How does this IIPA sound???

[Zephyr292]

6 lbs. Light DME
3 lbs. Two-Row
3 lbs. Sucrose

.25 oz. Simcoe 45 min.
.25 oz. Simcoe 30 min.
1 oz Fuggle 15 min.
.5 oz. Simcoe 15 min.
1 oz. Fuggle 1 min.
1 oz. Simcoe 1 min.

1 pack Nottingham Yeast

2 oz. Fuggle Dry Hop after 5 days
2 oz. Simcoe Dry Hop after 5 days

It has been in Primary for nine days. No plans on Secondary. Any opinions how to procede???

 

[Glynn]

im going to go out on a limb here, but thats a lot of sugar. also i wouldnt have skipped the 60 min. im interested in how this turns out

 

[sptaylor70]

Running this through TastyBrew, I get OG = 1078, FG = 1020, ABV = 7.5, IBU = 42, SRM = 3.

I agree with Glynn - that's a whole lot of sugar. You could replace that with amber or wheat DME, or a mixture of various DMEs, to give you some added flavor. Since you're mashing some two-row, you could also add some vienna, munich, or crystal malts.

For hops, is the purpose of the Fuggles just for bitterness, or do you like the way that it pairs with Simcoe? For bittering, you're going to be better off with 60 minute additions. For flavor, you're better off with additions of 20 minutes or less or first wort hopping.

 

[Zephyr292]

I second guessed myself right away. The single and giggles are used in Lake Erie Monster. ... one of my favs. I found a clone recipe that suggested 3lbs. sugar or 4 lbs. Honey. Shouldve scaled down those a picked out a few more malts in smaller quantities. It is still bubbling every 30 seconds after 9 days.

 

[Zephyr292]

Simcoe and Fuggle. ... not single giggles...

 

[Bigelow92]

I like single and giggles better. Giggles should totally be a hop.

 

[Zephyr292]

Assuming my competency the OG I measured was 1.092.

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

The advice on the sugar is right on. Skip that and add more extract. I would also decrease or kill the Fuggles and amp up the American hops. Double up that Simcoe. Maybe even add an ounce or three on top of it.

It also wouldn't hurt to pitch two packs of Nottingham, just to get a clean IIPA, if that is what you're going for.

 

[mattd2]

Simcoe and Fuggle. ... not single giggles...

Pure awesome autocorrect there!
I agree that you want(ed) to put more bittering hops in there - up the 45 and 30 or add a 60 min bittering to get you in the range for an IIPA. And drop the sugar addition - without it you were probably looking at a reasonable IPA (don't know how singles and giggles play together though ).
On the yeast I would go for US05, Nottingham has given me a fruity flavour in the past (used only once or twice - but I think that was due to fermenting around 20°C)

 

[Zephyr292]

Having heard the consensus opinion on sugar. What can I expect?

 

[sptaylor70]

Thin for body. Less malt flavor and more obvious alcohol flavor than you might like.

 

[Zephyr292]

Thanks for the insight. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Zephyr292]

When too much sugar is used can a short or long fermentation length minimize off flavors?

 

[Bigelow92]

When too much sugar is used can a short or long fermentation length minimize off flavors?

Long. If you plan on using a secondary (which I suggest) don't rack to it until he primary has cleared up on its own. By cleared up, I mean that there should be no big visible clumps (emphasis on clumps... It should still be a little murky) of yeast floating around in suspension. The yeast produce a lot of fermentation by products early on, and this effect is more and more noticeable

1) the more adjunct sugars in your wort (anything not grain sugar)

2) the higher your gravity.

If you measured a gravity of 1.09 then unless it appears to still be clearing I would not rack to secondary for at the very least a week, but probably more like 2 weeks. It's a balancing act your playing with here, because you want to clean up the by-products produced by the adjunct sugar, but you don't want the yeast to undergo autolysis from the high alcohol content.

Check your fermenter everyday after the first week. Don't worry about bubbling toooo much... But don't transfer while its bubbling vigerously. Transfer as soon as the clumps drop out of suspension, am you have a fat cake on the bottom.

 

[HokieHomeBrewer]

If you're going to be using a dry yeast then I'd go for the US-05 instead of the Nottingham.

