High Mash temp and WYeast 1272

[beerboymark]

So my last hoppy pale ale brew took place Sat 2nd July. Recipe here:

https://brewgr.com/recipe/23357

On testing my new DIY heated mash tun I let the temp go too high. the starting temp was 66 degC and after 90 minutes mashing it had raised to 70 degC. So I will be keeping a close eye on temperature next time throughout the mash. My mash pH was 5.4 at room temp and after the 90 minutes I had full conversion (no starch) confirmed by iodine. Post boil my OG came out at 1058 which was bang on! So I was pretty happy.

The fermentation started very quickly. I started it at 23 degC and then reduced down to 19 degC where it has been since about Monday 4th. the gravity got to 1038 in about 4 days but after about 6 days it had stalled at 1028 with no more bubbles through the airlock. I gave it a stir and went on holiday for a long weekend and came back to find it was bubbling again but the gravity was still a bit high at 1026 which is where it is now, 12 days in.

So why is it still bubbling but not reducing in gravity? Maybe it needs another stir to rouse it? I always tasted the samples and it never tasted infected, just a touch sweet. Could the high mash temp have created so many unfermentable sugars that this is about the limit of fermentation? Or does WY 1272 just attenuate a lot lower?

I am almost bald from head scratching. Any ideas? This was only my 2nd brew so still an avid learner.

 

[Covrich]

According to WY is attenuates 72-76% so no it shouldn't attenuate that high

Was your mash being heated all a long?? (you want to try and have no heat input and insulate it)

if it was 66 but crept up to 70 during a 90 minute window (somehow) I cannot see that being a huge issue either because most of the conversion would have been done around 66-68

One thing you could try doing to calibrate your thermometer... check it.. and I try and check at various areas of my mash just to make sure..because you could have had a higher mash than you thpught you had..

I would at least try now and rouse the yeast and raise the temp to 20-22 perhaps

 

[beerboymark]

So when i tested my unheated mash tun by filling it with 25L hot water and keeping a eye on the temp to calculate cooling rate i found i was losing a lot of temperature. So I've strapped an 80W fermentation vessel style heater belt round it. Tested it again and only lost about 1 degree over 90 mins so thought perfect! But on the day it mattered i ended up raising the temp by about 4 degrees unintentionally so need to revisit the design. Do the attenuation rates assume pure maltose with no unfermentables from dark malt or alpha amylase?

And the worst nightmare - infection. Is it pretty clear from taste, smell and appearance if a batch has gone bad?

 

[Halfacrem]

So when i tested my unheated mash tun by filling it with 25L hot water and keeping a eye on the temp to calculate cooling rate i found i was losing a lot of temperature. So I've strapped an 80W fermentation vessel style heater belt round it. Tested it again and only lost about 1 degree over 90 mins so thought perfect! But on the day it mattered i ended up raising the temp by about 4 degrees unintentionally so need to revisit the design. Do the attenuation rates assume pure maltose with no unfermentables from dark malt or alpha amylase?

And the worst nightmare - infection. Is it pretty clear from taste, smell and appearance if a batch has gone bad?

Your Mash Water and grain will retain a lot more heat than just plain hot water.

EDIT: With regards to an infection. I wouldn't worry. Yes, infection is a possibility, but if you follow good cleaning and sanitising practices, the probablity of an infection is low. That and oxidation seem to be the nightmare scenario of the new brewer. We've all been there, but the reality is that in all probability your beer will be fine.

 

[Covrich]

So when i tested my unheated mash tun by filling it with 25L hot water and keeping a eye on the temp to calculate cooling rate i found i was losing a lot of temperature. So I've strapped an 80W fermentation vessel style heater belt round it. Tested it again and only lost about 1 degree over 90 mins so thought perfect! But on the day it mattered i ended up raising the temp by about 4 degrees unintentionally so need to revisit the design. Do the attenuation rates assume pure maltose with no unfermentables from dark malt or alpha amylase?

And the worst nightmare - infection. Is it pretty clear from taste, smell and appearance if a batch has gone bad?

Do you think its infected??? normally if something got in there I would expect the gravity to drop.. why does it taste bad?? if its still fermenting it will taste harsh

 

[Soton]

So my last hoppy pale ale brew took place Sat 2nd July. Recipe here:

https://brewgr.com/recipe/23357

On testing my new DIY heated mash tun I let the temp go too high. the starting temp was 66 degC and after 90 minutes mashing it had raised to 70 degC. So I will be keeping a close eye on temperature next time throughout the mash. My mash pH was 5.4 at room temp and after the 90 minutes I had full conversion (no starch) confirmed by iodine. Post boil my OG came out at 1058 which was bang on! So I was pretty happy.

The fermentation started very quickly. I started it at 23 degC and then reduced down to 19 degC where it has been since about Monday 4th. the gravity got to 1038 in about 4 days but after about 6 days it had stalled at 1028 with no more bubbles through the airlock. I gave it a stir and went on holiday for a long weekend and came back to find it was bubbling again but the gravity was still a bit high at 1026 which is where it is now, 12 days in.

So why is it still bubbling but not reducing in gravity? Maybe it needs another stir to rouse it? I always tasted the samples and it never tasted infected, just a touch sweet. Could the high mash temp have created so many unfermentable sugars that this is about the limit of fermentation? Or does WY 1272 just attenuate a lot lower?

I am almost bald from head scratching. Any ideas? This was only my 2nd brew so still an avid learner.

It could be where you mashed at 70c you released unfermentable sugars so that would make you gravity readings higher, maybe you should taste it and if its a bit on the sweet side, though I doubt if you could tell if any sweetness was from unfermentables or just unfermented sugars

 

[beerboymark]

well last night I gave it another stir and raised the temp to 20 degC. Gravity is still at 1026 and bubbling. it didn't smell, taste or look bad. in fact it smelt, tasted and looked pretty good. no distinguishable sweetness in comparison to my previous brew which finished at 1021 in the bottle brewed with WY 1056 at 19 degC.

I think that's enough stirring now. I'm going to dry hop with my 50g of Motueka at the weekend and bottle during next week after its stopped bubbling.

While im on dry hopping. is there any benefit to dry hopping during vigorous fermentation or waiting until it has slowed or stopped?

 

[Covrich]

well last night I gave it another stir and raised the temp to 20 degC. Gravity is still at 1026 and bubbling. it didn't smell, taste or look bad. in fact it smelt, tasted and looked pretty good. no distinguishable sweetness in comparison to my previous brew which finished at 1021 in the bottle brewed with WY 1056 at 19 degC.

I think that's enough stirring now. I'm going to dry hop with my 50g of Motueka at the weekend and bottle during next week after its stopped bubbling.

While im on dry hopping. is there any benefit to dry hopping during vigorous fermentation or waiting until it has slowed or stopped?

I would wait until it has stopped finished.. I would do it minus teh days you plan to bottle so say you plan to bottle on a staurday , you could bung them say the weekend or Monday before.

 

[DoctorMick]

well last night I gave it another stir and raised the temp to 20 degC. Gravity is still at 1026 and bubbling. it didn't smell, taste or look bad. in fact it smelt, tasted and looked pretty good. no distinguishable sweetness in comparison to my previous brew which finished at 1021 in the bottle brewed with WY 1056 at 19 degC.

I think that's enough stirring now. I'm going to dry hop with my 50g of Motueka at the weekend and bottle during next week after its stopped bubbling.

While im on dry hopping. is there any benefit to dry hopping during vigorous fermentation or waiting until it has slowed or stopped?

If you dry hop while it's fermenting you can lose some of the hop aroma as it escapes with the CO2.