Need some advice

[eldustino]

Hi all!

I need some advise and am hoping you all can help.

I have been home brewing for just a under a year now, learning as I go and upgrading the gear when $ is available 
I found a recipe for a British Brown Ale and after tweaking slightly I thought I would brew a 10L batch.

See below grain bill.

My problem is that the FG was supposed to hit 1014 and it stalled at 1020 after lettting set for 2 weeks.  I haven't had this problem yet on any other beer (maybe a point, but not 6 points).

I fermented more or less at 20C for the entire time.  (in the pantry of my house, not in a fridge).

I "THINK" the issue is that I didn't get enough fermentable sugars while mashing.  I am using a HERMS system and recirculating during the mash process.
If I were going to do a 2nd batch, should I:

• Drop the temp to say 63C?
• Mash longer at 67C?
• Do a 2 step mash, say 62C for 30min and 67C for 30min?

Your thoughts? Other suggestions?
please feel free to answer in Dutch!

PS: the color of my beer is not as dark as it should have been due to the fact I ran out of 900MD (I am aware of this!)   

OG 1049
Expected FG 1014

Mash Volume = 11L
Sparge Volume = 6L
Preboil Volume = 13L
Primary Volume = 9.25L
Bottle Volume = 8L (lost alot sampling the beer   :P)

Mash temp 67 / 60 min
Mash out 78 / 5min

Yeast nutrients: none

1.8KG Dingemans Pale Ale
200g Fawcettt Cystal Malt
47g Dingemans 900MD Chocolate (I ran out so used what was left!)
200g Weyermann Carapils

Boil 60min
10g Challenger @ 60 min
10g EKG @ 20 min.

Yeast : White Labs WLP036 Dusseldorf Alt Ale yeast (expiration date was good)

[hansHalberstadt]

Looks not very strange 1014 is what you could normally expect with som dark malts. could be mashing but also not enough active yeast. for masing you could try: 2 step mash,  63C for 30-45min and 72C for 45min. Also during 72 still fermentable sugar is formed from dextrines, so taking that stap some longer could help.

[Niels B.]

I'd suggest a thicker mash for your next batch of this beer.
You are now using 2.25 kg of grain on 11 litres of water, or 4.8 L/kg.
Try lowering this to around 3L/kg. Make up for the lesser amount of water by increasing your sparge volume.

With thinner mashes, the Beta-Amylase will degrade quicker, so it will cut less short-chained sugars. Hence, you could end up with a higher final gravity.

[eldustino]

Thanks both. I had yet another beer do the same thing and I have come to the conclusion it's a combination of both. I will be going back to a two-step mash and will keep an eye on my water to grain ratio (I didn't realize it had such an impact).

Upwards and onwards!

PS: do either of you stir during the mash?  Some say do, some say don't. I notice my mash effeciency goes up if I stir.

[hansHalberstadt]

No problem to stir during the mash. That gives better contact between starch en enzymes.

[KC]

Did you make a yeast starter?

[CeesM]

Did you make a yeast starter?

No need to make a yeaststarter with an OG of 1.049 on a volume of 9.25 liters.