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Yeast for IPA, Longer Mash, stuck fermentation?

Mashing
#1

First things first and the answer is probably wait longer, but I brewed a 5 gallon AG on Monday and pitched a harvested 1056 from a starter that I did on Saturday night; as of this morning no bubbles. I peeked into the bucket and there was activity. When is it time to purchase and repitch?

Second, I have an IPA that needs to be brewed and I was planning on using the same yeast. Now I’m considering using a different yeast as I’m worried about the health of that one. The receipe calls for wyeast 1332, but I don’t have that. Will an ESB yeast work?

Finally, I brewed a Kolsch the other day that called for a 90 minute mash and my OG was around 1.060. I’m not for sure what my effeciency was but it seemed to be better than normal. Is there any good reason not to do a 90 minute mash everytime?

#2

  1. You say there are no bubbles from the airlock, but you peaked in and there WAS activity? Did you mean there WASN’T activity? If so, give it another day. Sounds strange that it’s taking a while to start considering you made a starter, but active fermentation can take several days to start.

  2. Sure you can use an ESB yeast for an IPA. Personally I would think about another yeast because I like my IPA’s a little more dry and that yeast (wyeast 1968) is less attenuative and leaves a more malty beer. What I would do is mash a little lower like in the mid to upper 140’s to get a more fermentable wort. And I’d also ferment a little towards the warmer side… but again, this is just my opinion. You may like a more balanced and malty IPA. I like mine drier and hoppy.

  3. If it’s a single infusion mash, I don’t see why 90min is needed. Most conversion is done even under 60min. I don’t know the numbers, but I bet that last 30min of 90min mash gets you only a little more conversion. If you’re talking multi-step or decoction mash, well that’s totally different. Those take more time. But with today’s malts, they are generally unnecessary. So the only reason to NOT do a 90min mash is it adds 30min to your brew day.

#3

  1. There was activity in the fermenter, just not bubbles

  2. It was a single infusion mash

#4

[quote=“Sooner49er”]First things first and the answer is probably wait longer, but I brewed a 5 gallon AG on Monday and pitched a harvested 1056 from a starter that I did on Saturday night; as of this morning no bubbles. I peeked into the bucket and there was activity. When is it time to purchase and repitch?

Second, I have an IPA that needs to be brewed and I was planning on using the same yeast. Now I’m considering using a different yeast as I’m worried about the health of that one. The receipe calls for wyeast 1332, but I don’t have that. Will an ESB yeast work?

Finally, I brewed a Kolsch the other day that called for a 90 minute mash and my OG was around 1.060. I’m not for sure what my effeciency was but it seemed to be better than normal. Is there any good reason not to do a 90 minute mash everytime?[/quote]

1)If there’s activity, but no bubbles, I’d bet that you may have a small leak in your bucket lid

2)You can use whatever yeast you like depending on what your going for. I’d wait out this 1056, it’s probably fine.

3)Longer mash will usually give you a more fermentable wort, not neccesarily better efficiency

#5

  1. Your seal may have not been great on your lid and therefore the CO2 was escaping elsewhere instead of through your airlock.

  2. Same recommendations as others. ESB may not be ideal, but if that’s what you want the totally go for it.

  3. I rarely mash for 90 min, only when I’m doing a big 10% beer will I try that long. 90% of the time I only mash for 45 min and I get 80% brewhouse efficiency

#6

Thanks for the responses, everyone was right about the seal issue. The rubber ring in the lid needs to be replaced and air is escaping.

I’ll wait on the 1056 since I can transfer the batch to the secondary and harvest the yeast for the IPA at the same time.

From your responses, it sounds like there is no real advantage to a longer mash. Must have been more grains with higher sugar levels in the Kolsch that made a higher OG.

#7

[quote=“thome9”][quote=“Sooner49er”]First things first and the answer is probably wait longer, but I brewed a 5 gallon AG on Monday and pitched a harvested 1056 from a starter that I did on Saturday night; as of this morning no bubbles. I peeked into the bucket and there was activity. When is it time to purchase and repitch?

Second, I have an IPA that needs to be brewed and I was planning on using the same yeast. Now I’m considering using a different yeast as I’m worried about the health of that one. The receipe calls for wyeast 1332, but I don’t have that. Will an ESB yeast work?

