Bestmalz Red X brew

[Fleecer]

Hi, I need a bit of advice on a brew that went wrong from the start.
Having ordered 5kg of the above grain and combining with Vienna and chocolate malt, together with flaked barley, I had a relatively stress free brew. 5 hours later, hydrometer at the ready and expecting close to 1.057og, I was alarmed to see the reading of 1.012. After much soul searching I spotted the error; the numpties had delivered whole grains rather than crushed, and this numpty hadn't even noticed.
Forward wind 2 weeks, numpties atoned for their error by replacing said grain, and there I was, 23 litres of brew fermented out to about 1.5%. I then used the fermented brew instead of water and added 5kg of grain. 5 hours later and I have a fresh brew with an og of 1.067; much higher than anticipated. At this point I realise that I've got a standard ale yeast which might not cope with the higher strength wort.
So 20 days in and the yeast has stopped doing its stuff and I'm registering about 1.030; disappointingly high. So I roused the wort vigorously, stepped the temperature up to 25° and pitch another yeast, again a standard ale yeast.
I'm now in my shed, staring at a hydrometer with a reading of 1.028.
What are your thoughts? Pitch again with a better yeast bottle and put it down to experience? Tip it down the toilet?
I'd appreciate your feedback
Cheers

 

[MyQul]

You could maybe blend it with a really dry beer. Never tried it myself but in theory it should work. If you make a beer, after it has fermented add some amylse enzyme. This should get the beer down to close to 1.000 if not 1.000. Then blend it with the beer you have

 

[divrack]

Add some Brett?
Not sure i understand using the fermented beer as water? Did you mash with it and boil?

 

[Fleecer]

I did, so even if the alcohol boiled off, it would impart some of the flavour of the original brew. I've read somewhere that this is a technique sometimes used to raise the strength of a beer.

 

[Slid]

I did, so even if the alcohol boiled off, it would impart some of the flavour of the original brew. I've read somewhere that this is a technique sometimes used to raise the strength of a beer.

I feel you may be confusing this with "re-iterated mashing". Randy Mosher (p135 Radical Brewing) refers to this technique of "Doble Doble". Basically, you do a mash and then use the wort from this first mash as you would as water in a second mash. It is "A waste of both malt and men". David Heath does a g0od video on the technique, I will post a link if I remember!

The gravity readings you quote as being too high for both OG and FG readings may be consistent with a hydrometer that is not properly calibrated. In HB terms this just means that the paper inside your hydrometer has dropped down, giving you duff numbers. If you check the hydrometer you are using with water at ~ 20C you should get 1.000. If not, you need to subtract what you get off the others.

Here it is

 

[foxbat]

It seems you did extract a lot of sugars the second time around so you either got lots of unfermentables or your yeast has given up. I doubt it's the yeast. What temperature did you mash at and is your thermometer known to be accurate?

 

[Fleecer]

I mashed at 67° for an hour, raising to 76° for a further ten minutes. Since then I've re-racked to a clear fermenter, pitched a third yeast (a strong mead yeast) and left at room temperature for 5 days. Upon inspection today it's developed a white skin on the surface. Is it time to chuck it down the sink?

 

[Slid]

I mashed at 67° for an hour, raising to 76° for a further ten minutes. Since then I've re-racked to a clear fermenter, pitched a third yeast (a strong mead yeast) and left at room temperature for 5 days. Upon inspection today it's developed a white skin on the surface. Is it time to chuck it down the sink?

Perhaps not - this is called a "pellicle" I think. Beer underneath is usually not much affected.

 

[Fleecer]

Thanks, I've just Googled Pellicle and the image is exactly what I have. Does this mean I've inadvertently brewed a sour, and I'd be OK to bottle now?

 

[rats_eyes]

If you're right and your beer has a pellicle from a brettanomyces infection, I would not bottle it yet. Brett can chew on sugars that other yeasts can not. Your beer still has a gravity of 1.028 (if i'm understanding you correctly), so it may have a long way to go. If you bottle now, the brett could ferment it down to nowt in the bottle, which would likely lead to the bottle exploding due to pressure. I would either leave it in the fermenter for a few months to finish off before bottling Iif you want a brett beer) or i'd tip it and start again