Beer Forum

i recently made a stout with graham cracker 4 lbs for 10 gal batch. I had a problem hitting my final gravity. It stalled out about 1.040 and started at 1.089. 1 suggestion I had for this was it was because of the graham crackers and preservatives in them?I think I underpitched as I used 2 smack packs per carboy. Anyhow my question is; Is there another way to impart graham cracker? I was gonna use graham flour but am afraid of a stuck sparge. Maybe just wheat malt, molasses, brown sugar and vanilla? Anyways I’m not sure and thought that I may look hear for some insight. Thanks.

Isn't there some ginger in graham crackers? I'm not sure, but I thought I tasted ginger in them.

Charlie

No I don’t think there is ginger in it

Cinnamon, not ginger. Cinnamon appears to be in some, but not all, graham crackers.

Charlie (googled it this time)

I don't think the Graham crackers had anything to do with it. Could be any number of things. First is yeast viability. A starter has two purposes: first, to increase the volume of yeast, second is to check the viability of your yeast. If your yeast was old or stored improperly it may not have had enough viable yeast. If many yeast cells were weak or damaged, the high O.G. of your wort may have caused osmotic shock, further damaging or killing the yeast. For bigger beers you always want to have a good sized starter. Proper oxygenation is also critical for big beers. I always do 30-40 seconds of straight O2 for all my beers. For beers over 1.100 I do another blast after 12 hours.

A second possibility may be your recipe. Did you have a lot of crystal malt (crystal, carapils, lactose, etc.) or other non-fermentable ingredients in it? Years ago I had chronic problems with high f.g. until I cut the crystal malt additions in half.

Another big one is racking off your yeast cake too soon. Many folks get anxious about autolysis taking place if they don't rack it after a week or two. This removes a lot of viable yeast too soon. Big beers take time. I never rack my barleywines from primary in less than 4 weeks and usually wait for 6 - 8 weeks to do this. If you have good viable yeast to start with, today's yeast varieties are much less susceptible to autolysis. Last year I did a 16% English Style barleywine that finished out at 1.020 with out any problem. It was in primary for 8 weeks and dropped 8 points in the last 2 weeks after rousing the yeast a bit after moving the fermenter a bit to make room in the fermentation fridge.

The variety of yeast also makes a big difference on final gravity in big beers. My go to yeast for barleywines and wee heavies is Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale yeast. I've used it a number of times in a 1.140 wort and plan to be using it again soon in a 1.160 wort. (I first brew a 5 gallon batch of Scottish export 80 as my starter).

Hope this helps a bit.

Bugeater wrote:I don't think the Graham crackers had anything to do with it. Could be any number of things. First is yeast viability. A starter has two purposes: first, to increase the volume of yeast, second is to check the viability of your yeast. If your yeast was old or stored improperly it may not have had enough viable yeast. If many yeast cells were weak or damaged, the high O.G. of your wort may have caused osmotic shock, further damaging or killing the yeast. For bigger beers you always want to have a good sized starter. Proper oxygenation is also critical for big beers. I always do 30-40 seconds of straight O2 for all my beers. For beers over 1.100 I do another blast after 12 hours.

A second possibility may be your recipe. Did you have a lot of crystal malt (crystal, carapils, lactose, etc.) or other non-fermentable ingredients in it? Years ago I had chronic problems with high f.g. until I cut the crystal malt additions in half.

Another big one is racking off your yeast cake too soon. Many folks get anxious about autolysis taking place if they don't rack it after a week or two. This removes a lot of viable yeast too soon. Big beers take time. I never rack my barleywines from primary in less than 4 weeks and usually wait for 6 - 8 weeks to do this. If you have good viable yeast to start with, today's yeast varieties are much less susceptible to autolysis. Last year I did a 16% English Style barleywine that finished out at 1.020 with out any problem. It was in primary for 8 weeks and dropped 8 points in the last 2 weeks after rousing the yeast a bit after moving the fermenter a bit to make room in the fermentation fridge.

The variety of yeast also makes a big difference on final gravity in big beers. My go to yeast for barleywines and wee heavies is Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale yeast. I've used it a number of times in a 1.140 wort and plan to be using it again soon in a 1.160 wort. (I first brew a 5 gallon batch of Scottish export 80 as my starter).

Hope this helps a bit.

Now, that is a good response. this wasn't even my question and I learned something from the post. thanks!