Work with it or scrap it?

radagast · November 17, 2018, 9:57pm

So, picked up ingredients to brew Denny’s BVIP tomorrow. LHBS had everything but the yeast because his supplier had WLP001 backordered. Yes, I know that I should be using Wyeast 1450 to TRULY make Denny’s BVIP but I digress. He had a pack of WLP001 in his fridge at the shop that had a use by date of August that he tossed in with my order for free so I figured I’d toss it on the stir plate and see if it would wake up for me or not. I grabbed a 4 pack of fast pitch with my last order so I tossed a can of that in the flask and spun it up last night. It’s been over a year since I’ve used fast pitch cause they’ve been backordered so I totally forgot to dilute it with an additional can of water until around noon today. It smells nice and yeasty in the flask but I’m not sure if I’ve overly stressed older yeast at this point. Any advice? I’ve got another shop about a half hour away I could run over to tomorrow if needs be.

Rad

sneezles61 · November 18, 2018, 4:23am

Oh dear Rad… Listen to experimental brewing concerning yeast starters… Think it came out a week or so ago… Its the belief in simple is good to go! Did I tell you… Its always 65* and sunny in my mind? Sneezles61

wilcolandzaat · November 18, 2018, 10:46am

Just shake it and toss it happy brewing

WMNoob · November 18, 2018, 1:51pm

I’d let it ride. You should know pretty quickly if it’s gonna fly.

brew_cat · November 18, 2018, 2:09pm

I don’t think it’s stressing the yeasties are probably pigging out. I think of stressing as an underpitching. I would pitch it when it’s active

radagast · November 18, 2018, 5:05pm

Fair nuff, figured I was fretting over nothing, thanks for confirming!

Rad

Rburrelli · November 18, 2018, 5:08pm

Let us know how the beer turns out compared to using 1450. I have a feeling it might be quite different, though I have no comparison. I have only made it with 1450. I recall you have made this before?

radagast · November 19, 2018, 2:14pm

Yes, it’s an annual brew for me. This is my fourth batch. The first batch I used Denny’s favorite 50 but since then I’ve been getting the ingredients from my LHBS for this beer and unfortunately he doesn’t sell Wyeast. Interestingly, my pre-boil OG was 1.072 right where it was supposed to be at my standard 78-80% efficiency, but when I took my gravity sample before pitching last night it was 1.070. I started with 7.25 gallons, boiled down to 6.7 and started my 70 min boil. I stirred it up with my mixstir first before sampling but that’s off by a full 20 gravity points. I’m thinking something had to be wrong with my measurement at the end of the night because I’m not sure how I can lose gravity points when I boiled off nearly 2 full gallons of wort.

Rad

sneezles61 · November 19, 2018, 2:17pm

Hydrometer had some rinsing water in the test jar-o? Sneezles61

Rburrelli · November 19, 2018, 10:18pm

Right. You can’t boil off that much and not have a higher gravity. It has to be a misread somewhere else.

radagast · December 31, 2018, 4:10am

Ok back to this…my preboil efficiency was 82% according to Brewer’s Friend

And my OG is short by more than 10 points…somerthing is wrong and I can’t figure it out…

Any advice?

Rad

WMNoob · December 31, 2018, 11:18am

Have you double checked this with another hydrometer or refractrometer or checked your device in water? It almost sounds like something happened to it between beginning and end of your boil. How’s the beer taste, normal? Something is afoot and probably not your brew, especially since this is #4.

sneezles61 · December 31, 2018, 4:06pm

Without looking at the grain bill, I will say the weight was off… There is noway you should be that short… Sneezles61

Rburrelli · December 31, 2018, 4:58pm

In your equipment profile, what is your default efficiency percentage? That would be used in whatever calculations Brewer Friend is coming up with. If wthat percentage is accurate then the issue is somewhere else. If the profile percentage is too high or even batch size is off, those both affect software calculations.

radagast · December 31, 2018, 8:34pm

It was the Black IPA kit from our hosts. My preboil reading was 1.055 at 7 gallons. I boiled down to 6.5 and started additions for the hour boil. I set my standard efficiency in my software at 75% and I believe that NB targets their kits at 70%. I plug the grain bill into brewer’s friend for every brew to keep track of my preboil efficiency for each batch. I have tested the hydrometer in 60 degree water and it’s at 0.98 so it’s a bit off but not 10 points off. My wife accidentally broke my last one so I figured I’d order this one cause it was advertised as a sturdier option. Come to think of it, I’ve only used it on 3 batches, including the BVIP which also measured low. Maybe I’ll grab another glass one next time I’m at my LHBS and do a comparison on my next brew.

Rad

loopie_beer · December 31, 2018, 10:48pm

Assuming all your amounts are correct check the gap on your mill. Crush is usually the number 1 culprit to poor efficiency.