I’m the guy with the recent watery Kolsch.
Brewing an IPA this time. It called for a small grain mash at 150*. I used 5 1/2 gallons of water.
After adding the extract (didn’t allow for the volume) the pot was up to 6 1/2 gallons. Crap!
Is this going to be another Kolsch deal?
I boiled it down to under 6 gallons before adding hops and starting the timer.
When time for transfer to the fermenter it was down to 4 1/2 gallons. Crap again.
Added water to bring it to just over 5 gallons and hit the 1.048 SG on the nose.
Felt better then.
However, it was very cloudy. I used a strainer cylinder for the hops instead of a bag. I’m thinking the hop pellets dissolved through the screen mesh causing the cloudiness.
Not sure how to correct that. Maybe a secondary ferment in a bucket when I dry hop.
Any thoughts?
Tough being a newby.
With this and the kolsch sounds like you’re all over the map. Also, a little confused as to what you’re doing… you are mashing but adding extract? So are you doing partial mashes or just steeping grains?
In regards to your wort cloudiness sounds like it’s ‘normal’ for a wort that wasn’t whirlpooled. Not sure about your process but I would encourage you to whirlpool the wort and let it settle for 20mins. Often home brewers use an immersion wort chiller. If this is your MO do so then stir the wort as fast as you can for as long as you can and let it sit for 20mins. Then, if you can, pull the wort off the side of the kettle.
Cloudy beer at brewday is not a problem…IMHO…Especially an IPA. My finished IPAs are generally a bit hazy even when unintentional…plenty of time for the beer to clear later if that is your goal. I usually use Whirlfloc except in NEIPAs. Some use gelatin or similar later.
Give it time. It clears up while your brew is in your fermentor like what voodoo donut. Says it normal for your wort. To be hazy. Whirllock tablet. Helps. Or. I do use irish moss. During the boil. What kind of brew method you did extract brew. Or all grain
I leave my IPA’s cloudy… I want them done as quick as possible as the hops aroma is better…
IF I need a clean looking one… then gelatin and cold crash becomes my go-to method to clean them up…
The more you do, the easier it will be to hit volumes and gravity… Which I believe is the stage of brewing yer in…
Sneezles61
There was a steep at 150* for 25 minutes of 1/4# flaked oats, 1 1/4# crystal malt and 1/4# rye malt. The boil used 7#'s Pale extract.
Fifteen minutes before the boil end Whirlfloc was added.
Cloudy wort is not a problem
I’m going out on a limb and saying that the oats may have contributed to the cloudiness. But you should definitely not worry about it at all. Just let it do its thing. Also remember that you don’t need to have the full volume until you go to boil. So you can always add water later. Not necessary to steep those grains in the full volume of water. I probably steep specialty grains in no more than 3 gallons or so…
I believe that I have a line on my primary carboy that is right about the 5 and a half gallon mark. That way when I siphon over to my smaller 5 gallon carboy for secondary I end up with right about 5 gallons and maybe one glass for tasting. But if you don’t do secondary then that really doesn’t matter either.
