Tag Archives: airlock

This week on Brew Disasters: Bottling Batch #2 of Laurel IPA

Posted on by
Reply
Hop cone in the Hallertau, Germany, hop yard

Hop cone in the Hallertau, Germany, hop yard (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A two and a half weeks ago on Brew Disasters we had checked the specific gravity of our Laurel India pale ale using a wine thief.

It tasted fine. There were hints of buttery diacetyl, but not overwhelmingly so. The specific gravity was 1.026. The original gravity was 1.068, which would give the beer an ABV of 5.6%.

But when we checked it again after a week it had dropped to 1.020. But when we checked it again a few days later it was still 1.020.  We had really muffed the mashing temperature.  Apparently there had been some fermentable sugars produced during the mash, but not enough for this batch to drop to 1.012 (7.8% ABV) as had December’s batch.

This batch of Laurel IPA had started with an original gravity of 1.068. Its final gravity was 1.020. That calculates to an average alcohol by volume (ABV) of 6.4%.

Batch two tasted great. The diacetyl taste had departed and the dry hopping with an ounce of whole-leaf centennial hops, and one-half ounce each of zythos and simcoe hops really made the aroma and flavor pop. It was time to bottle.

While the use of the whole hops made the beer taste great, the leaves got stuck in the mouth of the auto-siphon making the transfer to the priming bucket exceedingly slow. And, the further down the level of beer in the carboy dropped, the more frequently the siphon needed to be unclogged.

We are not putting whole hops in primary or secondary fermenters again. Once was enough.

Related articles
Advertisement

Intermediate Follow-up on “This week on Brew Disasters: Laurel IPA”

Posted on by
Reply
A hydrometer showing the hydrometry principle....

Image via Wikipedia

I took a sample yesterday of the Laurel India pale ale brewed on Friday using a wine thief.  It tasted fine. There were hints of buttery diacetyl, but not overwhelmingly so. The specific gravity was 1.026. The original gravity was 1.068, which would give the beer an ABV of 5.6%.

So, despite muffing the mash’s temperature, it seems some fermentable sugars were produced during the mash. Whether this batch will drop to 1.012 (7.8% ABV) as December’s batch did remains to be seen. The airlock has stopped percolating every minute, so the ‘rapid’ fermentation has ceased.

Related articles