[email]grundlethrop@gmail.com[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
> I didn't think 6.5 lbs was too much since a buddy of mine who's been
> brewing for a few years typically uses 5 lbs of malt and a pound of
> honey when he's making his honey brown ale. That's a lot of sugar and
> his OG comes out very high. Anyway, I definitely made a point of
> checking the OG after filling the fermenter up with additional water to
> bring it to 5 gallons. I am more and more inclined to believe that the
> wort didn't get stirred all the way which is why the OG was so high.
> In fact, here's my recipe that I posted over on rec.crafts.brewing when
> I was asking for their help. Hopefully this will help you figure out
> (maybe) what some of the problems might be.
>
> 1. Brought to boil 2 gals of water.
> 2. Once at a boil turned off heat and added all malt (3.5 lb can of
> Bulldog amber syrup and 3 lb bag Haaglander light DME). Mixed
> thoroughly.
> 3. Return to boil for 5 minutes to make sure everything was nice and
> mixed.
> 4. Add 1 oz. of Hallertau hops, 4.6% alpha acid.
> 5. Boil for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
> 6. At 45 minute mark, added 1/2 oz of Willamette hops, 4.0% alpha
> acid.
> 7. Boiled for another 10 mins and then added last 1/2 oz of Willamette
> hops.
> 8. Cooled the mix in an ice water bath in kitchen sink for about an
> hour. It took a lot longer b/c I kept running out of ice. Discovered
> blocks of frozen chicken thighs work just as well. :)
> 9. Moved the cooled wort to primary fermenter. I should point out
> that the siphon wasn't used since my fermenter is a six gallon plastic
> bucket. I just poured it in but tried to minimize splashing so as not
> to froth it up.[/color]

"Frothing" is good at this point. It will incorporate O2 into the
solution that the yeast need to "work" properly.
[color=blue]
> 10. Moved the bucket to a bathtub and topped it up to about 5.5
> gallons.
> 11. Recorded OG and temp. I assume there wasn't proper mixing to get a
> 1.122 reading at 72 degrees.[/color]

Probably correct about the mixing. You need to make sure that
everything is mixed really well. Again the more you mix the more O2 you
can get into the wort. I actually use a wisk to mix everything up.
[color=blue]
> 12. Added White Labs English ale yeast (WLP002).
> 13. Checked the airlock's activity twice a day and after six days
> thought it had slowed enough to bottle. I honestly forgot all about
> racking it first.
> 14. Recorded the 1.024 FG at 73 degrees and freaked out. No way I'm
> going to bottle this.
> 15. Moved the brew into 5 gallon glass carboy and put it back in the
> bathtub. Wrapped a towel around it to keep light out. No skunky beer
> please.
> 16. Started searching for help on the great big Internet and wound up
> here. Thanks for all your help folks.
>
> I did check the accuracy of my hydrometer and it was pretty close to
> 1.000 with just tap water. Hopefully it was just a particularly thick
> wort sample that I used.
>[/color]
I would leave it in the secondary for at least a week. The gravity
should drop closer to what you are expecting, I'm guessing somewhere
around 1.014-1.016.
Cheers,

--
Michael Herrenbruck
DragonTail Ale
Drunken Bee Mead