I previously raised the temperature on my ink bird to encourage a diacetyl rest, however the readings didn't move until a few hours after I added the dry hops.
I gathered sometimes a Tilt gets yeast/hop crud stuck to it which can alter the readings, however it doesn't appear this time to be the case, as the readings have increased in temperature and decreased the gravity readings in a stable downward spike - going from 1.012 to 1.005 from 6am to 11am this morning. It maybe too a coincidence?
Upon having a lunchtime read on several other blogs & forums, I did encounter that dry hopping can actually kick start the fermentation process. Most forum posters have stated they have just seen extra airlock activity, likely due to either they are using a basic brew bucket or more than likely not using something like a Tilt to keep a constant measure on fermentation.
This stimulated other forum members to suggest taking hydrometer readings to be completely accurate, as an active airlock could just be Co2 coming out of suspension due to opening of the fermenter and adding the contact of hops on beer.
This I beleve isn't the case for me as I use a Tilt, even given a margin for error (taking into account of any crud sticking to the Tilt) fermentation is active.
I investigated further, finding out that hops do have something called diastatic enzymes, similar to ones you would find from an alpha amylase, that are short fermentable sugars for the yeast to further consume. This does make sense looking at the Tilt readings from this morning and the drop of gravity, increase of temperature and increase of % apparent attenuation. All point to yeast activity and enjoying some free food!
I expect that I will be left with a drier beer, It's the second time that I have mashed at 65(c) and have reached 90%AA. The last was a cream ale and the taste of that on transferring to its keg was crisp with a dry finish.
Now my 5.25% Black IPA with an AA of 76% (prior to this morning) is currently sitting at 6.17% with a AA of 90.38%.
I don't know what this increase will ultimately mean to a finished Black IPA?
Will the body come across too light/dry for the style?
I must say the previous BIPA's I've brewed have come across like a strong hoppy (or even "fizzy" - a comment from a friend at work) porter, which have been far too roasty for my tastes in this style, roasty but light in body then a hoppy hit.
So with a small addition of Carafe 3 to make a standard IPA/Pale Ale base into one that matches a black IPA style profile, we will see how it turns out.
I am going to take a hydro sample and measure independently (using a standard hydrometer) to cross check with the Tilt, also so I can have a cheeky sample!
Until next time.....Happy Brewing
Update 24/01/19 sometime that evening....
I had my cheeky sample and cross checked the tilt vs my standard hydrometer. My standard hydro did confirm that it was activity however was a few points higher than the Tilt, coming in at 1.009 instead of 1.006 that the Tilt is sitting at currently.
Its always good to check and going by the standard hydrometer it matches my recipe predictions from brewersfriend.
The taste of the sample is currently exactly what I'm aiming the beer to taste like, enough roasty taste to like a black ipa but the body and mouth feel of what you'd expect an ipa to be.
The 4 day dry hop will boost what is already a good citrus taste.
From the sample I got grapefruit and slight pine upfront, then it kind of melds into the malt taste with the citrus still present but balanced, citrus is left...I even had a faint citrus taste in the back of my mouth about 1/2 hour after I tried the sample.
Update 24/01/19 sometime that evening....
I had my cheeky sample and cross checked the tilt vs my standard hydrometer. My standard hydro did confirm that it was activity however was a few points higher than the Tilt, coming in at 1.009 instead of 1.006 that the Tilt is sitting at currently.
Its always good to check and going by the standard hydrometer it matches my recipe predictions from brewersfriend.
The taste of the sample is currently exactly what I'm aiming the beer to taste like, enough roasty taste to like a black ipa but the body and mouth feel of what you'd expect an ipa to be.
The 4 day dry hop will boost what is already a good citrus taste.
From the sample I got grapefruit and slight pine upfront, then it kind of melds into the malt taste with the citrus still present but balanced, citrus is left...I even had a faint citrus taste in the back of my mouth about 1/2 hour after I tried the sample.