Just my opinion though.

 

[Zephyr292]

Long. If you plan on using a secondary (which I suggest) don't rack to it until he primary has cleared up on its own. By cleared up, I mean that there should be no big visible clumps (emphasis on clumps... It should still be a little murky) of yeast floating around in suspension. The yeast produce a lot of fermentation by products early on, and this effect is more and more noticeable

1) the more adjunct sugars in your wort (anything not grain sugar)

2) the higher your gravity.

If you measured a gravity of 1.09 then unless it appears to still be clearing I would not rack to secondary for at the very least a week, but probably more like 2 weeks. It's a balancing act your playing with here, because you want to clean up the by-products produced by the adjunct sugar, but you don't want the yeast to undergo autolysis from the high alcohol content.

Check your fermenter everyday after the first week. Don't worry about bubbling toooo much... But don't transfer while its bubbling vigerously. Transfer as soon as the clumps drop out of suspension, am you have a fat cake on the bottom.

I don't have a secondary. I have a sizeable yeast cake at the bottom. At what point do I worry about autolysis? There is little to no bubbling. I was planning on taking FG reading in the next couple days and bottling on Thursday or Friday. That'd be 12-13 days after pitching yeast.

 

[Bigelow92]

Depending on your beer, you are fine on autolysis for up to 3-4 weeks. I definitely wouldn't push it past a month but many do without problem. I would say 3 weeks is prime unless your beer tells you otherwise. 2 weeks is good for highly flocculent yeasts, but again, listen to your beer's secret silent commands

 

[Zephyr292]

I've had it in the bottle foar 5 weeks. .. tasted one at 2 weeks and was flat.... another at 4 weeks and it w as flat. I have the bottles in my garage at 85 degrees or just higher.... will that encourage carbonation???

 

[sptaylor70]

1. What was your final gravity reading and ABV?
If it's not above, say, 10% ABV, then I would suspect that you should just add more priming sugar in the form of conditioning tablets (which is, of course, easier if your beer's in flip-top bottles).

2. How much, and what kind of, priming sugar did you add?

 

[Zephyr292]

OG was 1.092 and FG was 1.018. ABV was about 9.5. I used 5 oz. Dextrose but since I had 5.5 gallons going into the fermentor I added a tbsp sucrose to the priming solution.

 

[sptaylor70]

The 9.5% ABV might be the difficulty. Many yeasts start to balk at pushing higher than that. You can add another dose of yeast, say a 5g package of dry or a part of a package of liquid (Wyeast 1084 Irish would be my choice).

 

[Zephyr292]

Are you suggesting opening up bottles to add yeast? There is a slight hiss when I open them. Should another month or two do the trick?

 

[sptaylor70]

I was suggesting that you open them all, pour them back into the bottling bucket, add yeast there, then re-bottle. Fair bit of risk, but the alternative seemed to be "flat" beer. But since you say that there's a hiss, now, then maybe let them sit another month as they are. Maybe at 5-10 degF higher temperature than you have them now. You might also see whether you have a friend who lives nearby and wouldn't mind having you put all of your batch into a keg for forced carbonation (just in case this doesn't work).

 

[Yooper]

I was suggesting that you open them all, pour them back into the bottling bucket, add yeast there, then re-bottle. Fair bit of risk, but the alternative seemed to be "flat" beer. But since you say that there's a hiss, now, then maybe let them sit another month as they are. Maybe at 5-10 degF higher temperature than you have them now. You might also see whether you have a friend who lives nearby and wouldn't mind having you put all of your batch into a keg for forced carbonation (just in case this doesn't work).

I'd never pour them back, add yeast and rebottle. That would ruin the beer by oxidizing it. If anything, I"d wait a bit longer. If, after 2 more months, it's still flat, I'd gently open a bottle, drop in a grain of yeast by hand, and recap.

I wouldn't store the beer at 85+ degrees- that is too warm for good flavor. Try to store them in the house if you can.

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

Zephyr292, got an update for us?

 

[Zephyr292]

Unfortunately it's still pretty flat. There is a slight hiss when a bottle is opened but no carbonation upon drinking it. I definitely added enough priming sugar so I think my next step is to open bottles and add some dry yeast granules. Any suggestions on how to proceed?

