Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: WTF?  (Read 4620 times)

Offline davidgzach

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1698
WTF?
« on: December 05, 2012, 03:02:11 pm »
Made 10g of a Sam Smith Nut Brown Ale clone.  Split half in a bucket, half in a Better Bottle for primary.  Used WLP037 (only 8 days old when it arrived) and made an appropriate starter which I decanted and split in to 2 equal glasses to pitch.  Fermented side by side at 65F.  Raised to 67F 3 days ago.

At 2 weeks and a couple of days the BB is at 1.016 and the bucket is at 1.012.  WTF?

Dave
Dave Zach

Offline morticaixavier

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 7781
  • Underhill VT
    • The Best Artist in the WORLD!!!!!
Re: WTF?
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2012, 03:22:05 pm »
ahh the vagaries of nature.

slightly more yeast or o2 in bucket? slight stratification when you ran off into the fermenters?
"Creativity is the residue of wasted time"
-A Einstein

"errors are [...] the portals of discovery"
- J Joyce

Offline hubie

  • Assistant Brewer
  • ***
  • Posts: 234
Re: WTF?
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2012, 03:25:15 pm »
Maybe the starter settled a bit before you split it and the bucket got more initial yeast (037 is a high flocculator)?  Bigger headspace in the bucket led to better oxygenation at the start?  Maybe the wort into the bucket had a lower OG than the bottle due to kettle stratification?

I'm just taking wild guesses here.

Offline kramerog

  • Brewmaster General
  • *******
  • Posts: 2262
    • My LinkedIn page
Re: WTF?
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2012, 03:26:53 pm »
Two speculative thoughts.  I brew 10 gal batches which I split equally between two carboys.  I often make a single starter which I then split approximately equally between the two carboys.  I often find that one carboy starts and finishes faster than the other which I assume is due to different amounts of yeast.  I don't generally measure the FG of both carboys assuming they finish at the same FG.

Did you see one batch start faster than the other? 

Is it possible there is more air going into the bucket before and during the fermentation causing a more complete fermentation in the bucket?

Offline euge

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 8017
  • Ego ceruisam ad bibere cervisiam
Re: WTF?
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2012, 03:42:16 pm »
Beer Gremlins.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Offline weithman5

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1681
  • naperville, il
Re: WTF?
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2012, 04:43:35 pm »
Beer Gremlins.

yeah, these guys are nasty little boogers. and they don't stop there. i have had beer vanish from my fridge without any other explanation.  Or could it be my sons and their friends?  Nah.

on the other hand.  the final gravity is 1.014, one you read a little low on the hydrometer the other you erred high.  hence both readings demonstrating the same accuracy (distance to true number) but precision is off (measure of repeatability)  solve the first with averaging, the second problem with calibration.

Don AHA member

Offline Jimmy K

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 3643
  • Delaware
Re: WTF?
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2012, 05:12:36 pm »
This is why experiments, including brewing experiments, that aren't replicated are crap.
Delmarva United Homebrewers - President by inverse coup - former president ousted himself.
AHA Member since 2006
BJCP Certified: B0958

Offline Joe Sr.

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4467
  • Chicago - NORTH SIDE
Re: WTF?
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2012, 05:41:18 pm »
This is why experiments, including brewing experiments, that aren't replicated are crap.

So he should brew 10 more gallons, split, and ferment with the same yeasts?

Sounds like a great suggestion to me.
It's all in the reflexes. - Jack Burton

Offline guido

  • Brewer
  • ****
  • Posts: 343
Re: WTF?
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2012, 05:52:24 pm »
Beer Gremlins.

yeah, these guys are nasty little boogers. and they don't stop there. i have had beer vanish from my fridge without any other explanation.  Or could it be my sons and their friends?  Nah.

on the other hand.  the final gravity is 1.014, one you read a little low on the hydrometer the other you erred high.  hence both readings demonstrating the same accuracy (distance to true number) but precision is off (measure of repeatability)  solve the first with averaging, the second problem with calibration.

+1 on the explanation.  Sometimes the numbers don't cooperate.  It's within the margin of error (1.014). RDWHAHB!
Well...I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer

     -"Roadhouse Blues,"  Jim Morrison

Offline majorvices

  • Global Moderator
  • I must live here
  • *****
  • Posts: 11320
  • Polka. If its too loud you're too young.
WTF?
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2012, 07:10:23 pm »
blend 'em together and call it a day! ;)

Offline davidgzach

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1698
Re: WTF?
« Reply #10 on: December 06, 2012, 05:14:10 am »
This is why experiments, including brewing experiments, that aren't replicated are crap.

So he should brew 10 more gallons, split, and ferment with the same yeasts?

Sounds like a great suggestion to me.

Sounds like a plan.  I'll even re-combine the slurrys for the pitch.  Need to make 10g of my ESB anyway!  Let's see what these gremlins try this time....

As to the above, I think the only reasonable explanation would be stratification.  I did fill the bucket first so I could see in the BB when I started sucking up trub.

I also hit every number on the button for this brew and the FG number I wanted was 1.012.  I'd rather RDWHAHB and just pretend they both got there!   ::)

Dave

EDIT:  I forgot to add that I swirled the starter and poured back and forth in the glasses until full.  They had to be very close to even...
Dave Zach

Offline Joe Sr.

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4467
  • Chicago - NORTH SIDE
Re: WTF?
« Reply #11 on: December 06, 2012, 09:20:55 am »
blend 'em together and call it a day! ;)

I did this recently with 10 gallons of porter that had the same sort of finishing differential between fermenters.  No one is the wiser.
It's all in the reflexes. - Jack Burton