Texas ranger - Mikkeller.

TheRedDarren · Aug 30, 2016

Got my first porter on a week last Sunday (21st) . I used the Mikkeller Texas Ranger recipe, albeit reduced down from 6.6% to a more sessionable 5.7%.
The grist is;
Maris Otter - 58%
Crystal 120 - 12%
Chocolate - 10%
Roasted Barley - 10%
Brown Malt - 8%
Bittered with Magnum, Saaz at 15m and Centennial at 1m.
Mash at 68 for an hour.
WLP001 starter.

Oh, and 15g of chipotle chilli flakes at 10m.

I've had a bottle of the real thing and its bloody good, so I'm looking forward to this one.

The only thing is the fg has stopped at 1.026. Now, the Mikkeller book, which has a few typos, says the fg should be 1.036 but I think this is a typo, I think it should be 1.016 as this would give about 6.6% abv which would be correct for the abv...
I had good aeration (my usual technique for the last 27 or so brews) I used wlp001 which I have always got 79% attenuation every time I've used it (at least 10 brews) and this is just over 50% att.
So I'm guessing it's stalled then. Bugger. I've never had a stalled brew yet so I've cranked the temp up to 22 (from 20) and roused it with me paddle. Any other thoughts?

MyQul · Sep 1, 2016

Hell of a lot ofspecialty malt in their -40%. Probably why it stuck. You could use some amylase emzyme to have a go at drying it a bit more

DoctorMick · Sep 2, 2016

I'll be interested to hear how this turns out if you get it going again, it's on my to brew list.

TheRedDarren · Sep 2, 2016

I'm a bit confused with this one to be honest... I know th grain bill is a bit crazy, and the high mash temp wouldn't have helped. But that yeast has always been super reliable for me, and I've roused it twice and added two packs of dried yeast (they were old) and still nothing..!
I'm starting to wonder that's the actual fg?!

MyQul · Sep 2, 2016

What temp did you mash at and how old was the yeast? Perhaps it's the combination of lots of specialty malts, high mash temp and old yeast rather than just one thing?

DoctorMick · Sep 2, 2016

What's the OG, FG and ABV in the book?

TheRedDarren · Sep 2, 2016

MyQul said:
What temp did you mash at and how old was the yeast? Perhaps it's the combination of lots of specialty malts, high mash temp and old yeast rather than just one thing?

Mash temp was 68, the yeast was fresh and with a one litre started pitched at two days old - high krausen.
The dried yeast was a bit old which is why I chucked in two packs.

TheRedDarren · Sep 2, 2016

DoctorMick said:
What's the OG, FG and ABV in the book?

Og- 1.086
Fg- 1.036 (I think this is a typo)
Abv- 6.6%

DoctorMick · Sep 2, 2016

Alcohol calc says 1.086 -> 1.036 is actually 6.6% so it could well be right...if it isn't then the OG and FG would both have the be wrong in the book which, with that book, is quite possible.

TheRedDarren · Sep 2, 2016

That's weird, I just ran that through an abv calculator and that gives the correct abv...
Now I'm really confused! I checked it the other day and it came out with a much lower abv, that's the whole reason I thought it had stalled...!

TheRedDarren · Sep 2, 2016

I checked it last night and it was down to 1.021 so that one point dropped in the last three days. Reckon that's it then? Bottling time?

MyQul · Sep 2, 2016

Yeah, I would. That's 74% attenuation so seems done

TheRedDarren · Sep 2, 2016

MyQul said:
Yeah, I would. That's 74% attenuation so seems done

Not quite MyQul, I think I've made this thread really confusing!
Ok, the book says; og - 1.086.fg - 1.036. (att 56% / abv 6.6%)
My brew which was scaled down to hit 5.7 abv; og 1.056 - fg - 1.012 (att 78% / abv 5.6%) What I actually got was og 1.053 fg 1.021 (att 59% / abv 4.2%)
Now, when I got confused about the fg it was after calculating the abv (4.2%) and I thought whoops thats not finished as I was expecting it to be more like 5.6%.
But, I should have checked the attenuation which was actually above what Mikkeller got (59%att instead of 55%att in the book).
I guess I should have checked the attenuation instead of the abv for a finished brew.
TO make things more complicated:
1. my software calculated an fg of 1.012
2. There are typos in the Mikkeller book
3. I checked abv instead of att!

Does that make any sense whatsoever lol?!

MyQul · Sep 2, 2016

TheRedDarren said:
Not quite MyQul, I think I've made this thread really confusing!
Ok, the book says; og - 1.086.fg - 1.036. (att 56% / abv 6.6%)
My brew which was scaled down to hit 5.7 abv; og 1.056 - fg - 1.012 (att 78% / abv 5.6%) What I actually got was og 1.053 fg 1.021 (att 59% / abv 4.2%)
Now, when I got confused about the fg it was after calculating the abv (4.2%) and I thought whoops thats not finished as I was expecting it to be more like 5.6%.
But, I should have checked the attenuation which was actually above what Mikkeller got (59%att instead of 55%att in the book).
I guess I should have checked the attenuation instead of the abv for a finished brew.
TO make things more complicated:
1. my software calculated an fg of 1.012
2. There are typos in the Mikkeller book
3. I checked abv instead of att!

Does that make any sense whatsoever lol?!

Yeah, I think I'm following :-?:lol:

If your fine with the fg perhaps, because there's so much confusiongoing on, you should take 3 gravity reading on 3 consecutive days to make absolutely sure you dont getbottle bombs?

TheRedDarren · Sep 2, 2016

MyQul said:
Yeah, I think I'm following :-?:lol:

If your fine with the fg perhaps, because there's so much confusiongoing on, you should take 3 gravity reading on 3 consecutive days to make absolutely sure you dont getbottle bombs?

100% agreed, but... how do I know its the actual fg and not stalled?! Or am I being a ****?

MyQul · Sep 2, 2016

TheRedDarren said:
100% agreed, but... how do I know its the actual fg and not stalled?! Or am I being a ****?

As you say you got above the attenuation in the mikkeller book and the 3 gravity readings should tell you wether it's finished or not. I would suggest you rouse it just to make sure but you've already done that so I dont think any more rousing would do anything as WLP001 doesnt normally need rousing

TheRedDarren · Sep 9, 2016

Just got an email back for Mikkellers wife! The fg should be 1.036 in the book.

My fg settled out at 1.021 so I bottled yesterday, it's already tasting amazing. If it was carbonated I'd drink that as it is. Can't wait to try one in four weeks time.

DoctorMick · Sep 9, 2016

Fancy a bottle swap?

TheRedDarren · Sep 12, 2016

Definitely mate, wotcha got?

DoctorMick · Sep 12, 2016

TheRedDarren said:
Definitely mate, wotcha got?

Only decent brew I have ready is dead pony although the Jester and Centennial IPA I'm bottling on Wednesday should be half decent. I'm also brewing a mikkeller milk stout on Wednesday so if you're happy to wait a little while for that it could be a good swap?

Texas ranger - Mikkeller.

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