Second batch (airlock activity)

[Edan Z]

**This is the batch I made with a wlp530 yeast packet I was worried about it tasting sour/tart straight from the packet.***

Anyhow, after 16 days in primary at 72 the beer tastes delicious, which got me thinking about cold crashing and bottling. The OG was 1.066. I took a hydrometer reading 3 days ago and it was 1.008, took another one today and it hasn't changed. My question is regarding the airlock activity. It is still bubbling about every 2-3 minutes. I figure it's just dissolved CO2 escaping, but it's still remarkably regular.

Since the FG has not changed in three days, would you go ahead and cold crash or wait longer to be safe?

 

[J A]

A) Dry yeast tastes pretty nasty and some of what you'd be getting is the stuff they use as a medium to make the little pellets...yeast food like amino acids and stuff.
B) I'd think that 1.008 would be plenty done but you have to watch the Belgian strains. If you raise the temp and wait another week or two it may very well drop a point or two. Those last few points can be slow. Or the yeast just stalls and waits for a while and goes back to work.Three weeks would be minimum and 4 wouldn't hurt. It's also pressure sensitive as well as liking higher temps later in the process. If you have a good clean environment, remove the airlock and replace it with sanitized aluminum foil and leave it undisturbed for a week or two. It could easily sneak down to .004 before it's done completely.

 

[Edan Z]

At 1.008 are bottle bombs likely?

 

[GFHomebrew]

If bottling definitely give it another few days to be sure. If I were Kegging it and was happy with the flavour I'd crash and transfer...

 

[Edan Z]

Will do. I'll let it sit another week.

One thing I'm not sure about is why both of my first two batches have "apparently" over-extenuated with respect to what the software had indicated. Both times I had an OG of over 1.064 and both times they have finished well below the expected FG. The first finished at 1.008 and this one seems headed for lower.

I have been mashing pretty low at 146ºF for an hour, then bumping it up to 158ºF for 15mn before sparging. Is this the likely cause?

 

[GFHomebrew]

Will do. I'll let it sit another week.

One thing I'm not sure about is why both of my first two batches have "apparently" over-extenuated with respect to what the software had indicated. Both times I had an OG of over 1.064 and both times they have finished well below the expected FG. The first finished at 1.008 and this one seems headed for lower.

I have been mashing pretty low at 146ºF for an hour, then bumping it up to 158ºF for 15mn before sparging. Is this the likely cause?

I recon that'd be it Edan the lower mash temp creates more fermentable wort. I like my ales/lagers more attenuated I wouldn't be too a upset.

 

[J A]

with respect to what the software had indicated.

The calculator is just an estimate based on what you intend to do with the recipe. If you've entered your mash temps and times accurately and stuck to what you entered and also accurately judged the attenuation potential of the yeast, it's usually pretty well on the money. That being said, you'll get better attenuation for a number of reasons like mash ph, aeration, etc. If you're consistently getting attenuation that's higher than what the calcualtor estimates for a particular yeast strain, you could could try using a different strain. And like Trialben says, your mash temp is responsible for the lower attenuation. If you want less attenuation, more body and residual, raise the first rest to 148 at least and see what that does.

 

[Edan Z]

Well, it's been another week (3 total) and FG is still holding at 1.008. You guys think I should wait another week before bottling?

 

[GFHomebrew]

Well, it's been another week (3 total) and FG is still holding at 1.008. You guys think I should wait another week before bottling?

Nope no way bottle her up and enjoy it.

 

[J A]

It'll be better beer for having waited. Just curious, what's been your fermenting temp for the last week and has the beer floc'ed and cleared to any great extent?

 

[Edan Z]

I brought it up, out of the basement. It's been hot here, between 77-82. The beer was very clear.

 

[J A]

77-82. The beer was very clear.

Plenty warm for that yeast. Since you were cooler in the early stages of fermentation, that's the perfect range to finish it off. A Blonde I did with that yeast didn't finish out as low as it should have because I kept it below 70 in the final stages. I was more concerned about guarding against unwanted organisms that I've had to fight in my garage brew space so I kept it in my fermentation chamber. If I'd set it out in the open it would have gone up to that temp range or higher and may have dropped a little further. As it is, it was good enough to win a second place medal in a Belgian competition, but it would have been a better beer at 3 points lower than it finished.
Enjoy!