Homebrewers - Whats Fermenting?
- Thread starter BeerAdvocate
- Start date
You're golden dude. That gravity sounds about perfect. The only other reason it could taste sweet is a decreased hop utilization. I wouldn't worry at all though. I've made a bunch of IPAs that taste sweet with a hint of bitterness at bottling. By the time they carbonate they're nice and hoppy/bitter.
twenty5
BoM 11/09, 4/10 BoY '10
Yeah my first big beer, wish I had known about a blow off tube BEFORE this one :nodlaugh:
Thanks Adam, hopefully the bitterness comes back through, I was looking at possibly getting a hopback for future batches as a work-around for this, I do like my beers bitter though.
Thanks Adam, hopefully the bitterness comes back through, I was looking at possibly getting a hopback for future batches as a work-around for this, I do like my beers bitter though.
Transferred a half of the lambic for my friend to take down into his basement at his house so we have two different conditions for each half of the fermentation.
The beer has zero hop aroma because of the old stale hops we used. It went from a funky cheesy smell to a sweet aroma of juicy fruit bubble gum. The gravity after a week has settled down at 1.030. That's PLENTY of left over extract from the brew for the brettanomyces and bacteria to do their thing. I can't wait to have this beer finish up in a years or so.
The beer has zero hop aroma because of the old stale hops we used. It went from a funky cheesy smell to a sweet aroma of juicy fruit bubble gum. The gravity after a week has settled down at 1.030. That's PLENTY of left over extract from the brew for the brettanomyces and bacteria to do their thing. I can't wait to have this beer finish up in a years or so.
Making up a witbier today. I'm trying rye in the recipe this time.
twenty5
BoM 11/09, 4/10 BoY '10
That would have been a bit of a mess to clean up!
Speaking of high gravity beers, I am going to pull a double next weekend, a new zealand pale ale first and a 1.1 OG stout directly after. To get ready for this I bought a larger 7.9 gal plastic fermenter (currently using a 6.5 gal bucket). I will also be getting a larger diameter blow off tube than the one I used for the IIPA. I also bought a larger BB so I could use it for a primary, I cant wait to watch fermentation on the new zealand.
I will be using liquid yeast for the first time and I am planning on making a starter (never tried this before either). I have 2 vials of WLP007, any tips on how much water / DME I should be using for this?
Speaking of high gravity beers, I am going to pull a double next weekend, a new zealand pale ale first and a 1.1 OG stout directly after. To get ready for this I bought a larger 7.9 gal plastic fermenter (currently using a 6.5 gal bucket). I will also be getting a larger diameter blow off tube than the one I used for the IIPA. I also bought a larger BB so I could use it for a primary, I cant wait to watch fermentation on the new zealand.
I will be using liquid yeast for the first time and I am planning on making a starter (never tried this before either). I have 2 vials of WLP007, any tips on how much water / DME I should be using for this?
mthhurley
BoM December 2011
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
Unlikely you have a 4L flask, so you could use a couple growlers...
mthhurley
BoM December 2011
it's not the beer...it's the yeast and that's actually more concerning IMO.
I don't like blow offs like that, which is why I use Ferm Cap to keep it down. As I understand it, when you get a blow off like that, you're blowing out all the top-cropping yeast, which is the prime stuff.
Wish I knew about that stuff. I looked it up and wish I had used it as I sit here watching a near constant flow of foam siphon through my blow-off tube. You can bet I am keeping it in mind the next time I do a high gravity beer.
twenty5
BoM 11/09, 4/10 BoY '10
I dont have a stir plate but I see an option for adding O2 at the start and another option for continuous aeration. Would I be good with forcing O2 at the beginning and then again a few hrs later combined with occasional shaking it up or is that over kill?
http://www.byo.com/stories/projects-and-equipment/article/indices/20-build-it-yourself/354-build-a-burton-union-system-projects
You could always go with something like this to manage blow off. Just a little more cleaning required. I handle blow off by using huge fermentors for medium sized batches. Ever since I had lost about a 1.5 gallon of an IIPA I started using my first 10gal fermentor (was trying to sell it at the time).
You could always go with something like this to manage blow off. Just a little more cleaning required. I handle blow off by using huge fermentors for medium sized batches. Ever since I had lost about a 1.5 gallon of an IIPA I started using my first 10gal fermentor (was trying to sell it at the time).
twenty5
BoM 11/09, 4/10 BoY '10
Adam I have been thinking about making one of these, it makes sense both for returning the exhausted yeast back into the primary and minimizing loss. The only question I have is with the location of the "return". Wouldnt it be a lot better lower? Filling the container up 2" with wort before it comes back into the return tube seems counter productive. A hole at the bottom would return yeast (before it had the chance to settle) and wort as soon as it liquified... Let me know if my reasoning is off..
The original purpose of a burton union system was for harvesting yeast. I think it was an an English method. So the reason for the slightly higher return line in the bottle is to allow for some yeast to stay in the bottle and sediment out for use in the next fermentation. Of course if you don't want to reuse the yeast then you can put your return tube lower to minimize beer loss and yeast return to the fermentor.
So my wit that I brewed up on Sunday is going well. Half of it didn't get boiled and the other half was basically hopped double what it needed. So when I blend the two together I get the bitterness I want. The unboiled half got a pure culture of lactobacillus bacteria and started to STINK to high heaven by the second day. I had to run the air lock through a gas mask canister to scrub the air so it didn't smell like a terrible fart.
I tasted the unhopped portion today and its underattenuated but I will be blending it with the other half. I tasted it two days ago and it had a horrible rotten corn flavor due to the extremely high amount of diacetyl being produced by the bacteria. The diacetyl is reduced to a flavorless compound by the yeast though so that's what's happening at this point. Hopefully I can bottle it next week. I think I'll be souring my wits slightly from now on it has a very nice refreshing flavor that will be great chilled with carbonation.
So my wit that I brewed up on Sunday is going well. Half of it didn't get boiled and the other half was basically hopped double what it needed. So when I blend the two together I get the bitterness I want. The unboiled half got a pure culture of lactobacillus bacteria and started to STINK to high heaven by the second day. I had to run the air lock through a gas mask canister to scrub the air so it didn't smell like a terrible fart.
I tasted the unhopped portion today and its underattenuated but I will be blending it with the other half. I tasted it two days ago and it had a horrible rotten corn flavor due to the extremely high amount of diacetyl being produced by the bacteria. The diacetyl is reduced to a flavorless compound by the yeast though so that's what's happening at this point. Hopefully I can bottle it next week. I think I'll be souring my wits slightly from now on it has a very nice refreshing flavor that will be great chilled with carbonation.
twenty5
BoM 11/09, 4/10 BoY '10
I was planning on washing the yeast from the trub before transferring to secondary, would the yeast from the burton provide any benefits over the washed yeast?
Another quick question for you guys;
I have read on several sites two completely different ways of pitching the starter. On Mr Malty and a few other sites, it says to pitch at peak fermentation, in this situation I assume you pitch the entire starter. On other sites it says to make it earlier, let it settle out in the fridge and then decant the beer off the top and just pitch the the lower portion where the yeast sits... Which method would be best?
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