Hey all.
Long story short I replaced a previous distiller about a week ago and am in the process of trying to play investigator as to what their process was like.
That being said, we have a 15bbl batch that has entered its 10th day of fermentation and was stuck at 12% brix from an OG of 16% brix. After running some preliminary tests on it, the pH turned out to be a whopping 3.1.
Although there is a high amount of specialty malt in the batch recipe, nothing I know of short of infection can possibly get the pH that low. Our water is fine, and passes the test on every calculator I plug it into.
It was fermenting a little hot, around 85F, although I don't believe that's anything to worry about as far as stopping a fermentation.
When I peeked inside the fermentor today there was no biofilm or any such indicator of lacto or pedio that I could see. The mash tastes tart but nothing close to a sour mash. The yeast they pitched was EC-1118 from Lallemand.
Is there anything else I can do to figure out what the heck this guy did or if its possibly infected? I raised the pH back up to 5 and repitched a the right amount of yeast today, not knowing the amount that was originally pitched either.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Long story short I replaced a previous distiller about a week ago and am in the process of trying to play investigator as to what their process was like.
That being said, we have a 15bbl batch that has entered its 10th day of fermentation and was stuck at 12% brix from an OG of 16% brix. After running some preliminary tests on it, the pH turned out to be a whopping 3.1.
Although there is a high amount of specialty malt in the batch recipe, nothing I know of short of infection can possibly get the pH that low. Our water is fine, and passes the test on every calculator I plug it into.
It was fermenting a little hot, around 85F, although I don't believe that's anything to worry about as far as stopping a fermentation.
When I peeked inside the fermentor today there was no biofilm or any such indicator of lacto or pedio that I could see. The mash tastes tart but nothing close to a sour mash. The yeast they pitched was EC-1118 from Lallemand.
Is there anything else I can do to figure out what the heck this guy did or if its possibly infected? I raised the pH back up to 5 and repitched a the right amount of yeast today, not knowing the amount that was originally pitched either.
Thanks for any suggestions.
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