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First Partial Mash Extract Batch

rph73178

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I made the jump into partial mash brewing two weeks ago.  I've made a few Mr. Beer batches and was not overly satisfied with the process and the final product.  Nothing against Mr. Beer, but I wanted to be more involved in my brewing. 
So I got a 1 gallon kit from Brewer's Best and started researching recipes.  I'm a darker beer fan so I wanted to brew that way as well.  I chose a partial mash/extract chocolate stout batch that I found online and kinda tweeked the formula.  Added a little more of this...a little less of that.  Steeped my grains at around 152 degrees for an hour and added it to my kettle. 
Calculated OG was 1.080 and mine tested at 1.076...not too bad, and FG was 1.029.  I think the ABV was 6.17% and the fomula calculated it at 6.2%, so again...not too shabby.
I'm putting it the secondary 'fermentor' with cocoa nibs and a vanilla bean.  The plan is to keep it in there for 2 weeks to condition and cold crash near the end, then bottle carb for a week.  I'm very excited to finish this beer off and see how the flavor develops.  I tried a small sample when I checked the FG and it tasted similar to Guiness!
Once my beer is fully carbed, I will report back with an update of how awesome it is and maybe a pic or two as well.  Do you guys have any favorite dark beer recipes to share, or tips or advice for a newby? 
 
Transferred into the secondary for conditioning and took another gravity reading. 1.026 for an ABV of 6.56%. Awesome!  I sampled what I had left after filling and it is really good.  Cant wait to see how the flavor develops.  Only like 3 more weeks to go  :(
 
FG seems a bit high (or it needs more time) but, by all means, don't let me discourage you. I don't have all the info. Keep doing what you are doing. Join a beer club. You will get more out of that than anything you can learn here. Trust me.
 
Does it really matter if FG is high?  I know this means it is more sugary, but this is supposed to be kind of a sweet chocolate stout.  Its conditioning in my secondary fermenter and when I checked it this morning, there was about a good half inch of sediment on the bottom of the jug.  Im guessing the yeast is still doing it job and lowering the FG, so Im hoping that it settles somewhere aroung 1.010.

Joining a club sounds like a great idea.  Gonna have to look into that for sure.
 
rph73178 said:
Does it really matter if FG is high?

Yes.

Malt extract is notorious for finishing high. Some lack nutrients and this slows the yeast way down. The usual course of action is to take gravity samples until you read the same gravity for 3 days. One gallon kits don't make very much volume, so this may be problematic since you don't want to return the sample to the fermenter.

The excess sugar will be consumed by yeast. If it's bottled while this happens, the result is at least overcarbonation and at worst, exploding bottles. Either way, it's not easy to drink. It takes a very small amount of sugar to carbonate beer.

With the vanilla and nibs in the secondary, the remaining yeast will continue to lower the gravity. So, that's a good course of action.
 
Great to know! Thanks.  It did seem to have been bubbling in the secondary so I am hoping that it gets down.  What range is good? Should I shot for it to be under1.015?
 
You're probably close to the limit of the yeast. So, 1.020 is probably the lowest it'll get. 1.022 isn't unreasonable, either.
 
So if the FG is that high, is there a real danger of bottle bombs?  Id prefer not to have bottles explode on my first real attempt at a home brew.
 
You really don't have any control over the final gravity.  The thing that you need to do right now is to exercise patience.  I know it's difficult to do, when you really (badly) want to bottle the beer so that you can drink it sooner, but be patient and give the yeast plenty of time to finish their job.  It will not hurt the beer or the yeast to sit an extra week or two after you think that they have finished their job.

Give it the extra time, so that you know that they are done fermenting completely.  Then you can put your bottling sugar in the beer and bottle it.  With patience, you'll know that the only thing in the bottles for the yeast to consume will be the bottling sugar and when that is all that they have, you will not get bottle bombs.

Just make sure that you measure out your sugar very accurately for the exact volume of beer that you're going to bottle.
 
rph73178 said:
So if the FG is that high, is there a real danger of bottle bombs?  Id prefer not to have bottles explode on my first real attempt at a home brew.

Don't get too worked up about it. By following Scott's advice, you won't ever have that issue.

Here's the background: Carbonation only needs 1.004 worth of gravity to be perfect. The difference of gravity from what you saw to what it may come down to is twice that amount. That's not enough to cause a bottle bomb, but it is enough to overcarbonate and probably gush.
 
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