is there a home-brew / zymurgy thread around here?

6s82uZW.jpeg


Kegged the hopalicious JBA. Why is kegging awesome? Clean, sanitize, fill & seal 1 container versus 54. Force carb everything! Carb and serve in short order. When does kegging suck? When the keg kicks on that 1/4 glass of that incredible beer you hoped would never end.
 
After a couple of days of crazy fast air lock activity (fastest I have ever seen, actually), my red ale seems to be slowing down a lot. When I got home from work tonight it was shooting one air lock bubble a minute or so, which is very different from yesterday when it looked like boiling water in the air lock. I guess 48 hours is not unusual for the real active part with ales and this daystar nottingham yeast.

I think since there is activity in the air lock and such, I should wait a little while longer before ready the specific gravity to see if the initial phase is done. I guess it doesn't really matter if I get a measurement until much more time in the primary, but I would still like to know the current gravity for my own info.

I love the legging idea. Maybe I will finally take the plunge and get a couple of kegs. I have the other stuff.

I also remembered that I have a really nice digital refractometer that can measure brix of sugar in water and also ethanol in water. It is made for beer and wine, but we use it for other science stuff and ignore the booze settings. I could easily borrow it to look at gravity at home.
 
I know lots of folks seem to like Nottingham but I can't stand it....it strips out the malt and hops flavor to some degree in every beer I've tried it in. Windsor isn't bad, it's a bit bland though. Fermentis dry yeasts have been a bit better in my brews. There's a new kid on the block, Mangrove Jacks, that's getting some good feedback w/ a pretty wide variety of strains.

Refractometers are nice for AG brewing because you can measure the gravity of your runnings and pre-boil volume at temps. w/r/t extract brewing, your gravity is really a function of extract and water volumes so it's feedback value isn't as great. Most brewers w/ refractometers still use their hydros for post fermentation gravity readings. I have one and it's a handy tool for feedback during the process and ensuring your conversion and extract efficiency are on target in the mashing and sparging process.
 
^^ I have no idea, as it is pretty much what I got in the kit, and I don't know enough about this hobby to choose anything else. Maybe next time I will try something else, as the kit allows for substitutions of other yeasts appropriate to the type of beer from a bunch of yeast companies. I just picked the default, not really knowing anything, and figured the default (and cheapest) option would be OK. I have a dark, high gravity holiday red ale kit on hand, and with that one I went with a Wyeast liquid London 1028 ale yeast as an option. I just wanted to try a brew with liquid yeast over powdered, rather than thinking about strains and stuff.
 
This is why it's a good idea to split your batch, if you can, to compare yeasts . I quite like nottingham for certain beers not so much for others. mainly bigger beers, it's too clean for smaller ones and if you want to accentuate hop flavours then us05 is better for that
 
Nottingham is one of those love it or hate it yeasts and fortunately most people seem to like it fine.
 
Lerxst said:
Kegged the hopalicious JBA. Why is kegging awesome? Clean, sanitize, fill & seal 1 container versus 54. Force carb everything! Carb and serve in short order. When does kegging suck? When the keg kicks on that 1/4 glass of that incredible beer you hoped would never end.
Click to expand...

JBA? wazzat?

And is that Hopalicious as in the Ale Asylum beer?
 
OK, I broke down an measured my FG, as the lock had pretty much stopped and I wanted a measure of what is happening. The krausen collapsed already, with just some caked yeast on hop bits floating on top. I pulled a sample with a thief, and the beer was still very cloudy, and I could see small bubbles rising in my graduated cylinder. Could be off gassing or a bit of slow fermentation. Anyway, the FG was 1.012, which is just about perfect for the recipe instructions and an online calculator tool. I will measure again in a couple of days to see if it has changed, but it certainly looks like active fermentation is over. I will leave it in the primary for a while to let things settle out of solution and give the yeast a little more time to clean up any side metabolism products. I plan to secondary this beer ASAP to make room in my fermenter for another batch of beer. Removing a bit of cloudiness would also be a benefit, as I want to share this with a few people at work who are a bit afraid of cloudy beer.

