AG # 3 Bitter and twisted---- brewday from hell

[Deebee]

I hope by me sharing my extremely nasty brew evening i might gain some more help from those that are far better and far more experienced than I.

I had initially thought of doing the brew in several stages as per this thread viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25782

But the mrs went to bed really early, the kids behaved and i thought why not, Brew time!!

The recipe is a Bitter and twisted clone from Paul at barley bottom, and things started bitterly, and went twisted.. let me explain.

Firstly i dropped the beer Oeselsvekt destroying it... hmm i thought , this could be a problem when coming to measure the OG....

The mash went really well. Hit temperatures and had almost no drop off during the mash time. First wort was recycled for 4 liters then was nice and clear so away i went. it was however running slowly!

The brew length for this is 23 liters and the boil should be for 25... everything was going well until i hit 19 liters and then everything stopped, completely, not a drop from the mash tun dispite there being water there. 25 miniutes it stayed like that and still nothing

Time was getting on, and i am up at 0430 so bed was needed.... so i reverted back to the thread ( link above) heated the wort to 80 degrees held it for 15 minutes and then gently transferred it into the santitsed FV, sealed it up and left it.

So here is the dilema.

I have 6 liters too little wort, and the only measurement equipment i have is a " combined wine and beer oeselsvekt" this starts in a black zone ( for wine) at 15 and comes down in 5 unit increments until it hits 0 from here it it moves into a white zone ( they say for beer) and increases in 10 unit increments until it shows 120

My question here is is this acually ok, i mean is the 0 mark really 1000 and then 10 unit increments ( so 1010 to 1120) if so i have one less thing to worry about. Does anyone know?

Secondly if this does indeed prove to be ok, and the OG is ( expectedly extremely high) is diluting it with boiled water in the boiler an ok thing to do in order to dilute it? If so should i add liter for liter and measure at each stage? i imagine the OG should not be the same pre boil as post, so what should i aim at ( The recipe says expected OG is 1047)

Lastly if i add water and the OG goes under the target, is there a ration of grams sugar pr point gravity i would need to add into the boil in order to bring the OG up.

At present this would likely be a really high ABV beer, and it is not intended to be so and to be honest i want something at around the 4.5 % mark which is what this recipe should be.

I'm boiling at around 5 pm this evening so any help would be great.

I am most interested about the OG measurer though, if i can use the one i have then thats great ( there are no hb shops within 250 miles of me here !)

This was not a good brew day, and the name of the beer is how i feel the evening went.

Can someone help me save the brew please? I am panicing slightly very much here!

Thanks

[simple one]

I that the Oeselsvekt you speak of is what most people call a Hydrometer. If I understand what you, your original hydrometer broke, and your having to use a combined beer and wine hydrometer. Don't worry this is fine, and most people on here use one (i think). If you are unfamiliar with the units on the hydrometer then you can calibrate it. Use tap water to find your zero, and then a sugar solution to find a marking for 1.010 or so. About 26.5g household sugar in a litre will make such a solution. Ensure the temperature is constant and the sugar is dissolved. Then this measurement can be applied in a linear approach to the rest of the hydrometer. It will probably match up with the marks exactly.

Personally I would water it down to get my required gravity. And then alter the hops to match the IBU of the recipe.

Edit: changed sugar amount

[leedsbrew]

I use a combined wine and beer hydrometer, so I recon you have nothing to worry about. In the past I have also missed the target pre-boil volume and topped up with water in the boiler. I think adding boiled water to the boiler is a bit boots and braces, as its going to boil in the boiler!?


Good luck


N

[leedsbrew]

pipped to the post! SOML LOL

[Deebee]

Wow that was fast.

Thanks.

Ok so if i take a reading of the wort i have in the fv it might well show a reading around say 60 just to make a number up.( 1060)

I'll do what is suggested though dissolve the sugar in the water to find 1010 and compare it with the marks on the hydrometer if thats what its called.... if it talleys exactly then i have the idea that if it shows 60 then it is 1060.

on an oppossite note if the og goes below the desired number i can add sugar at the rate stated to inclease it, ( so for 25 litres it would be 25xthe amount of sugar to raise .10 )

so seeing as the post boil OG should be around the 1047 mark for 23 liters.
What should i start at pre boil with a wort of 25 liters, i guess it becomes slightly stronger as the boil causes evaporation??

