Show us your boil

From Friday night, coffee porter
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Nice! We will take what we can get!
I brewed tonight, but neglected to take a boil pic, I will post some interesting things tomorrow though...
 
I love Centennial, but have always found beers brewed with them exclusively to have a certain sweetness that I don't care for. Not cloying, just something that seems to need a little bit of a bite. A small bittering addition of Chinook, CTZ, or even Magnum seems to cut through that for me. Have you had a similar experience?
Well you helped me solve my dilemma @BOB357 . I Have tried several different hop additions with the HG Centennial and was just not right but didnt know what to do to fix it. Will add 30 to 40 ibu's of Warrior for bittering and leave HG hops for lots of late addition aroma. Should cut that sweetness as you describe it. My perception was too simple or not complex enough? Warrior should work well. Used small amount of magnum before but i think was too clean of a bitter for me or not enough.


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When your backup propane tank has a leak on the valve head and the primary tank is now empty at the halfway point of the boil, you have to interrupt bacon and eggs on the stove and make room for the brew. Unfortunately, the stove can’t get the 6 gallons to a boil, so the HLT got half the volume of wort and away we go! All went well though as we hit all our numbers.

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When your backup propane tank has a leak on the valve head and the primary tank is now empty at the halfway point of the boil, you have to interrupt bacon and eggs on the stove and make room for the brew. Unfortunately, the stove can’t get the 6 gallons to a boil, so the HLT got half the volume of wort and away we go! All went well though as we hit all our numbers.

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Brilliant recovery!
 
When your backup propane tank has a leak on the valve head and the primary tank is now empty at the halfway point of the boil, you have to interrupt bacon and eggs on the stove and make room for the brew. Unfortunately, the stove can’t get the 6 gallons to a boil, so the HLT got half the volume of wort and away we go! All went well though as we hit all our numbers.

View attachment 5068

Good save! Bacon is good, but beer is definitely a priority :)
 
Update.... no yeast activity at all. Wyeast 1272. Heated from 64 to 66 and gave a shake last night (12 hours after pitch) and again this morning raisingbthe temp to 68 and a shake.

Never had this yeast not take off. In fact, with my yeast starter program, I’ve never had yeast not be up and running within 6 hours.

Gonna hit the LHBS this morning for a dry yeast alternate and toss it in. (1.049 OG)

Any other thoughts?
 
Seems like the only logical option there Mase throw a fresh batch of yeast at it.
 
Seems like the only logical option there Mase throw a fresh batch of yeast at it.
I suspect something is wrong, but I can’t trace it down. The yeast starter went off well. I simply poured it into the fermenter. Because I didn’t decant, I don’t want to add another starter and dilute even further.

So... I’m gonna let it ride for a couple days. If no activity by Friday.... it’s a dumper as I already purchased all the ingredients for the same beer from my LHBS this morning. If it comes to life, I may end up with 2 batches of one of our favorite brews. :D
 
Strange, but we all know that yeasts work on their own schedule. It'll probably kick off and do just fine.

Did you by chance forget to oxygenate/aerate?
 
Strange, but we all know that yeasts work on their own schedule. It'll probably kick off and do just fine.

Did you by chance forget to oxygenate/aerate?

I’m actually wondering if there was a susbstantial die-off of the yeast during transportation via UPS. I was home when it was delivered, so the first thing I checked was to make sure the yeast wasn’t frozen. And indeed it wasn’t. But now I’m thinking that it was shipped last week when we were in the below zero (f) temps. Maybe somewhere along the route, the yeast froze or partially froze and the yeast didn’t have the viability that the yeast calculator in this site assumes (due to being frozen) and that I drastically ended up underpitching and more time is needed. But we are at 36 hours and nothing....
 
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That is a distinct possibility. I never consider that with our relatively mild weather and the fact that I receive most orders the day after they're shipped.
Another good reason to consider dry yeasts, at least seasonally, whenever one fits the style you're brewing.. I have the opposite problem during the Summer months. After using dry yeasts for a few months, I never went back to liquid.
 
Dry yeast here as well. Starters prove viability.
 
Sounds logical as well (I've not drunk any beers at this stage) that you undwrpitched. You did have fermentation in your starter so there is some viability there. Yep give it another day or 3 and Maybe take a hydro reading just to see if there is any attenuation going on too.
 
Well well well.... looky here. The yeast finally woke up.

I suspect, like I mentioned earlier, that the yeast must have been frozen during transportation (UPS) during the sub zero temps, but had thawed before it was delivered. If my theory is true, that explains the slow take off. Will be brewing the same batch again this weekend as I thought this was a dumper for sure. One thing I’m still slightly worried about is that there’s no temp increase during fermentation. That being said, my basement is at 57 (f), and the beer is fermenting at 66 (heated).

Oh well.... 10 gallons of one of your favorites can’t be all bad.


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Them little critters are survivors :) Hope it turns out decent.
 

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