What's in Your Fermenter? 2021

[Pezzza]

So this is the second batch of the use-the-same-FV-again-straightaway utilising the yeast slurry that was generated from prior brew which was kegged immediately prior to reuse of the vessel.   Lagery thing on the left under pressure and Aley beast on the right at 18 deg C.  As you probably guess or know already - W34/70 left and US05 right.

I did what you suggested @ChristinaS1 Christina and let the population establish at ambient pressure in the PFV before closing down the Spunding Valve and letting the pressure rise to 5 and then 10 PSI which it is sitting nicely at now... at around 23 deg C in the Larder.  Aley boi is in the 18 deg C brew fridge.  Both are smelling nice. 

Might dry hop the Ale with some EKG and or Fuggles for a laugh...  let it develop ; )

 

Edited January 23, 2021 by Graubart

[jamiek86]

26 minutes ago, Graubart said:

So this is the second batch of the use-the-same-FV-again-straightaway utilising the yeast slurry that was generated from prior brew which was kegged immediately prior to reuse of the vessel.   Lagery thing on the left under pressure and Aley beast on the right at 18 deg C.  As you probably guess or know already - W34/70 left and US05 right.

@ChristinaS1 

Might dry hop the Ale with some EKG and or Fuggles for a laugh...  let it develop ; )

 

Nice one mate what's your favourite of those 2 pommy hops? I find the fuggles too grassy dont mind the EKG though. Although once I made an awesome English bitter with liquid yeast and both those hops in the old water bucket with frozen bottles. Was really good but never wrote recepie down was bits and pieces brew with leftovers and didn't have much faith in it.

[Pezzza]

4 minutes ago, jamiek86 said:

Nice one mate what's your favourite of those 2 pommy hops? I find the fuggles too grassy dont mind the EKG though. Although once I made an awesome English bitter with liquid yeast and both those hops in the old water bucket with frozen bottles. Was really good but never wrote recepie down was bits and pieces brew with leftovers and didn't have much faith in it.

I agree... think that EKG is nicer for finishing an Aley Boi JK mate... but got some dirty old Fuggles lying around like an unregistered dog so thought I might throw it in as well... will undergo a sniff test prior to the LH - thanks for the warning... previously used Fuggster more on the hot side so will be a bit wary of it thanks mate  ; )

[Journeyman]

2 basic beers gone in just now.

A real Ale with 1.5kg LDME and a kit yeast starter. (from the ID Sparkling can) OG = 1.056

An ID Sparkling can with LME can and Nott starter. OG = 1.051

1 hour 20 mins for 2 brews from start to cleaned up. Except for maybe 5 minutes setting up the 2 starters this morning. 

No hops yet - going to hop tea them both in a few days, to see what that does to the strength of aroma and flavour in the final product. Might even leave one until kegging then add the tea.

Both have boiled kit yeast as nutrient and low carb enzyme added at pitch.

Edited January 23, 2021 by Journeyman

[Pezzza]

28 minutes ago, jamiek86 said:

I find the fuggles too grassy dont mind the EKG though. Although once I made an awesome English bitter with liquid yeast and both those hops

Mmm just did a hoppage invesitgative sortie and now realise that the EKG late hop is a figment of my imagination... as there are none left haha!?! 

I did the snifter on the ol' Fuggster and it was not too bad... I have got some Perle as well...  bits left over that need using up... might just throw those two in?

[jamiek86]

may as well never used perle hops im sure they can't hurt my new favourite is galaxy 4 years ago it was Amarillo. In saying that this pale ale will be the first time I use eclsipse so who knows that could end up the new favourite. As long as the finished version gets a photo on that fence go for gold and give us your tasting notes 

[John E Miller]

2 hours ago, John E Miller said:

First time brewing with Kveik. El Dorado pale ale. 

It feels insane brewing in a hot garage! Trying to keep this thing between 35-40°, which isn't too hard this weekend. 

Anybody have advice about when to dryhop? 

I just dry hopped; 24 hours after pitching yeast. Krausen has already disappeared. I plan to leave it for 2 more days, and then cold crash perhaps...

[Journeyman]

17 hours ago, Journeyman said:

2 basic beers gone in just now.

A real Ale with 1.5kg LDME and a kit yeast starter. (from the ID Sparkling can) OG = 1.056

An ID Sparkling can with LME can and Nott starter. OG = 1.051

Checked the beers first thing and both have a nice spongey-looking ~7cm Kraussen. Why I'm posting is the smell. Like others I am accustomed to a variety of smells in the fridge, occasional hints of banana or apple, sometimes a bit of ester but this was different - all I could smell was beer, fresh lovely beer smell.

So thinking about that I'm thinking of doing a mini-boil of some simcoe, maybe 40g in 400 ml water + LDME for 20 mins, split it between the 2 to increase the bitter. But I am unsure about it. My reasoning is this - without even bittering hops, I maybe be brewing a malty sweet beer and later hops even from a tea will just layer the hops over the malt.

The spreadsheet gives 38 for the sparkling without hops and 58 with a 20 boil and 35 for the real without hops and 58 with.

