I made a couple of the modifications recommended in the comments to that recipe. For example, instead of 3 lbs of clover honey, I only used one. I measured out pretty much everything appropriately. I may have used a tad bit more dark LME than called for, since it was hard to exactly measure out the liquid (it came in 6 and 3.5 lb jugs).
Also, and I think this may be where I made a mistake, I did not do a full volume boil. I did partial boil of about 3 gallons, and then mixed with 2 gallons of chilled spring water to bring the total volume in the carboy to 5. The reason I did that was because I only use the ice bath method to chill the wort down, as my tap water this time of year is way too warm to use my IC properly. This way, my wort was about 60 when mixed with the cold water.
Anyway, the wort after the boil and after I chilled it was extremely thick and syrup like still. Not as thick as the LME from the jug, but still pretty thick. It did get a little thinner when I added the cold water, but it still seemed rather heavy. The OG measured 1.079, which is significantly higher than what the recipe calls for. I saw some break material in the sample, so I am thinking I may not have mixed thoroughly enough before I took a sample so the measurement may be off a little.
I had a 2L starter of the yeast that I stepped up. Within 6 hours I had a layer of foam and bubbling had started. I maintained a good temp around 66 or 67 degrees. I almost had to use a blow off tube. It’s been about 9 days. No more airlock activity but there’s still some movement and floating yeasties in the liquid.
I’m wondering if the thickness of this brew would pose a problem, or do the yeast take care of that as they eat up the sugars? My first few brews were ale kits from NB and were not thick like this when I put them in the carboy. Everything seems to be moving along as normal though, so I’m not overly concerned, just looking for opinions. It sure smells outstanding so far! Thanks!
It sounds ok to me but if I were to make a recommendation for next time, I would not add the honey until just after high krauzen. That way, the yeast eats its dinner first before having dessert (to simplify). The simple sugars in honey are very easy for the yeast to eat and they may not finish the complex sugars all the way if you put the honey in earlier.
Thanks for the tips! It will have been in primary for two weeks this weekend, so I am going to take a sample and see where we’re at. Still lots of yeast visible on the top and some down the sides of the glass carboy. The smell is awesome though! As long as some of that thickness went away and the gravity is down, I think it will be a tasty beer. If not, I will try again. Good thing is that there is still plenty of time until Christmas beers are in season, and I have lots of my pumpkin ale to finish
Bumping this. So I took a sample. I tasted it and it tastes pretty good, still a little sweet, but the gravity is a bit higher than anticipated.
It’s maybe 1.02 when it should be 1.015 or so according to the recipe. Any ideas? Pitch more yeast? Just let it sit? I am thinking I should just let it go in the primary for another week or two (it’s been two weeks so far) and then take another sample and prep for bottling. I am more on the school of just leaving it alone since it actually tastes pretty darn good as is.
[quote=“Templar”]Bumping this. So I took a sample. I tasted it and it tastes pretty good, still a little sweet, but the gravity is a bit higher than anticipated.
It’s maybe 1.02 when it should be 1.015 or so according to the recipe. Any ideas? Pitch more yeast? Just let it sit? I am thinking I should just let it go in the primary for another week or two (it’s been two weeks so far) and then take another sample and prep for bottling. I am more on the school of just leaving it alone since it actually tastes pretty darn good as is.[/quote]Just leave it at this point. That’s the problem with putting dessert on the table with dinner vs. after dinner.
