste as good a should any more.
The problem is, after ~4 weeks in the bottle, my IPAs keep turning too dry. Brew after brew after brew...
After coming up with a recipe that gives me a beer I really like, I have been repeatedly brewing the same recipe over and over, in order to get my fermentation / conditioning process dialed in. I am pretty sure I have that process pretty much down pat now too, and am at a loss as to what to do against the last remaining problem.
The problem of yeast that just doesn't want to stop fermenting!
For example, my 2nd to last brew:
All grain, 93% pale ale malt, 7% CaraFoam. Mashed @ 67°C, sparged @ 75°C.
60min boil w/ bittering addition @ 60min and aroma @ 5min.
OG = 15.5° Plato (68% brewhouse efficiency)
WLP007 yeast, fermented @ 17°C for 2 weeks, raised temp to 23°C for one more week.
Bottled with no priming sugar at SG = 3.2° Plato. (no priming sugar, because I was fairly sure the SG would drop some more)
3 weeks later...SG = 2.8° Plato. At this point everything was good! The brew tasted the way I expected and I was happy with 82.5% attenuation.
2.5 weeks after that...SG 2.4° Plato. 85% attenuation, and things are starting to go south. Bitter and weird and grassy are the words that come to mind. Besides the fact that the attenuation is overshot and the C02 in the bottle is ever-increasing, what is happening!? Why is the yeast still this active!?
Like I said, this has been happening brew after brew...
Does anyone have any ideas?
The problem is, after ~4 weeks in the bottle, my IPAs keep turning too dry. Brew after brew after brew...
After coming up with a recipe that gives me a beer I really like, I have been repeatedly brewing the same recipe over and over, in order to get my fermentation / conditioning process dialed in. I am pretty sure I have that process pretty much down pat now too, and am at a loss as to what to do against the last remaining problem.
The problem of yeast that just doesn't want to stop fermenting!
For example, my 2nd to last brew:
All grain, 93% pale ale malt, 7% CaraFoam. Mashed @ 67°C, sparged @ 75°C.
60min boil w/ bittering addition @ 60min and aroma @ 5min.
OG = 15.5° Plato (68% brewhouse efficiency)
WLP007 yeast, fermented @ 17°C for 2 weeks, raised temp to 23°C for one more week.
Bottled with no priming sugar at SG = 3.2° Plato. (no priming sugar, because I was fairly sure the SG would drop some more)
3 weeks later...SG = 2.8° Plato. At this point everything was good! The brew tasted the way I expected and I was happy with 82.5% attenuation.
2.5 weeks after that...SG 2.4° Plato. 85% attenuation, and things are starting to go south. Bitter and weird and grassy are the words that come to mind. Besides the fact that the attenuation is overshot and the C02 in the bottle is ever-increasing, what is happening!? Why is the yeast still this active!?
Like I said, this has been happening brew after brew...
Does anyone have any ideas?