My OG reading for a belgian tripel i just brewed was 1.080 and was supposed to be 1.095. I pitched the yeast anyway but is there something that could have been done to get it where it needed to be? Also ( I am embarrassed to ask this but the little rubber seal from the air lock fell in the fermentor and I was not able to get it out. Can this sit in the fermenter during fermentation or do i need to get it out? It was star sanned but I know if can't be good. Thanks in advance to anyone who answers my stupid questions.
You can leave it. It won't hurt anything. Kudos for asking before plunging your hand and arm in. You could add some sugar to the fermenter. It wouldn't be out of place in a Tripel. Is there already added sugar in your recipe? If so, how much? And what's the grain bill?
It just occurred to me that this may have been an extract recipe. Partial boil, topped off with water? If so, and if you followed the recipe, your gravity is most likely fine. And the low reading would most likely be due to not mixing the wort and top-off water completely before sampling, and/or measuring at a high temp (and not correcting for the difference).
It is an extract recipe but was a full boil and i started with over 6 gallons in the pot and ended up with probably 5.5 in the fermentor so not sure whether thats the problem. No water was used to top off. The recipe had 1 lb. of Simplicity Clear Candi Syrup and 12 oz. of honey so not additional. sugar was added. (and 10lb of Light LME) Grain bill was 1lb. Pilsner, 8 oz Carapils, 4oz Biscuit and 4 oz Munich. Thanks Vikeman!!!!
Missing your OG by 15 points would be a big problem for some styles, but a Triple should be a little more forgiving because of the lack of hops and the copious amounts of sugar anyway. If you are sure about your gravity reading, boil up a little DME and maybe sugar to get where you want to be. I'm not sure 10# of LME will get you anywhere close to 1.095 anyway (even with the other sugar/Pilsner, etc.)
Okay, so 1.080 in 5.5 gallons would translate to 1.088 in 5 gallons. So too much volume was a factor. There's already a lot of simple sugars from the candi syrup and the honey, so I probably wouldn't add more, or the body may get too thin (even for a Tripel) compared to the ABV. Also, your hop bitterness/flavor/aroma would have been diluted by the extra water, proportionally just like the fermentables. But this will still be a big beer, and I'd probably just go with it as is and it should stay pretty well balanced.
Thanks Vikeman, not even gonna ask about the math to figure that one out. No fermentation after 24 hours though (at least no bubbling in the air lock). The WLP530 Abbey Ale Yeast said on the vial 5-15 hours so not sure if we did something wrong with the increase volume.
Did you make a yeast starter? For a beer that big, you really should. If not, that could explain the lag time (assuming the wort is at a good temp for the yeast). But a little extra volume (at a lower gravity) isn't in and of itself going to cause fermentation problems.
No starter. MY LHBS did not mention that so I relied on them which i guess was a mistake. We did get the wort temp down to 75 degrees before pitching the yeast so i guess i will just have to be patient. Thanks for the info!!!
Starters = good. You can make a starter without a stir-plate by just using a big container (gallon jugs work for me). Clean well and Sanitize well, obviously. For a "standard" pale ale of about 1.060, a smack-pack or white labs vial is about half (or less) of the needed cells for five gallons of beer. Add in your extra half gallon of volume, plus your additional gravity, and your cells/mL will be way low since you didn't make a starter. This could lead to lag time in onset of vigorous fermentation. Severe under-pitching can have negative effects beyond just delayed onset of fermentation, although I don't have a list handy. Airlock activity does not equal fermentation activity. I have one fermenter that never bubbles, ever, no matter what, but always makes good beer. Changes in gravitometer readings indicate fermentation. Oh, and below 70F is superior to 75F. I use a pre-chiller to the wort chiller setup and it works great. If you can improve on this parameter, it would be beneficial. This is especially true if you're not using fermentation temperature controls. Yeast fermenting wort is exothermic, so your fermenting wort might be several degrees higher than ambient temperature. If you're starting at 75F and you get a fast take-off, you might get too hot and get off flavors.
Cheers man. I always enjoy how you take the time out to explain homebrewing questions to anyone who asks. Reminds me of Homebrew88 (or whatever their name was) who used to do the same thing and helped me a few years back. Somebody send this dude some homebrews for all the help!