Against that is that both brews have low carb enzyme which will scavenge almost all the sugars anyway, reducing the sweetness considerably.

So some advice please - will a beer with almost all the sugars converted be bitter enough with just a hops tea or should I get some extra bitterness in there now?

Alternatively, would it work to leave it as is and if they are too malty, add a bitter boil later in the keg? Does the boil of hops contribute anything to the ferment process at all or is it just to do with the final product?

Edited January 23, 2021 by Journeyman

[Goldcoast Crow]

Okay so I had planned to drop a hop bag into my fv at day 3/4 of my latest Canadian blonde brew, but checked on it last night and 1 has gone from 1050 to 1010 and the other has gone from 1040 to 1010. 

Firstly is this too late to drop the hops in? 

Secondly does it matter that it has got to final gravity this quick?..... It was aim 25c-26c.

[Shamus O'Sean]

3 hours ago, Journeyman said:

Checked the beers first thing and both have a nice spongey-looking ~7cm Kraussen. Why I'm posting is the smell. Like others I am accustomed to a variety of smells in the fridge, occasional hints of banana or apple, sometimes a bit of ester but this was different - all I could smell was beer, fresh lovely beer smell.

So thinking about that I'm thinking of doing a mini-boil of some simcoe, maybe 40g in 400 ml water + LDME for 20 mins, split it between the 2 to increase the bitter. But I am unsure about it. My reasoning is this - without even bittering hops, I maybe be brewing a malty sweet beer and later hops even from a tea will just layer the hops over the malt.

The spreadsheet gives 38 for the sparkling without hops and 58 with a 20 boil and 35 for the real without hops and 58 with.

Against that is that both brews have low carb enzyme which will scavenge almost all the sugars anyway, reducing the sweetness considerably.

So some advice please - will a beer with almost all the sugars converted be bitter enough with just a hops tea or should I get some extra bitterness in there now?

Alternatively, would it work to leave it as is and if they are too malty, add a bitter boil later in the keg? Does the boil of hops contribute anything to the ferment process at all or is it just to do with the final product?

Hi Journeyman, good to hear your brews are smelling like beer.

It is a bit of a cop-out, but I think the answer to most of your queries is: It depends on what you like.

If you have never made either of these brews before, then I would just do them as they are.  You can assess options for improvement once you taste them.

If you have made something close to either of these brews, what did you think of them and how did you think they could be improved, if at all?  If you thought, gee I reckon this could be more bitter.  Then I think doing something to head in that direction is a good idea.

Some comments by the way:

• I am not sure how the maths works.  However, I doubt that 40g of Simcoe boiled in 400ml for 20 minutes will get you 20 IBU points for each brew.  That is a small volume of water.  A fair amount will boil off in the 20 minutes.  The Hop Concentration Factor in the spready adjusts the IBU's extracted in small boils and suggests less than 10 extra IBU's for each brew.
• I am not sure what goes on in the fermentation process with IBU's, but the process is supposed to reduce the IBU's by between 10-30%.  Therefore, if you added the same amount of a hop tea boil after fermentation, it should add more bitterness.  But does the bitterness need the fermentation process to properly meld with the beer, I do not know.  But we do not hear about too many people adding a hop tea boil to the keg. 
• I did add a hop tea steep to a split brew recently (Coopers Canadian Blonde).  As I said in my tasting notes, the one with the hop tea steep actually seemed marginally less bitter.

[Shamus O'Sean]

2 hours ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

Okay so I had planned to drop a hop bag into my fv at day 3/4 of my latest Canadian blonde brew, but checked on it last night and 1 has gone from 1050 to 1010 and the other has gone from 1040 to 1010. 

Firstly is this too late to drop the hops in? 

Secondly does it matter that it has got to final gravity this quick?..... It was aim 25c-26c.

Hi GCC, plenty of time for dry hopping.  Go for it.

Getting to that gravity over 3-4 days at that temperature is fine.  You might get some banana aroma at that temperature.  It is a bit warm for fermenting.  Try to get get somewhere between 18°C - 20°C if you can. 

[Stickers]

nothing! but i've managed to wash and bottle 58 740ml bottles over the past 2 days. i think i've earned a beer.

[jamiek86]

26 minutes ago, Stickers said:

nothing! but i've managed to wash and bottle 58 740ml bottles over the past 2 days. i think i've earned a beer.

dont think it's very often people get the whole 30 in a batch filled up i only ever did before taking readings and last 3 were full of gunk.

[Shamus O'Sean]

3 hours ago, jamiek86 said:

dont think it's very often people get the whole 30 in a batch filled up i only ever did before taking readings and last 3 were full of gunk.

When I am bottling a whole batch, like I will be tomorrow, I decant the last 3L in 2 x 1.5L amounts into a sanitised Pyrex jug.  Then I fill the bottles from the jug.  I suppose there is a whole lot of oxidisation going on.  But these two pours into a jug cause minimal disturbance to the trub compared to trying to fill at least 4 bottles.

