Youngs American Mocha Porter

[Floggy]

Hi
I put this kit into the FV a week ago. it had a best before date of Aug 2017.
When I pitched the yeast, the wort was at 26 degrees (but i was in a rush, Lesson learned).
One week on, Very little Krausen (although there has been some), but it seems to have dissipated) and very little airlock activity.

The brew is sat in a room at 22.8 degrees centigrade. The wort temperature is 24.1 Degrees centigrade. the room has night storage heating and I guess accounts for the difference.

just tried out my new refractometer on it, shows zero with distilled water and with the wort, Brix percentage of 8 and a SG of 1.031.

should I :
a) Give it a good stir and reseal lid
b) add some yeast nutrient, give it a stir and reseal the lid
c) pitch new yeast stir and reseal lid
d) pitch new yeast, add nutrient, stir and reseal lid
e) make a yeast starter in a separate bottle then add it
f) Bin it
g) take up knitting instead

Advice appreciated

 

[Callumbo]

Hi Floggy

I imagine the Kit itself should be okay, it is tinned so all air tight. I would imagine it just won't taste as good as brewing in its prime but shouldn't be too far off.

Few questions first.

Did you use the packet yeast that came with the can? If so, then that yeast is ollllllddddd and you never know how it's been stored since it was packaged. So i'd pitch some more yeast.

With your refractometer, are you using an online calculator to adjust for the alcohol levels in the wort? I discovered when i bought mine that the alcohol throws off all of the readings from it so has to be adjusted by a calculator each time.

Was the OG significantly different to this nw reading?

Cheers,

 

[Clint]

Best before August 2017? ? Do you mean 2016? Pitching at high temps for a yeast that should be pitched at say 20°c can either damage or kill the yeast so fermentation doesn't occur or cause a very quick fermentation that you miss. The only sure way to check is to do a gravity reading.

Cheers

Clint

 

[sdt7618]

Given your temps mate it will have flown through the fermentation. simple check would be to sanitise a test jar and hydrometer and test it.

You might find it is nearly done as you in the upper range of temps for that kit!

 

[sdt7618]

Best before August 2017? ? Do you mean 2016? Pitching at high temps for a yeast that should be pitched at say 20°c can either damage or kill the yeast so fermentation doesn't occur or cause a very quick fermentation that you miss. The only sure way to check is to do a gravity reading.

Cheers

Clint

beat me to it mate!!

 

[Floggy]

Just hydrometered it, SG = 1.019
instructions say complete at below 1.010
:-?

Best Before Aug 17 So hopefully the kit was freshish

 

[KingofScots]

How did it turn out? Mine seems to have finished at 1.012 but, it's a dark brown colour, not black at all.

 

[wfr42]

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=55861

When I wrote my review - above, it finished at 1.012 there's a few pics I the thread.

Did you dilute it/ brew it to 20+litres?

 

[Floggy]

No did it to 17.5l as instructed
Tastes ok thiugh

 

[KingofScots]

Well, I must of because I managed to get thirty four 500ml bottles out of it. Lesson learned there. I should imagine it'll still taste ok... I hope.

 

[Ninja_Brew]

I pitched yeast 2 weeks ago and it's finished up at only 4.99%. It looks as though there's a lot of yeast on the walls of the FV from when it initially foamed up when airated it and pitched the yeast. I'm wondering if that's why, and if it's worth scraping it into the beer? Would it start up again? It's only my 5th brew so still learning.

 

[wfr42]

Mine ended at 5.1%

Your yeast should have grown enough during fermentation that missing a bit shouldn't have affected it.

 

[Ninja_Brew]

Well after a couple of weeks of bottle conditioning, I cracked one last night and I have to say that the results for that bottle are disappointing. Not the flavour though, which is great already. Great aroma and subtle coffee and chocolate flavours. The issue is that it hasn't carbonated much at all. The packet of sugar supplied was smaller than the IPA or APA, I assumed because it's brewed shorter, but I'm worried that the whole batch will be like this. I transferred it from the FV into a secondary bin, added the sugar, mixed, then bottled. The results for the other Youngs beers have been excellent. My question is, would conditioning have finished now and they won't get fizzier, or should I leave them in a warm room for longer? Also, could it be that the sugar hasn't mixed well, and some bottles may be more carbonated than others? It's such as shame as the taste is excellent.

 

[Razor]

Well after a couple of weeks of bottle conditioning, I cracked one last night and I have to say that the results for that bottle are disappointing. Not the flavour though, which is great already. Great aroma and subtle coffee and chocolate flavours. The issue is that it hasn't carbonated much at all. The packet of sugar supplied was smaller than the IPA or APA, I assumed because it's brewed shorter, but I'm worried that the whole batch will be like this. I transferred it from the FV into a secondary bin, added the sugar, mixed, then bottled. The results for the other Youngs beers have been excellent. My question is, would conditioning have finished now and they won't get fizzier, or should I leave them in a warm room for longer? Also, could it be that the sugar hasn't mixed well, and some bottles may be more carbonated than others? It's such as shame as the taste is excellent.

It is possible that you have some uneven carbonation which can happen with batch priming but it could also be that they need longer. Keep them in the warm and try another bottle next week to check if the carb level has improved.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Graz]

Well after a couple of weeks of bottle conditioning, I cracked one last night and I have to say that the results for that bottle are disappointing. Not the flavour though, which is great already. Great aroma and subtle coffee and chocolate flavours. The issue is that it hasn't carbonated much at all. The packet of sugar supplied was smaller than the IPA or APA, I assumed because it's brewed shorter, but I'm worried that the whole batch will be like this. I transferred it from the FV into a secondary bin, added the sugar, mixed, then bottled. The results for the other Youngs beers have been excellent. My question is, would conditioning have finished now and they won't get fizzier, or should I leave them in a warm room for longer? Also, could it be that the sugar hasn't mixed well, and some bottles may be more carbonated than others? It's such as shame as the taste is excellent.

I weighed the supplied priming sugar when I did mine and it didn't seem to be enough so I added a bit more. Also did you dissolve the sugar in some warm water before mixing it with the beer in your secondary bin? This ensures it's already dissolved so that it will distribute evenly provided you give it a good but gentle stir. May be that some of your bottle could be more primed than others.

With mine it's not highly carbonated even with the extra sugar, you get the expected pssst when uncapping the bottle but it needs to be poured from a little bit of a height with the glass not tilted, adjusting as you pour to get a decent head. On the whole though I'm very pleased with the way mine turned out. Love the flavour.

 

[Ninja_Brew]

Thanks. I didn't dissolve the sugar, as I hadn't needed to with their IPA, APA or RIAs, but I did when I barrelled my first Woodeford's Wherry at the weekend, so will try that in future. I'll leave them in the warmth for longer and hope for the best. Great flavour though.

 

[Graz]

Just to confuse...

I don't bother dissolving the priming sugar when kegging, just lob it in the barrel before syphoning in the beer. This is enough to mix it and it will dissolve over time / the yeast will find it and eat it.

I do dissolve it when bottling though + batch priming as then you want to ensure it's evenly distributed throughout the beer before you put it in the bottles.

 

[Ninja_Brew]

Just to confuse...

I don't bother dissolving the priming sugar when kegging, just lob it in the barrel before syphoning in the beer. This is enough to mix it and it will dissolve over time / the yeast will find it and eat it.

I do dissolve it when bottling though + batch priming as then you want to ensure it's evenly distributed throughout the beer before you put it in the bottles.

Thanks for the advice. Not confusing at all!