What's in Your Fermenter? 2020

[Mirek Kania]

Bloody Weihenstephens gone for a walk out the FV. They produced about 11 liters of foam out of 22,5l beer.

[Pezzza]

14 minutes ago, Mirek Kania said:

Bloody Weihenstephens gone for a walk out the FV. They produced about 11 liters of foam out of 22,5l beer.

Haha at least you know the ferment is well underway hey haha?!   Guess that is why Coopers sell their FV with something called a Krausen Collar.... for those very occasions

 

 

[Mirek Kania]

Beautiful idea!!!

Here in Poland we have fruit flyes,the size of a tip of a needle. They are mostly active 3 seasons, except late atumn and winter. So we need to keep our fermenters tightly  sealed, as even one would bring unwanted infection. That is probably why our homebrewers' shops do not have such collars on stock.

Instead, I used blow-off similar to the one from the picture.Link to the picture 

[James Lao]

Did my usual partial mash with Coopers lager can, Maris otter, Munich, caramalt, LDME , wheat DME etc., last night.

Hopped with Citra, Mosaic and Amarillo.

First time using Swiss voile and was able to get 80% brewhouse efficiency, up from 75%, so well happy with that!

Bloody love this brewing lark!

Cheers

James

[Malter White]

On 11/15/2020 at 9:37 AM, MUZZY said:

It's possible my inherent laziness is going to cost me on my current brew but I figure experimentation is part of the fun of brewing.
I've mixed up a tin of Coopers APA with BE2 and pitched in some CCA yeast to 23 litres. Fermenting at 19C.
Here's where the lazy part comes in: I added a Coriander tea that was steeped for 15 minutes in hot water. I didn't take a temperature of the tea. I didn't just add Coriander seeds. It wasn't dried. I just plucked some buds from my plant - seeds, flowers, leaves included. Washed them, chopped them up and into the coffee press. There's probably a couple of you shaking your heads right now because I've probably introduced vegetable oil to the beer. A taste test of the tea suggests I'm adding the flavour of what lawn clippings smell like.
I really hope it does some magic during fermentation. I was hoping for some orangey flavour. I can hear Darryl Kerrigan's voice in the back of my mind, "Tell him he's dreamin'."
Anyway it's all done now. Wish me luck.  

 

Took a gravity reading this morning and a little taste. Quite encouraging. The sample was very foamy suggesting that oils might not have affected the beer as imagined it might and I could detect a little fruitiness in the flavour. Looking forward to when it's done now.

[Shamus O'Sean]

7 hours ago, James Lao said:

Swiss voile

I had to google it.

I can see the topic thread now:  Merits of various brew bag materials

[Pezzza]

22 hours ago, Mirek Kania said:

So we need to keep our fermenters tightly  sealed, as even one would bring unwanted infection

Quite a few of us employ a fridge or freezer as a temp controlled brewing cabinet... thus such a device probably would keep the precious brew away from such beasties ; )

[Shamus O'Sean]

3 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I had to google it.

I can see the topic thread now:  Merits of various brew bag materials

I was only kidding, but I should have known that there already was a thread on brew bag material.  Here it is: 

 

[jamiek86]

bookmaker pale ale can

1.25 kg light dry malt

250 gram dextrose21 litres

32.5 grams galaxy 10 min steep

had trouble with og reading calculated by Otto at 1.047

us05 yeast 11.5 gram pitched Saturday just gone was visibly  active late sunday today still 2cm krausen must be because keeping it at 18 to 19 degrees would usually collapse back in after 3 days if brewed over 20. hops floating in krausen what a wonderful thing.

[Pale Man]

12 hours ago, James Lao said:

Did my usual partial mash with Coopers lager can, Maris otter, Munich, caramalt, LDME , wheat DME etc., last night.

Hopped with Citra, Mosaic and Amarillo.

First time using Swiss voile and was able to get 80% brewhouse efficiency, up from 75%, so well happy with that!

Bloody love this brewing lark!

Cheers

James

The recipe i got from you didn't last long in the keg. My daughters and son in laws loved it, and they're not big beer drinkers. Will be a to do again after i've got a few all grains brewed i want to try.

[Mirek Kania]

9 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Quite a few of us employ a fridge or freezer as a temp controlled brewing cabinet... thus such a device probably would keep the precious brew away from such beasties ; )

Yeah, I should buy one, too. Now I'm moving my FVs around the house. Fortunately, I have special trolleys. My back likes them very much.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Tomorrow there will be a batch of pilsner in one of my fermenters. I harvested the excess starter yesterday and put the flask in the fridge out there in the patio/brewery, tonight I'll stick the cube of wort in the other fridge out there to chill it down for pitching tomorrow. Once pitched it will live in the cube fridge until kegging in a few weeks time, and next weekend I'll be brewing another one Saturday and pitching it Sunday. Or maybe the Monday if I can't be arsed after getting back from golf at Caloundra at whatever time in the arvo

[jamiek86]

1 hour ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Tomorrow there will be a batch of pilsner in one of my fermenters. I harvested the excess starter yesterday and put the flask in the fridge out there in the patio/brewery, tonight I'll stick the cube of wort in the other fridge out there to chill it down for pitching tomorrow. Once pitched it will live in the cube fridge until kegging in a few weeks time, and next weekend I'll be brewing another one Saturday and pitching it Sunday. Or maybe the Monday if I can't be arsed after getting back from golf at Caloundra at whatever time in the arvo

well done in trying to replenish your own stocks after all the help you give around here. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

12 minutes ago, jamiek86 said:

well done in trying to replenish your own stocks after all the help you give around here. 