Finally, I brewed a Kolsch the other day that called for a 90 minute mash and my OG was around 1.060. I’m not for sure what my effeciency was but it seemed to be better than normal. Is there any good reason not to do a 90 minute mash everytime?[/quote]

1)If there’s activity, but no bubbles, I’d bet that you may have a small leak in your bucket lid

2)You can use whatever yeast you like depending on what your going for. I’d wait out this 1056, it’s probably fine.

3)Longer mash will usually give you a more fermentable wort, not neccesarily better efficiency[/quote]

I know lower mash temps make for a more fermentable wort, but do longer mash times do the same? I’ve never heard this.

#8

[quote=“dobe12”][quote=“thome9”][quote=“Sooner49er”]First things first and the answer is probably wait longer, but I brewed a 5 gallon AG on Monday and pitched a harvested 1056 from a starter that I did on Saturday night; as of this morning no bubbles. I peeked into the bucket and there was activity. When is it time to purchase and repitch?

Second, I have an IPA that needs to be brewed and I was planning on using the same yeast. Now I’m considering using a different yeast as I’m worried about the health of that one. The receipe calls for wyeast 1332, but I don’t have that. Will an ESB yeast work?

Finally, I brewed a Kolsch the other day that called for a 90 minute mash and my OG was around 1.060. I’m not for sure what my effeciency was but it seemed to be better than normal. Is there any good reason not to do a 90 minute mash everytime?[/quote]

1)If there’s activity, but no bubbles, I’d bet that you may have a small leak in your bucket lid

2)You can use whatever yeast you like depending on what your going for. I’d wait out this 1056, it’s probably fine.

3)Longer mash will usually give you a more fermentable wort, not neccesarily better efficiency[/quote]

I know lower mash temps make for a more fermentable wort, but do longer mash times do the same? I’ve never heard this.[/quote]

Yep, longer sugars are broken down into shorter ones(probably a more scientific explanation somewhere). I do this for belgians or beers I’m trying to get to finish lower. I don’t think it has a HUGE effect, but it does help.

#9

I’m a little confused about a more fermentable wort, but not higher efficiency. What does that mean? What is a more fermentable wort?

I brewed 10lbs of german pils and .5lbs german munich. The post boil OG was around 1.060 for 4.5 gallons. Having never reached an OG that high, I assumed it was from the 90 minute mash.

#10

[quote=“Sooner49er”]I’m a little confused about a more fermentable wort, but not higher efficiency. What does that mean? What is a more fermentable wort?

I brewed 10lbs of german pils and .5lbs german munich. The post boil OG was around 1.060 for 4.5 gallons. Having never reached an OG that high, I assumed it was from the 90 minute mash.[/quote]
More of the sugars are broken down and ‘edible’ by the yeast, you will attain a lower FG.

http://technocosm.org/brew/brewout-pt2.html 3.3.1 (1st google result I found)

Palmer talks about it in ‘How to Brew’ too
You’re recipe probably calls for the longer mash to produce a dryer beer, plugging your numbers into beersmith gave 69% efficiency, not bad, but about average.

#11

[quote=“Sooner49er”]What is a more fermentable wort?[/quote]A wort that is more fermentable will potentially have a lower FG. Three common ways to make this happen are to limit the use of crystal malts (and the non-fermentables that they add), mash at a lower temperature (and encourage the breakdown of long-chain sugars to shorter chains that are digestible by the yeast), and to add simple sugars (especially if you replace some malt/extract with the sugar, but sugar alone will lower the FG).

#12

[plugging your numbers into beersmith gave 69% efficiency, not bad, but about average.[/quote]

Thanks for the calculation! I’ve got to get my efficiency up. I asked the LHBS what setting their mill is on and the guy couldn’t tell me. They don’t let you adjust it, so should I ask to run it through again like it’s discussed in the other post?

#13

Running them twice is worth a try, but fwiw, my LHBS has their mill set to .045", and even after two passes, there were still a lot of totally intact kernels left. They wouldn’t adjust theirs, either, so I just got my own mill.

#14

Thanks for the calculation! I’ve got to get my efficiency up. I asked the LHBS what setting their mill is on and the guy couldn’t tell me. They don’t let you adjust it, so should I ask to run it through again like it’s discussed in the other post?[/quote]

On my last batch I ran my grains through my mill (factory setting) twice. Instead of my expected 1.052 I got 1.061, somewhere around a 17% improvement.

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