First batch as a licensed brewery

[Battenkill]

First, let me start by saying that moving from a homebrewer to full 1.5 BBL system has been a little bigger jump than I had figured ... BUT ... here I am. I've got new nano-brewery in Washington State (licensed in March 2011) and just completed my first 50 gallon batch. I've been brewing this amber for many years on a small scale, so I didn't think there'd be much difference going bigger.

My first brew (50 gallons of an Amber Ale) was supposed to come out at an OG of 1.060, but ended up with 1.065, oxygenated directly in the ferementer with a .5 micron stone (4 minutes), then pitched a liter of yeast. Had a very active 3 days of fermentation, then very little. After 10 days, my gravtiy is at 1.022 and I can't get it lower. I was trying for a 1.015.

Does that seem high? and what can I do to help ensure I reach the correct FG next time. More oxygen?

Any advice (other than turning back) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve
Battenkill Brewing Company
Poulsbo, WA

[Scott M]

Congratulations on your first commercial batch!

I believe we will need more information in order to help you out. Have you bubbled CO2 through the fermenter to roust the yeast, what was the fermentation temperature, what yeast was pitched, how did you mash, try raising the temperature slightly, etc.

[beauxman]

Without more info, either underpitched, low o2 or mash temp was too high (to start with, look there first). Not enough info to make a call on (1 liter yeast? Cell count? Generation? Lab? Thin slurry?). Take plenty of notes, you will not nail your beer on the first few batches. The more data you collect, the better you will be able to figure out which of the 100 variables to look at first.

-Beaux

[South County]

Congrats....As far as the gravity finishes your ABV is really about the same. It seems like your seeing a more efficient mash but in gaining efficiency and with a larger grain mash (mass) you retaining more heat and ultimately your strike temp may be to hot?!?! lots of variables as stated, what was your average mash temp. The liter of yeast if it was a pitch-able as 1.2 Billion cells/mL should have left you with 6.34 Million cell/mL staring count, which for the gravity may be tad under pitched but I would check for increased ester levels, if not, then looks somewhere else. As stated rouse beer and raise temp (also what was your primary ferment temp?)

[Battenkill]

Wow ... lot's to consider. I didn't bubble co2, but I will keep that on my list of possible solutions for next time. The wort was cooled to 70 degrees before pitching, then I maintained the room temp at 67 degrees throughout the fermentation process. I used a pitchable 1 liter slurry from Wyeast (#1318). I was also thinking that my problem could be higher than expected OG. I'm doing a single infusion, batch sparge at 154 degrees for a medium bodied beer. Definitely saw my effeciency increase and will compesate for the next round. Lot's of new variables to consider. Thanks for helping, I've got a big whiteboard with all kinds of notes now to transfer to the brew log. Learning quite a lot from this site ... Thanks.

Steve

[Moonlight]

Recalibrate your mash and hot liquor thermometers. Be sure you have multiples to see which is out of whack when you drop one. And you cannot assume a new one out of the box is correct, ever.

[South County]

Wow ... lot's to consider. I didn't bubble co2, but I will keep that on my list of possible solutions for next time. The wort was cooled to 70 degrees before pitching, then I maintained the room temp at 67 degrees throughout the fermentation process. I used a pitchable 1 liter slurry from Wyeast (#1318). I was also thinking that my problem could be higher than expected OG. I'm doing a single infusion, batch sparge at 154 degrees for a medium bodied beer. Definitely saw my effeciency increase and will compesate for the next round. Lot's of new variables to consider. Thanks for helping, I've got a big whiteboard with all kinds of notes now to transfer to the brew log. Learning quite a lot from this site ... Thanks.

Steve

Well with 1318 your in the ball park, still a bit high, but the 1.065 starting gravity, your FG will most likely be higher as your finding out. Also a forced wort test is really a good way to know what your hot side is providing for the yeast. Otherwise your in the dark as to what your apparent attenuation limit is. Also 1318 can tend to be "sweet" on the pallet, you may consider dropping the mash to 151 F and producing a little more in the way of fermentables for the yeast. However I would run another batch the same way, but tighten/nail down up your variables and if that doesn't correct your issues try adjusting your mash. Biggest thing is consistency particularly with the yeast and the O2.

[Gordie]

I go with South County's comment on mash temp and thermal mass. As a nano myself (Congrats!) scaling up my recipes to 1+ bbl batches took a bit of work. I'm thinking your mash temp remained higher for longer than you're used to, you got more dextrins and a higher gravity/more unfermentables. The difference between your expected and realized OG (0.005) and FG (0.007) are close enough to argue you've got unexpected high mash temps. If you have some of your prior batches handy, do a comparitive tasting and you'll probably learn more (when in doubt - taste it). Also, nanos sometimes forget to pay attention to water chemistry - make sure you've got that dialed in. It makes a bigger difference than you think when you're dealing with 10x the amount of water per batch.

Brew like the wind, nano-brother. You'll get used to the larger batches in a hurry. : )

Kevin

[jvandenbrink]

strike water temp?

I am with most people on this page that say that it has to do with your temperature. but i would back it up a step and say that your strike water temp is too high. Did you have to add a lot of cold water at the end of dough-in to get your desired mash temp? If so, you may have converted your sugars already and got too many unfermentables in the mix. When I scaled up from a nano this was my problem with my FG being too high. Took me three or so batches to figure out that an actual mash tun is a lot better insulated then a glorified stock pot.

Best of luck, you will get it. And say hi to Mike at the Hare and Hound for me.
Joel

[ParishBrewingCo]

+1 on mash temp being too high. Check your method of temp measurement. The few times I've mashed on the very hot side - like 160 or so, the result is exactly what you have described.

Also, ditto on other's comments about pH. If you are out of range, you may not make the right kinds of fermentable sugars. Just like temp, pH also impacts the activity of various enzymes.