Tue Aug 12, 2008 9:27 am
Hey, been listening to some of the podcasts, but it's my first time posting on the forums here. I think this thread is a good place for my question.
On Sunday I tried to brew JZ's Flanders red as my first "mostly-grain" batch (only the pilsner was extract, so this was my first time mashing with more than a couple pounds of grain). Maybe it was a bit ambitious for a big change to my process, but if you're not brewing the beer you want, why bother?
Unfortunately, I totally lowballed the efficiency (I guessed around 50% on the stovetop, and got more like 65%), and overshot the OG - it's somewhere around 1.072-1.075 instead of just under 1.060. I tried to keep the mash temp high, but who really knows how that ended up... Readings were all over, from 152F to 160F, I think because I didn't stir enough. With smaller mashes it was fine to just let it sit there (reminder to self: stir more next time).
Anyway, it's happily fermenting away with US-05, and I plan on pitching WLP655 Belgian sour mix for the second stage, but I'm not sure when to do that. Based on my experience with this yeast, I'd expect it to get down as far as 1.015, which is too low.
1) Do I need to let the first stage ferment out, and give the yeast another week to clean up, settle, etc. before I rack to secondary? I'm wondering if it's better to let it go and adjust with some boiled DME or sugar, vs. taking daily readings and immediately racking when it's near my target. That could be as soon as tonight (high krausen this morning), though it's probably a couple days off - either way, it doesn't seem like much time in primary.
2) Having way overshot the OG, should I adjust my target gravity for the second stage? I want it nice and tart, but I want to make sure it finishes dry. I'm wondering if I'm better off adjusting the target up to 1.025 so it's sour enough to balance the high gravity, or going for the recipe's 1.020 so it finishes low enough. I'd prefer not to wait years and years.