So, it is Tuesday, and all indications point to the FG being obtained, is leaving it on the yeast until Sunday, then transferring it to my carboy to 'age' for a few weeks OK? I figure a few days on the yeast will not hurt and might remove some of the off products of fermentation. I know people advocate many weeks on the primary, but this is a lighter gravity red ale, and I really want to use the primary for the next beer. Should I wait and leave it in the primary on the cake, or transfer it an make more beer?????

I guess this is where I need advice from a pro. The kit instructions say to leave it in the primary for a week or so, then when active fermentation stops (and FG is hit), either leave it for another week in the primary or transfer to a secondary for a couple of weeks.
 
My understanding is as follows (and like always, only from reading, and not yet from experience):

The only real CON of secondaries is the added risk of oxidization, infection and contamination. If you're careful and sanitary, that shouldn't be an issue.

The PLUSES being like you mentioned, freeing up a fermenter and clearing the beer a bit. And if it's a really long fermenting beer, like the RIS I'm currently doing, then it won't be ready to bottle soon enough, so you need to get it off the trub and yeast so it doesn't pick up any off flavors.

I would look into some of the other "clearing" agents available.

Go to 6:47, but the whole video is worth a watch. I like this guy's stuff.


http://morebeer.com/products/whirlfloc-10-tablets.html

Unfortunately, that needs to be added at the end of the boil, so you're out of luck for this batch.

Palmer says, in How To Brew that up to 3 weeks on the yeast cake and trub shouldn't attribute any noticeable taste. So you should be fine leaving it on there as long as you need. I don't think the FG plays as much into when to transfer to a secondary as it does in when to bottle. Bottles will explode. Secondaries might bubble a little more or bubble a little less. But once the really vigorous stuff is over, I think you're good to transfer just about anytime you want. I could be wrong on this though, as I don't remember reading anything specific (which is why I'm assuming it's not that important of a factor).
 
Oh, and I tasted it, and it was delicious, except for being flat.

The sanitary transfer part doesn't bother me at all, as if I couldn't do this every day at work I would have died many, many years ago. I have a solid aseptic technique. I guess that is one benefit of being a virologist.

I'm just worried about losing something in the cleanup by transferring too early. It tasted good, but I guess I will wonder if it could be much better if I left it on the cake. I guess I will have to decide on my mood as the weekend approaches. Oh, and more reading around the inter webs.

Thanks for the video link!
 
Tiltsta said:
Oh, and I tasted it, and it was delicious, except for being flat.

The sanitary transfer part doesn't bother me at all, as if I couldn't do this every day at work I would have died many, many years ago. I have a solid aseptic technique. I guess that is one benefit of being a virologist.

I'm just worried about losing something in the cleanup by transferring too early. It tasted good, but I guess I will wonder if it could be much better. I guess I will have to decide on my mood as the weekend approaches. Oh, and more reading around the inter webs.
Click to expand...

Then I say leave it. As long as you don't need the fermenter right away, what's the harm? It will be fine for up to 3 weeks, and you won't have that nagging wonder of "what if". Give it a few more days, whatever feels right, and then transfer. :shrug:

But on the opposite side, though most the yeast have flocculated and are in the yeast cake now, there's still plenty in suspension. These are the ones that would/will be carbonating you beer after bottling. I'm guessing it's these yeast that's doing the majority of the cleanup as well. So they'll get transferred over to the secondary with the beer and you'll still get your conditioning.
 
Tiltsta said:
Oh, and I tasted it, and it was delicious, except for being flat.

The sanitary transfer part doesn't bother me at all, as if I couldn't do this every day at work I would have died many, many years ago. I have a solid aseptic technique. I guess that is one benefit of being a virologist.

I'm just worried about losing something in the cleanup by transferring too early. It tasted good, but I guess I will wonder if it could be much better. I guess I will have to decide on my mood as the weekend approaches. Oh, and more reading around the inter webs.
Click to expand...

The risk of transferring early is really when active fermentation is underway...you're past that already so there is no risk if you've hit a stable FG.

Secondaries really came into play when homebrewers were pitching shitty yeast that was taped to the underside of the lid on can kits. Autolysis was a problem back then so people began transferring their beer religiously after a week or so to get it off the lees. With today's yeast, autolysis isn't a concern anymore but the whole mantra of 1 week -> secondary still exists. The downside is that you're needlessly handling the beer, potentially exposing oxidation and infection risks. The up side is ...well, there really isn't a great big up side unless you want to rack it on to something not easily or practically added to the primary.
 
