On the (brewing) road again

[FrozenInTime]

Trying to catch up on my (lack of) brewing the past year or so. The past couple months I've brewed/kegged 10 gallons of Honey Hard Cider at 6% (using apples from our trees), a strong/bitter IPA that should have been ~6.5 but came out at 9.7%, a Honey Kolsch at 5% (first time doing one of these), and an American version Hefeweizen at 5.5%. Only the cider hit it's number, the rest came out higher than expected. Guess I need to brew more and work on my weights/numbers a little better. I have grains crushed now for my Munich Helles and Bavarian Hefeweizen. I'm saved the yeast from recent batches to re-use, actually doing a good wash the past week with them. WLP029 and a WLP300.

[bpgreen]

6.5->9.7 is quite a difference.

Was your og way higher than expected or did the yeast attenuated that much more than expected?

[FrozenInTime]

OG was higher than expected and the yeast (S-04) attenuated more than expected. I don't really understand why it was off sooo much. This was a kit I ordered, expected all grain and they shipped an extract kit so I just went with it. I added nothing extra, only used what came in the kit. Mostly I just put together my own but the kit came out less than what I could get the ingredients for. Surprisingly, the sample I pulled was pretty good albeit more bitter and stronger than usual so I will let it condition til fall. With our short summers, that won't be long... LOL

[bpgreen]

Wow. It's surprising for an extract kit to come in with a higher than expected og. Yeast is less predictable.

Hope it ends up tasting good. That's the most important criterium.

[mashani]

OG was higher than expected and the yeast (S-04) attenuated more than expected. I don't really understand why it was off sooo much. This was a kit I ordered, expected all grain and they shipped an extract kit so I just went with it. I added nothing extra, only used what came in the kit. Mostly I just put together my own but the kit came out less than what I could get the ingredients for. Surprisingly, the sample I pulled was pretty good albeit more bitter and stronger than usual so I will let it condition til fall. With our short summers, that won't be long... LOL

It sounds to me like they gave you just as many pounds of extract as you would have gotten in grains. That would give you about that kind of difference in OG.

[FrozenInTime]

That makes sense. It taste good but wow, bitter strong. This will not be an easy drinker, rather drink a glass fast and hit da floor..... LOL I much prefer a brew under/around 5%. It can sit a bit, I now have 2-5 gallon and 4 2.5 gallon kegs at the ready to enjoy and 2 more batches crushed, ready for a brew day but that might be a bit. Grass cutting and gardening has now taken over my free time.

Stinks to get old.... LOL I think I'm going to pick up a few more 2.5 gallon kegs. We live in a split level house, kitchen upstairs where I brew/keg. I have to carry the 5 gallon kegs downstairs for storage/conditioning. As I get older and develop more health issues, carrying those 5 gallon kegs downstairs is getting treacherous for me as my knees give out way to often now.

[mashani]

That is why I like my 3 gallon "mini cooper" (I think they are called "coopers craft") fermenters. Basically, they are just buckets with a better lid and smooth edges and an easy to take apart spigot that you can see into, but still protect the beer from light. I can fill they up and carry them anywhere. I can throw them in the dishwasher to clean them. My big 7 gallon "big cooper" fermenter can be a challenge for skinny me to haul around being skinny, old, and cranky. I *can* do it, I just don't like it.