[iBooz2]

Second AG batch - True Blue Pale Ale in cold crash mode day 3 at 5 C.  Clearing up beautifully and plenty of Nottingham yeast to harvest in trub at the bottom for next batch later this week.

[iBooz2]

3 hours ago, jamiek86 said:

dont think it's very often people get the whole 30 in a batch filled up i only ever did before taking readings and last 3 were full of gunk.

If you cold crash at say 2 C for about 7 days the trub will look like and act like a fresh pizza base sitting in the bottom of your FV.  I have been able to draw off nearly every drop of beer by slowly tilting the Coopers FV forward until the pizza base starts to creep over and cover the tap hole.  So much is drawn off it makes it hard for me to swirl the FV and get the yeast trub liquid enough to be able to draw it down through the tap for re-use.  When this happens and I want to harvest the yeast I use a sanitised SS soup ladle to scoop it out and put into pre sanitised re-agent jars (about a soup scoop each as this amount seems to be the perfect amount for the next batch - ales).

Cheers - AL

[jamiek86]

cheers @iBooz2 even after cold crashing the constant tilting for bottles disturbs the trub enough thst i often leave a bottle worth behind. Now im kegging it's not so bad although I'm going to start saving the trub so might be leaving that little bit on top to get the swirl and make collecting easier

@Shamus O'Sean thanks thats a great tip I might just follow when do the occasional batch in bottles

Edited January 24, 2021 by jamiek86

[iBooz2]

18 minutes ago, jamiek86 said:

constant tilting for bottles disturbs the trub enough thst i often leave a bottle worth behind. 

Yes tilting back and forth creates some problems.  I have two bits of ply, one longer (the bottom one) than the other so it can be clamped to my bench.  The top bit of ply is attached at the front edge by two hinges to the bottom bit of ply just like a set of door hinges.  The full FV is placed carefully on the top bit of ply, tap facing the front hinge section.  The top bit of ply is then lifted up a bit an the FV tilts forward like its sitting on an opening a door.  Some wooden chocks placed between the top ply and the bottom ply are used set the angle required, I use a single cork sanding block. There are some bits of aluminium angle screwed to the top bit to stop the FV from sliding forward.  As the beer level gets lower the angle gets higher and the top ply is re-chocked, do it gently and do it once.  I will take a pic when I get time and post for you and others to copy and possibly make this simple hands free bottling / kegging device.

Cheers - Al

Edited January 24, 2021 by iBooz2

[Journeyman]

9 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

I will take a pic when I get time and post for you and others to copy and possibly make this simple hands free bottling / kegging device.

I'd appreciate a pic - having trouble visualising it.

I chock the FV backwards from the tap while it's brewing with 4x2, then lift it to the bench where another piece awaits. Start decanting and when the level gets near the tap, remove the chock. When it gets near the tap again, gentle tilt forward. So the only tilting happens when the FV is getting towards empty. My priority was saving my back & getting as much of my precious as possible, but it works well for no disturbance of trub, which is towards the back at an angle anyway.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Journeyman

[MitchBastard]

Chaos in the FV this morning. My Czechman Pilsner going HAM. Listen to her pur.

 

[Titans19]

3 hours ago, Journeyman said:

I'd appreciate a pic - having trouble visualising it.

I chock the FV backwards from the tap while it's brewing with 4x2, then lift it to the bench where another piece awaits. Start decanting and when the level gets near the tap, remove the chock. When it gets near the tap again, gentle tilt forward. So the only tilting happens when the FV is getting towards empty. My priority was saving my back & getting as much of my precious as possible, but it works well for no disturbance of trub, which is towards the back at an angle anyway.

I'm just looking at your hydrometers. I'm always paranoid that I'm reading mine wrong and was looking at splashing out for a tilt.. by the looks of this you just have it sitting with the FV?.. do you fill it on day 1 and just leave it the whole time? Or do you tip it out and repour every few days?

Cheers

[Journeyman]

9 minutes ago, Titans19 said:

do you fill it on day 1 and just leave it the whole time

This. When it hits FG I take a new sample the next day. If it's the same as the sample I figure that's FG.

[Pezzza]

1 hour ago, MitchBastard said:

Chaos in the FV this morning. My Czechman Pilsner going HAM. Listen to her pur.

Is that with the W34 you are not particularly impressed with Mitchie? 

[Classic Brewing Co]

Feeling pretty happy, just bottled 11 x PET bottles of Mr Beer Diablo IPA - I didn't think I would get the stated yield however despite taking readings there was minimal left over with the trub.

This is day 10 & my FG was 1010 so I am keen to keep pumping out all sorts of brews in the Mr Beer Craft Kit as well as the 23l.

Now the waiting begins.

 

[Shamus O'Sean]

Similar @CLASSIC.  

I just bottled 26 longnecks of 2020 Coopers Vintage Ale. 

The ones in front, with the 1/2 on the cap had one carb drop, the rest had two.  The 1/2's I will keep for 12 months before drinking.

Two of them are PET's for squeeze testing for carbonation.  

Went from 1.068 to 1.016 for 75% attenuation and 6.8% ABV.  Although it took 18 days to reach FG.