Homebrew Slump

I am sorry to hear about the last two batches.

While I have been lucky to not have similar experiences I can discuss 3 gallon batches a bit. Over the past few years I have begun to produce smaller (3 gallon) batches along with my typical 5 gallon batches. I have chosen to do this for some beer styles which I enjoy drinking but are not as popular with family and friends. I would encourage you to consider brewing these smaller batches if you think that increasing the frequency of brewing would be a positive change for your homebrewery.

Cheers!

 

You don't provide a lot info for trouble shooting, but both of these batches sound like big beers. Are big beers what you are accustomed to brewing? You mentioned that the one was underpitched, initially. Maybe that was the problem? What did your pitch rate look like on the imy stout, and what was that OG? If you are uncertain about your process and you think brewing more could help you nail it down, maybe try some lower gravity beers, as they require less of an ingredient investment

 

I find I need to brew at a frequency where I am super attentive and anal for every brew. Sometimes brewing too frequently has the opposite effect, I find myself inattentive and prone to shortcuts. From there sub-par beers become more likely. If you want to increase frequency and feel it'll benefit you 3 gallon batches are a good idea.
Best of luck

 

Enter the beers in a BJCP sanction beer competition and see what the judges say. With the first beer, if you are getting a lot of fusel alcohols, drop the fermentation temperature. Also if you are brewing a big beer do a starter for your yeast and be very generous with the pitching rate. With the second batch - what was the OG, yeast strain, pitching rate. fermentation temperature, what was the percentage of maple syrup to malt, did the maple syrup have any preservatives in it, how did you handle, etc. . ?

 

Relax. Enjoy the process and give it time to work.

You can also consider mixing beers. For example, a half glass of imperial maple on top of a half glass of guinness might taste awesome.

 

I suggest making a simple beer with maybe two hops and 3 malts nonhigher than 6 percent. Make a KISS beer to get back to basics. I was in a rut and I made a simple el dorado smash with marris otter and bam I was back on the horse.

 

Regarding your IPA, if 68 F is ambient, then with such a big beer the fermentation temperature might well have been into the low-to-mid 70's. This might account for the hot taste. I personally like to ferment my ales close to 65F or lower to keep yeast character as clean as possible.

As for the stout, 2 smack packs is likely an underpitch, especially if the yeast has any age on it.

Cheers!

 

Look on the bright side! You identified the problem. It’s attenuation!
Coming from someone who has chased problems for half a dozen brews, the whole time making bad beer for the sake of troubleshooting, your battle is already halfway won!
On the IPA, you mention you overshot your efficiency. Was this something you realized before fermentation? As in, was the starting gravity to high? Or did the beer finish too low? If it’s the former, you should look into the practice of “liquoring down”, or cutting the wort with sterile, filtered water. It’s quite a common practice in pro brewing to hit targets. If it’s the latter, an unfermentable sugar, like lactose plus an extra charge or two of dry-hops can work wonders on a thin, boozy DIPA. Blending is always an option too.
The imperial stout definitley sounds like an underpirtch. Twice that amount of yeast sounds closer to the right amount, but likely more. Also, don’t get lost in cell counts. The same amount of gen. 1 yeast vs gen. 4 yeast will produce different beer. For big beers like an imperial stout, I recommend getting rich, healthy, yeast from a local brewery, or harvesting minimum gen. 3 from another homebrew.

 

I've had this happen and I found it helpful to go back to a tried and true recipe. Something I've successfully brewed and I enjoy drinking. For me it was a session red ipa. Having a homebrew around you like drinking it seemed to be good motivation to brew again.

 

I think you might be suffering from increasing expectations...not necessarily a bad thing...just that your palate is evolving, too. 17days...not exactly prime time for an Imperial Stout

 

I would ferment cooler around 64/65 then raise when it's almost done. My Belgium quad has that alcohol bite and i think it's because i fermented in the low 70s.

 

Lots of good ideas. As long as you enjoy brewing and drinking beer, I say brew on. Sometimes our best efforts crash. Yours are not that bad, so brew on, have fun, and wait a couple weeks on the dipa, 2 months on the stout. Then let us know if they are still not what you want.

Happy t day.

 

If you haven't read Gordon Strong's Brewing Better Beer, it's a very good practical book. While you may not incorporate all of Gordon's methods and suggestions the book is thought provoking and offers numerous things to consider throughout the process.

 

Man, I have had a similar slump. My last two batches sucked. I rushed through my brew days, half assed everything from recipe development to cleaning my garage afterwards. I'm taking a brake, but look forward to really nailing a modified new dogtown type beer next month. I hope you don't get too discouraged. On another note, anything bigger than 1.080 gets four smack packs or a 4L starter at my place. And I stick with 1056 for the big beers as well.

 

As @SFACRKnight mentioned, a break might not be a bad idea. Perhaps take some time to venture into a new style via learning a bit about the history of it, searching out top commercial examples of the style available to you, taking time to really enjoy them and figure out what makes that beer tick, etc. Then you can come back to brewing with a recipe for that style, which given your time investment in learning about, might make you more excited to brew.

I brew 2.5 gallon batches so that I can brew more often. Perhaps start with 3 gallons every 3 weeks so as to not rush yourself and also to avoid prolonging the slump your feeling. I tend to feel that, when I have a set schedule, the beers and my process suffer slightly as I’m thinking about the schedule a bit more than the beer. Perhaps if I had the next 6 months planned out it would be different, but I’m still learning so much that it’s hard to stick with a planned brew unless I’ve already bought the ingredients!

 

I'm with @utahbeerdude on temp as well. When my beers are that big I keep them in the low to mid 60s for the first few days then ramp up 3-5*F. High 60s with that amount of sugar will create higher alcohols.