Not a good picture as i had to enlarge it to be able to see it but this is what i have. The red shows from 15 at the top to zero, the white then from 10 upwards.hope this helps.

[Deebee]

I that the Oeselsvekt you speak of is what most people call a Hydrometer. If I understand what you, your original hydrometer broke, and your having to use a combined beer and wine hydrometer. Don't worry this is fine, and most people on here use one (i think). If you are unfamiliar with the units on the hydrometer then you can calibrate it. Use tap water to find your zero, and then a sugar solution to find a marking for 1.010 or so. About 26.5g household sugar in a litre will make such a solution. Ensure the temperature is constant and the sugar is dissolved. Then this measurement can be applied in a linear approach to the rest of the hydrometer. It will probably match up with the marks exactly.

Personally I would water it down to get my required gravity. And then alter the hops to match the IBU of the recipe.

Edit: changed sugar amount

The recipe was already completed so all hop amounts were exact ( delivered by paul at barleybottom) so if i can get to the proper preboil gravity there should not be a problem.

60 grams fuggles for a 90 minute boil sounds a little heft though but it is BITTER i suppose?

[leedsbrew]

to reply to your PM



the bottom of the red band (large black line) is the 1.040 mark.

1.0 is the large black line in the yellow band at the top of the hyrdometer. The small marks are 0.002 steps


this for example is reading 1.038


hope this helps

[simple one]

If you stick your original recipe on. Stick what volume of unhopped wort you have. And stick on the current gravity of the wort. Then I'll scale it for you.

Alternativey, and what I would do is... stick to the hopping plan. It will be a bit hoppier, but then I like my hops.

But still give the above info so you can choose, and I'll even tell you what the approx IBUs would be if you stick everything in.

[WishboneBrewery]

this for example is reading 1.038

Surely you mean 1042 ?

[leedsbrew]

AH! yes, read through the meniscus! DOH!

[Deebee]

If you stick your original recipe on. Stick what volume of unhopped wort you have. And stick on the current gravity of the wort. Then I'll scale it for you.

Alternativey, and what I would do is... stick to the hopping plan. It will be a bit hoppier, but then I like my hops.

But still give the above info so you can choose, and I'll even tell you what the approx IBUs would be if you stick everything in.

Right the recipe is as follows.

Brew length 5 gallons, boil length 5.5 gallons.


4.00 kg Maris Otter
0.20 kg Crystal Malt
0.20 kg Barley, Flaked
0.20 kg Wheat, Torrefied

56.00 gm Fuggles 90 min
28.00 gm Bobek 15 min

Right now i have only 19 liters which is 6 short of the required boil volume.
I have no gravity ( which is one of the problems as the damn thingy got broke)

I need to know how to read the gravity with the equipment i have ( unless i can find somewhere that has a proper thingy)

How to adjust ( dilute) it down to 25 litres preboil

what the OG should be preboil so that i get near to an OG prior to primary of 1047. If you can help you are a star.

Thaks

[simple one]

All I need now is a gravity of that wort. If you calabrate the hydrometer then you will know what the scaling on it represents. Once you have that you will know how off the mark you are, and how much sugar you lost in the sparge.

[Deebee]

And here is the biggest problem. I can't get a gravity until later this evening, and i amnot even sure that i have the right equipment to do it.

I need to boil tonight because firstly it is the only evening i have available, and secondly i don't want to leave the stuff just laying around too long.

can you PM me a mobile number maybe and i'll text it to you as soon as i get it. Be likely faster that way.

[simple one]

No probs sending PM

[Deebee]

According to tastybrew.com ( the only one i can access from work)

the recipe with a boil of 21 liters and post boil of 19 litres gives me 5.% ABV.

Thats 1% too much

Does this help at all.

What does beersmith say?