'Stalled' batch

[SureLook]

Di my first BIAB all grain roughly 10 days ago and the recipe (posted on here https://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/best-recipes/summer-ipa/) said that the OG should be 1.060, however I measured 1.042. Current SG is 1.018 (which is what it should be) after 10 days. That gives a pretty low ABV. Part of me is thinking that I just measured it wrong at the start and it's actually at the correct SG now, been constant for 3 days.

Current options are to fire ahead with the dry hopping for 3-5 days then bottle or potentially add more yeast to get the fermentation back up and running. Info that may/may not be helpful is I brewed with half of what the original recipe called for (inc. yeast) and it's approx 10 L wort in a standard 23 L FV.

Any thoughts? Cheers.

[mick02]

OK, a couple of questions off the top of my head

Did you measure with a hydrometer or refractometer? If refractometer then it may need to be calibrated.

What temp was the wort when you measured it? If you used a hydrometer then the temp may have played a part in a 'wrong' reading

Did you sparge? Sparging increases efficiency, without sparging you may not have rinsed the residual sugar from the grain causing a lower gravity.

What yeast did you use?

What temp did you ferment at? If you couldn't control the temp it may be possible that the yeast just dropped out and never finished the job.

Do you have temp control for fermentation? As above

There is no point in adding more yeast as it won't ferment out the beer. I would also check and double check all your equipment and calibrate your instruments and put this down to a learning experience.

If the beer is still tasty just bottle or keg it and enjoy, if it's not good then dump it and move on.

Let us know the answer to the above and we'll see if we can figure out what went wrong.

Mick

[Pheeel]

If I was to bet on it I'd say it'll be the grain crush. Did you buy it yourself or pre crushed

[SureLook]

OK, a couple of questions off the top of my head

Did you measure with a hydrometer or refractometer? If refractometer then it may need to be calibrated.

What temp was the wort when you measured it? If you used a hydrometer then the temp may have played a part in a 'wrong' reading

Did you sparge? Sparging increases efficiency, without sparging you may not have rinsed the residual sugar from the grain causing a lower gravity.

What yeast did you use?

What temp did you ferment at? If you couldn't control the temp it may be possible that the yeast just dropped out and never finished the job.

Do you have temp control for fermentation? As above

There is no point in adding more yeast as it won't ferment out the beer. I would also check and double check all your equipment and calibrate your instruments and put this down to a learning experience.

If the beer is still tasty just bottle or keg it and enjoy, if it's not good then dump it and move on.

Let us know the answer to the above and we'll see if we can figure out what went wrong.

Mick

Measured with a hydrometer

Wort had cooled to ambient, approx. 20 C

Yeah I sparged with cold water in the plastic FV then transferred to main batch prior to the heat up

Yeast I'm using is US-05

Fermentation is conducted at 22-23 C - I have my FV immersed in a water bath heated with an aquarium heater so it's a pretty consistent temp

As it stands the SG is still 1.018 so I think I'll dry hop and see how it turns out and chalk it up to learning experience - would just like to know if I'm doing anything specifically wrong so I wont repeat!

Thanks

[SureLook]

If I was to bet on it I'd say it'll be the grain crush. Did you buy it yourself or pre crushed

I bought pre-crushed from get er brewed - not sure how they mill them

[Pheeel]

Yeh. Pre crush can have variable crush quality so coming under in OG isn't a surprise

22-23c is quite high for 05. It should be around 18

Have you measured it again recently? Has it changed?

[SureLook]

Is there any way to counter the unpredictable crush other than milling it yourself?

OK didn't know that 05 didn't need to be that high.

Bottled it there yesterday and took a final measurement, dropped to 1.016 so not too much. Suppose I'll just wait and see what comes from this and chalk it up to experience.

[Pheeel]

Is there any way to counter the unpredictable crush other than milling it yourself?

No, not really. The only way to be sure is to crush yourself. You can get a mill for a decent price and just attach a corded drill to it. Probably the best upgrade after temp control!