Lerxst said:
The risk of transferring early is really when active fermentation is underway...you're past that already so there is no risk if you've hit a stable FG.

Secondaries really came into play when homebrewers were pitching shitty yeast that was taped to the underside of the lid on can kits. Autolysis was a problem back then so people began transferring their beer religiously after a week or so to get it off the lees. With today's yeast, autolysis isn't a concern anymore but the whole mantra of 1 week -> secondary still exists. The downside is that you're needlessly handling the beer, potentially exposing oxidation and infection risks. The up side is ...well, there really isn't a great big up side unless you want to rack it on to something not easily or practically added to the primary.
Click to expand...

So is the whole "helps to clarify" thing a myth or an overstatement?
 
eloydrummerboy said:
So is the whole "helps to clarify" thing a myth or an overstatement?
Click to expand...

Time is one way to clear a beer in the fermenter
Cold temps is another way
Finings, like gelatin, isinglas or polyclar are another way

Does racking the beer help clear it? I don't really think it's appreciably more clear after racking (compared to just leaving it in the primary) except you now have less lees on the bottom of the vessel to kick up when you handle the fermenter or rack for packaging.
 
I'm drinking a glass of that JBA right now & it's mighty tasty. It needs a couple days to carb up and mellow a smidge but it's plenty drinkable as is. No secondary, no multi week primary conditioning. How? WLP007 is a fast fermenting yeast. Highly flocclant (you can watch it floc in the tube in under a minute), great attenuation but still imparts good mouthfeel. I pitched wort @ 68 degrees on a fresh cake from a previous beer. Plenty of yeast & good aeration. Fermented right in the sweet spot of ~68 degrees where 007 chews through the wort but does it clean with just the mild English ale esters you want; no fusels or other nasty business.

Stats: 6.5%, 55 IBU
Brewed & pitched on a big WLP007 cake, fermented at 68 degrees 3/16
Crashed in the fridge on the night of 3/22 (day 7)
Dry hopped in primary, in the fridge @ 35 degrees, still on the yeast 3/23 - 3/30 (day 14)
Kegged on 3/30 (day 14)
Poured on 4/1 (day 15)

Cleaner controlled fermentations mean no need for lengthy conditioning periods.
 
Tiltsta said:
Wow, that is some serious flocculation.
Click to expand...

Probably the strain I use most frequently, especially nice for Irish style dry stouts (which I brew frequently too). It's great for bottle conditioned beers as it leaves a very compact and 'sturdy' yeast on the bottom of teh bottle, easy to decant w/o getting it in the glass.
 
Lerxst said:
I'm drinking a glass of that JBA right now & it's mighty tasty. It needs a couple days to carb up and mellow a smidge but it's plenty drinkable as is. No secondary, no multi week primary conditioning. How? WLP007 is a fast fermenting yeast. Highly flocclant (you can watch it floc in the tube in under a minute), great attenuation but still imparts good mouthfeel. I pitched wort @ 68 degrees on a fresh cake from a previous beer. Plenty of yeast & good aeration. Fermented right in the sweet spot of ~68 degrees where 007 chews through the wort but does it clean with just the mild English ale esters you want; no fusels or other nasty business.

Stats: 6.5%, 55 IBU
Brewed & pitched on a big WLP007 cake, fermented at 68 degrees 3/16
Crashed in the fridge on the night of 3/22 (day 7)
Dry hopped in primary, in the fridge @ 35 degrees, still on the yeast 3/23 - 3/30 (day 14)
Kegged on 3/30 (day 14)
Poured on 4/1 (day 15)

Cleaner controlled fermentations mean no need for lengthy conditioning periods.
Click to expand...

Now, that's a schedule I could subscribe to!

Things I need:
Mini-Freezer/Fermenter
Old Fridge
Kegs and Kegerator system

Things I also need:
$$$$$

:(

Although my swamp bath has been doing great. It's been 65°F +/- 1° for the past two days. And it got up into the 70s outside today and the heat was still on from the cool nights. It was only 68-69 ambient when I got home though, so that was good. But the swamp only raised 1 degree. So that will work for a few batches at least (when it's even needed) until I can get the mini-freezer. I think the camp burner comes first though, then the freezer, then kegging system. The second fridge will have to wait for a new house.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top