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

The last resort, and I hate saying to do it, is to un-cap, sprinkle, and re-cap.

Understand the chances for stuff to go wrong is high. But have a friend with clean hands un-cap, you sprinkle in some granules of dry yeast (use champagne yeast) then re-cap. The carb up process might take another three weeks as the yeast needs to acclimate to the new environment.

 

[Bigelow92]

You must have the will of a Titan or the taste of a French dignitary. I'd have drunk all the uncarbed bottles a week ago, ha!

 

[Zephyr292]

I have neither, just did a good job of forgetting about it... I got more yeast and caps today. How much yeast should I "sprinkle" in? Spread to whole package through all of the bottles?

 

[Bigelow92]

I have neither, just did a good job of forgetting about it... I got more yeast and caps today. How much yeast should I "sprinkle" in? Spread to whole package through all of the bottles?

It's difficult to e scientific about when your base unit f measurement is a "sprinkle," ha. Yeah, i'd just be careful and try to distribute the whole pouch over all the bottles. Make sure to give them a swish after you recap to get all that yeast in suspension.

 

[Zephyr292]

So I un capped and added 1.5 sprinkles to the 42 bottles left. I ended up with approximately 1/5 of the package left. I definitely shook the bottles up. Hopefully all works out....

 

[Zephyr292]

Does any one here regularly pitch additional yeast at bottling time?

 

[sweetcell]

next time i would suggest rehydrating the yeast first with water, then a little sugar or wort to the yeast slurry to get them munching sugar. by pitching dry yeast directly into the beer, you're asking them to rehydrate with alcohol - not a good thing for them. you also want to get the yeast active and in "sugar eating" mode. when added to an alcoholic, low pH enviro those that don't die are likely to go to sleep and wait for conditions to get more hospitable...

Does any one here regularly pitch additional yeast at bottling time?

i sometimes pitch a little more yeast (typically champagne yeast) at bottling; but only for big beers (9%+) that have been bulk aging for more than 6 weeks. i've never repitched for beers that are less than a month old, i.e. 98% of my beers. there should be plenty of yeast left to take care of carbonation.

 

[Zephyr292]

next time i would suggest rehydrating the yeast first with water, then a little sugar or wort to the yeast slurry to get them munching sugar. by pitching dry yeast directly into the beer, you're asking them to rehydrate with alcohol - not a good thing for them. you also want to get the yeast active and in "sugar eating" mode. when added to an alcoholic, low pH enviro those that don't die are likely to go to sleep and wait for conditions to get more hospitable...

i sometimes pitch a little more yeast (typically champagne yeast) at bottling; but only for big beers (9%+) that have been bulk aging for more than 6 weeks. i've never repitched for beers that are less than a month old, i.e. 98% of my beers. there should be plenty of yeast left to take care of carbonation.

The not re-hydrated yeast seems to be creating a little bit more residue in the bottles. Good sign? I sprinkeld it in 3 days ago. Beers been in bottles for 8 weeks. Any one have experience adding yeast to bottles. How long do the take to carb up?

 

[Zephyr292]

I'd never pour them back, add yeast and rebottle. That would ruin the beer by oxidizing it. If anything, I"d wait a bit longer. If, after 2 more months, it's still flat, I'd gently open a bottle, drop in a grain of yeast by hand, and recap.

I wouldn't store the beer at 85+ degrees- that is too warm for good flavor. Try to store them in the house if you can.

I added yeast to bottle three days ago. Im getting eager to try again. I've had other batches around 6% abv fully card after 4 days.... how soon is too soon to open another?

 

[psychobrewer999]

Anyone know where i can find single and giggle rhizomes? I'd like to grow them lol

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

Does any one here regularly pitch additional yeast at bottling time?

Yes, but only if the beer has been subjected to extended aging (more than three weeks for me).

For the project you are doing, I would not be surprised if the beers took an addition two-three weeks to carb up.

The new yeast was thrown into a relatively harsh environment, and are going to need more time to get their bearings and do the heavy lifting.

For a single-cell organism, they sure are complex buggers.