Hoptometry Appointment

[BlackDuck]

I brewed this yesterday and something was amiss, and a lot.

First, a little background on the recipe. As you can see in the recipe posted, I'm adding 1.25 lbs of corn sugar, I really want a dry one. Also, to keep my kettle from boiling over, I wrote this with a one gallon top off into the fermenter.

The mash went as normal, until I took my boil gravity. It was about 1.042. And I overshot my volume by 1/2 gallon. All kinds things are wierd now, just doesn't sound right for a recipe that's supposed to come in at 1.069. But I still needed to add the corn sugar. I had it entered into beersmith as a late boil addition, but I don't think the program accounts for it. It just adds the gravity from the sugar into the final numbers. But even with evaporation and the sugar, it just didn't seem possible that it would come in at 1.069.

I took a gravity reading right before adding the sugar, to was 1.049. After the corn sugar was added it was in the 1.057 range. And I only had 15 minutes left in the boil. No way was I going to get to the predicted gravity. Luckily I had a pound of Golden Light DME. So I start adding by the 1/4 pound, ended up adding the entire pound into the boil. I took a gravity reading as it was cooling and I was at 1.069, but I still had a gallon of water that I was supposed to top off with. But I also overshot my boil gravity by 1/2 gallon so I was keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn't need to add it all. I also have a triple mesh strainer, so I transferred into the fermenter through that and sent as much wort through it as possible catching a lot of hop crud on the way.

In the end, I was able to get to my 5.75 batch volume without adding any top off water, and the gravity was at 1.069. Weird day for sure.

Now I have to wonder what happened. I checked the gap on my mill and it's good, so I had a good crush, or at least the same as I always do. So I don't think it was the crush. I really have to wonder if I miss measured at the stroke, and didn't have 13.5 pounds of grain. The other thought I had was if the amount of minerals that went into the mash water would have made a differnece. The last batch I made had quite a bit of minerals in the mash water and I missed those numbers a bit too. But I didn't miss it like I did on this batch. I really think I didn't have enough grain.

Oh, well. The DME saved my ass, and I hit my numbers with it. Lesson learned I guess....always have some DME on hand for emergency purposes!!

[mashani]

Maybe somehow mis-calculated adjustments for mash ph. I know I get 10% lower mash efficiency if I get out proper range. Mineral additions can change your mash ph a bit. Beersmith 2 didn't properly adjust the estimated PH based on the additions however. (at least it didn't work right for me or I was using it wrong somehow). Beersmith 3 works properly (or else I just figured out how to use it right).

[BlackDuck]

I used the EZ Water Calculator to figure my water profile. That had the mash pH at 5.42 (with all the mineral additions). I didn't take an actual pH reading as that program never led me astray...maybe I shouldn't say never!!! No matter what happened, I'll probably never know for sure. Good chance this will end up being a great beer, that I won't be able to duplicate!!!

[BlackDuck]

My basement smells amazing right now!!!

[Kealia]

A statement that only a homebrewer would either ever utter or understand!

[mashani]

My basement smells amazing right now!!!

Mine finally doesn't smell like a bubblegum factory but I'm sure as soon as I open the fermenters it will be like a "bazooka to the face" as such.

[BlackDuck]

I started the cold crash this past Saturday. I figured it wouldn't hurt to give this a long crash with so much hoppy goodness floating around in there. I'm gonna try to keg this tonight.

[Beer-lord]

Did you give it a taste test yet? How's the aroma?

[BlackDuck]

I tasted it before the dry hopping. It was pretty good at that point. I'll assume that the dry hopping is gonna give it a really nice addition. It should be a good one.

[BlackDuck]

Got it kegged. The dry hopping didn’t give it as much hop aroma as I thought. But it’s hard for me to really tell at this point, prior to being carbed and conditioned a bit.



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[BlackDuck]

I had another sample of this yesterday, although it's still not fully carbed and conditioned, it's still lighter on the aroma than I wanted. So...the question is, looking back on the recipe, if you were to keg hop this, what hop(s) would you use and how much?

[Beer-lord]

I would go with Simcoe and Citra. It's best to use the same hops as in the recipe (in my opinion at least). I think 2 oz will get you what you want. No need to add more. You could get by with 1 (50/50) but if it's not what you want, you'll need to add more later and there's more chance for oxidation, infection, yada, yada, yada.

[Kealia]

I'm going to agree on the hops, although I have used 1oz with good results.
I think you were looking for a big punch so maybe you should go with 2.

[BlackDuck]

Thanks for the opinions guys. I was thinking along the same lines as both of you, but couldn't decide on 1 or 2 ounces. Your right Kealia, I was looking for a big aroma punch, so I'll go with the 2 ounces. Will I get any additional flavor from doing this too?

[Beer-lord]

I think you'll get some flavor as well but I often wonder if what I get is that the flavor is fooled by having more aroma.
About 2 years ago I made a Stone Levitation clone that just wasn't right. No infections but the flavor was not even close. I didn't like the beer and was about to dump it when someone suggested I keg hop it. It saved the beer and made it very much better so it did change the flavor. Did it again later when I made an 95% Red X beer that I didn't like. Amarillo and Cascade (1 oz each) saved the beer again.
I'm thinking you'll be pleased.
Might be the last quart or so could get bitter depending on how much of the hop debris get thru the bag. I'm thinking of double bagging mine because even my SS torpedo lets some in but it's worth it to me.