Cheers mate. I've been a bit absent recently but starting to get back on here more. I don't really do much brewing related stuff during the week, and my all grain brew days involve a lot of time sitting around waiting for things to finish, so I suppose I have a fair bit of time to get on and post things. 

[Pezzza]

13 hours ago, jamiek86 said:

hops floating in krausen what a wonderful thing.

And what a wonderful colour it is too JK - will be cool to see how it turns out in the glass mate!  Cheers and good brewing. BB

[jamiek86]

1 hour ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Cheers mate. I've been a bit absent recently but starting to get back on here more. I don't really do much brewing related stuff during the week, and my all grain brew days involve a lot of time sitting around waiting for things to finish, so I suppose I have a fair bit of time to get on and post things. 

the only reason I haven't taken all grain step yet the time of it all compared to dissolving kit and malt and stepping hops. maby when the kids leave home or at least can drive themselves to weekend sport.

[jamiek86]

2 minutes ago, Bearded Burbler said:

And what a wonderful colour it is too JK - will be cool to see how it turns out in the glass mate!  Cheers and good brewing. BB

yes I think I might make this my first kegged brew will add a dry hop and after 3 days cold crash for a week and next weekend if goes to plan will have my kegs to put it in.

[Pezzza]

1 hour ago, jamiek86 said:

yes I think I might make this my first kegged brew will add a dry hop and after 3 days cold crash for a week and next weekend if goes to plan will have my kegs to put it in.

GOLD

[Pezzza]

Finishing off the chill down clarification... does not look that different to Tuesday... but suspect it has clarified a little more... and....

Am hoping to keg my IPA today so that it is ready for Sunday evening brews... 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Bearded Burbler

[Otto Von Blotto]

1 hour ago, jamiek86 said:

the only reason I haven't taken all grain step yet the time of it all compared to dissolving kit and malt and stepping hops. maby when the kids leave home or at least can drive themselves to weekend sport.

Yeah fair call. No kids here yet and probably won't be for a while now. Since I'm already doing AG maybe I can still fit it in if or when that time comes. It takes 6 hours or so but 5 hours is probably spent doing nothing with it. Doesn't work well with going somewhere like kids sport though. 

[jamiek86]

@Bearded Burbler you don't worry about aging a keg then if drinking it by Sunday 

@Otto Von Blotto I suppose if you ever have kids you could have a brew van and do it all there why watch them you wouldn't be breaking any rules about alcohol and kids sport if not already fermented.

[Tricky Micky]

Got a pseudo lager happening in the FV using Nottingham yeast. Fermenting it at 15 degrees Celsius. OG 1055 with Expected FG to be 1015. Day 4 and it's at 1020, is that a beast of a yeast or what? @ 15 Degrees c. One query though - with the Nott Ale yeast fermenting at 15 degrees would I still require  a diacetyl rest near the end of primary fermentation?

[Pezzza]

48 minutes ago, jamiek86 said:

you don't worry about aging a keg then if drinking it by Sunda

Hahahaha JK - now don't be like that - I suspect the last few pints will age a few days for us by the end of next week when it's finished!?!  

[Pezzza]

11 minutes ago, Mickep said:

with the Nott Ale yeast fermenting at 15 degrees would I still require  a diacetyl rest near the end of primary fermentation?

Think I was reprimanded for suggesting such a thing (DiAcRest for an Ale) at one stage by the Master Brewers on this site... think the direction was that this was not necessary for Ale Yeast...  

But my little micro/LHBS a few hours away Rusty Penny suggested they raised their Ales 3 deg C at the end of a routine Ale Yeast brew just to finish off the ferment...

That is what I do routinely and it seems to be an ok thing... 

Just did a little bit more research now and this is what Whitelabs the yeast people say see below.  Please report back once you have finalised your review and subsequent implementation during your next brew 

Now can you stop bothering me please I am supposed to be kegging my IPA hahahha 

Ale fermentations will produce more diacetyl because they are fermented warmer than lagers, but the reduction will happen much quicker. Lager fermentations need to be given a "diacetyl rest" by increasing the fermentation temperature just before completing fermentation.

Some reading for you:

https://www.whitelabs.com/sites/default/files/Diacetyl_Time_Line.pdf

Diacetyl Time Line - White Labs

Edited November 20, 2020 by Bearded Burbler

[Tricky Micky]

2 minutes ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Think I was reprimanded for suggesting such a thing (DiAcRest for an Ale) at one stage by the Master Brewers on this site... think the direction was that not this was not necessary for Ale Yeast...  

But my little micro/LHBS a few hours away Rusty Penny suggested they raised their Ales 3 deg C at the end of a routine Ale Yeast brew just to finish off the ferment...

That is what I do routinely and it seems to be an ok thing... 

Just did a little bit more research now and this is what Whitelabs the yeast people say see below.  Please report back once you have finalised your review and subsequent implementation during your next brew 

 

Ale fermentations will produce more diacetyl because they are fermented warmer than lagers, but the reduction will happen much quicker. Lager fermentations need to be given a "diacetyl rest" by increasing the fermentation temperature just before completing fermentation.

Some reading for you:

https://www.whitelabs.com/sites/default/files/Diacetyl_Time_Line.pdf

Diacetyl Time Line - White Labs

Awesomeness BB, many thanks mate and I'll be sure to report back with an update at the completion of the diacetyl rest and the subsequent tasting which may have to follow.