Mashed Orfy's Mild Mannered Ale WAY TOO HIGH. Denaturing feared. Cure?

[zonkman]

Ok, I know, it's only been 4 days. I do plan on giving Orfy's Mild a few days more, but I have a strong suspicion that I denatured the enzymes in the mash. New stove. Cooled it right down after 10min, but the 168 probably already did the nasty by then.

The notty started fermenting very slowly after about 24hrs+ and completely stopped at around 48hrs. 64F ambient. That was 2 days ago. The airlock is dead - dead as a donut. Yes, airlock activity isn't everything and I will take a reading later. I'm asking in advance here hoping to get get some suggestions in time to act, if needs be.

If I am indeed stuck at something like 1.030 (or worse), I'm thinking there are a few options:

1. Add 1lb of table sugar. That's boost ABV by something like 3%, dries it out. Best bet?

2. Add a different yeast. 3711 is known to power through some of those longer sugars, but will it work with the chocolate malt, MO?

3. Use it as a base to make a huge amount of graf (apple and otherwise).

4. Brett?

5. ?

Thanks all. I have tons of 1 gallon fermentors ready for experiments.

 

[eetu]

Not sure if it's worth the trouble and resources to try and save it by doing some maneuvers. Probably wont make a great beer anyway.

Take a sample and measure the gravity. If it's nowhere near it should be, it certainly doesn't look too good. It is a low OG batch though and yeast completing it's work in just few days is not out of the ordinary.

But like I said, wouldn't bother trying to rescue it somewhoe if the enzyme activity was in fact killed by the high temperature. I highly doubt you could turn it into a good drinker.

I'd pour 6 gallons of bad beer down the sink rather than my throat.

 

[TallDan]

Well, first, there's no reason to consider ANY action at this point. If you haven't taken any gravity readings yet, you really don't know that you have any problem at all. This is a low gravity beer to begin with, so a fast and/or relatively inactive fermentation should be expected. What was your OG?

If indeed you do have an issue, I'd strongly consider eetu's suggestion and just dump it and rebrew. Consider the outcome of your other options and whether or not you actually want to drink any of them. An english mild is generally a pretty cheap beer to brew, so at least you can learn from the experience cheaply if it comes to that.

 

[zonkman]

OG was 1.034

I'll definitely be giving it a few more days (at least a week total) before doing anything, including a reading. I'm just anticipating the worst. True, I don't often brew such low gravity beers, but still... there's no krausen. It bubbled meekly for a day, maybe not even. And now there appears to be nothing going on at all. Same bucket as always.

It's because it is such a low gravity wort that I feel it can be salvaged / useful somehow. At the very least I'll add some to cheap apple / cherry juice, do a little graf.

What does a, say, 3.5% 1.025 beer taste like?

I mean, it's always possible that it's the yeast. First time customer at LHBS and this was their last pack of notty from the back of the fridge. Guess I could head back there, get some US-04, give it a shot.

 

[zonkman]

My least proud moment......

The rubber ring on the lid had come a little loose. It is fermenting after all.

Just much more softly than I'm accustomed to given the low gravity. Probably not going to be my best, but it'll be beer.

Still, an interesting question, all in all, I hope....

 

[Lefou]

"What does a, say, 3.5% 1.025 beer taste like?"

With the added sugar, the taste might be slightly "hot", thin, and starchy. If it doesn't taste right after bottling it probably isn't worth saving. I will usually do gravity and taste tests of the raw wort and beer before the boil and bottling steps to be sure.
A failed mash can give you unconverted starches/dextrins. A proper conversion should result in a "sweet grain tea" that's fairly clear so the yeast can utilize the simple sugars to better effect. Adding amylase enzyme might've helped if you'd caught the mistake quickly enough.

I've had issues with poor conversions before for various reasons and it's a learning experience.