What's in Your Fermenter? 2021

[ozdevil]

well been a lazy  brewing weekend 

but just took 20 minutes to do fwk  from clean sanitise and putting it to bed just before collingwood blues game

it was a wort kit from Grain and grape  called the hopnation xpa

hopefully next weekend 3 more brews get done  that all grain

oatmeal stout
west coast ipa
pale ale  

 

[Journeyman]

1 minute ago, CLASSIC said:

That is one hell of a Krausen RD, Jeez, how strong are those things !! 

 That's why he has the blowtie valve there...  And IIRC the bottle is rated at 35 psi.

[Red devil 44]

17 minutes ago, CLASSIC said:

That is one hell of a Krausen RD, Jeez, how strong are those things !! 

I believe the FV is rated to 40PSI, and the PRV goes off at 35PSI, I run mine pretty close to the wind on 30PSI, what that means is, it is 3/4 carbonated up at the end of CC, meaning I use less CO2 to gas up ready for serving. 

[Journeyman]

2 minutes ago, Red devil 44 said:

the PRV goes off at 35PS

Ah... yes, that's where I got the 35 psi.

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, Red devil 44 said:

I believe the FV is rated to 40PSI, and the PRV goes off at 35PSI, I run mine pretty close to the wind on 30PSI, what that means is, it is 3/4 carbonated up at the end of CC, meaning I use less CO2 to gas up ready for serving. 

Fair enough I guess being controlled like that there would be a sweet spot, I was going to get one of those but with all of the other stuff available these days it's hard to know which way to go.

All the best with it anyway. Cheers.

[Stickers]

pale kit kilo and partial with cooper's lager can, BE2, 1kg maris otter partial and verdant yeast, made yesterday

hopped with
5g magnum @25
10g galaxy @15
10g galaxy @10
30g galaxy @0
and will dryhop with another 30g of galaxy (first time using it)

[ozdevil]

On 7/18/2021 at 3:26 PM, Red devil 44 said:

I believe the FV is rated to 40PSI, and the PRV goes off at 35PSI, I run mine pretty close to the wind on 30PSI, what that means is, it is 3/4 carbonated up at the end of CC, meaning I use less CO2 to gas up ready for serving. 

fermzilla is only rated toworkable  35psi mate  , you can push it to there but safely at 35psi

i dont pressure ferment any higher then 15psi  as there is no real need

[Tone boy]

1 hour ago, Stickers said:

pale kit kilo and partial with cooper's lager can, BE2, 1kg maris otter partial and verdant yeast, made yesterday

hopped with
5g magnum @25
10g galaxy @15
10g galaxy @10
30g galaxy @0
and will dryhop with another 30g of galaxy (first time using it)

Nice one Stickers. 
My next brew will be very similar to this, but using NZ hops in place of your Galaxy hops. 
Good luck with your brew

[iBooz2]

Pitched my Otto's Pilsner this afternoon.  Its going to be fermented out pretty much at ambient as all brew fridges are full with almost complete brews or cold crashing brews.  So now I have five FV's underway, three in FV fridges at various stages and 2 FV's out on the bench at ambient because after all its lager season here in Melbourne.

Only problem I had with this AG batch was the bloody Saaz hops was that finely ground up it got out of my hop socks and into the kettle during the boil.  I suspect these pellets were made from Saaz hop powder and not a typical pellet make up as most of the matter escaped the fine mesh of the hop socks.  The bottom of the kettle looked like it was covered with green silt when it was emptied and when the cube had finally cooled down it looked like it had fake grass 25 mm high on the bottom.  Unfortunately I had to siphon this batch of wort into the FV to leave all this crud behind so only ended up with 20 L in the FV.  Could not source the #2278 yeast so had to go with Diamond Lager Yeast. 

Anyway will see how this goes and look forward to a taste test in a few weeks, then any tweaks or hopefully another batch with Otto's recommend yeast when it becomes available.

@Otto Von Blotto did you have any issues with your Saaz pellets in the boil?

Edited July 19, 2021 by iBooz2

[Otto Von Blotto]

I did but only because I threw them in loose. Normally I use a hop sock spider thingy but haven't had issues with Saaz in the past, or any hop for that matter

[Barramullafella]

Brew went down this morning in 25lt estimate around 4.1% abv.

[MitchBastard]

My latest saison has come along nicely. Didn’t check gravity or sample for about 10 days as I’ve been away. Fermented at 21 with WLP568. Initially was a bit worried about this after returning home to what seemed like a spice bomb but after bumping the temp to 23 for a few days, she’s rounded out nicely. 
 

for a simple beer, it’s a complex one… basic grain bill with about 22IBU but with a really decent whack of flavour from the yeast. The yeast it’s self is a Belgian/saison blend. What I believe is a combo of the DuPont strain with another Belgian strain to help skip the lag you get from the DuPont yeasty.  Not to farmy, not to Belgiany.  Pretty dry at 1.006 and should clear up nicely after a cold crash in a few days. 
 

 

[RDT2]

17 minutes ago, MitchBastard said:

My latest saison has come along nicely. Didn’t check gravity or sample for about 10 days as I’ve been away. Fermented at 21 with WLP568. Initially was a bit worried about this after returning home to what seemed like a spice bomb but after bumping the temp to 23 for a few days, she’s rounded out nicely. 
 

for a simple beer, it’s a complex one… basic grain bill with about 22IBU but with a really decent whack of flavour from the yeast. The yeast it’s self is a Belgian/saison blend. What I believe is a combo of the DuPont strain with another Belgian strain to help skip the lag you get from the DuPont yeasty.  Not to farmy, not to Belgiany.  Pretty dry at 1.006 and should clear up nicely after a cold crash in a few days. 
 

 

Nice work! I am now a  big fan of Saisons  and was amazed how a simple grain bill of Pilsner Malt (DuPont style) with the Saison yeast can be so tasty Hope it turns out how you want it  

[Otto Von Blotto]

Both fermenters cold crashing at the moment, will add polyclar to the pilsner today and the pale ale tomorrow. Most likely keg both of them next Saturday then a quick overnight carb so they're ready for a sample after the Sunday golf

[Barramullafella]

19 hours ago, Barramullafella said:

Brew went down this morning in 25lt estimate around 4.1% abv.

 

I checked FV this morning, and yesterday evening, but no sign of yeast activity yet. Is this common with US-05 ?

Normally, I would have plenty of action by now.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Barramullafella

[Shamus O'Sean]

1 hour ago, Barramullafella said:

I checked FV this morning, and yesterday evening, but no sign of yeast activity yet. Is this common with US-05 ?

Normally, I would have plenty of action by now.

It can sometimes take a while for US-05 to become active.  But it is very unlikely to not start fermenting soon.  US-05 is pretty reliable.

It sounds like your brew has been down for a bit over 24 hours.  Do you have other signs?  Condensation on inside of fermenter lid?  Fermenting smells?  Yeast floating around inside the fermenter?

[Barramullafella]

39 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

It can sometimes take a while for US-05 to become active.  But it is very unlikely to not start fermenting soon.  US-05 is pretty reliable.

It sounds like your brew has been down for a bit over 24 hours.  Do you have other signs?  Condensation on inside of fermenter lid?  Fermenting smells?  Yeast floating around inside the fermenter?

Hi Shamus, it will be 24 hours in three hours or so when I sprinkled yeast on top. There is condensation inside lid of FV and either floaties or light bubble on the surface. I don't want to take lid off for a clearer inspection. The test tube has sediment on the bottom and I know yeast is in it too as I watched the stuff get sucked into and out of the tap when filling tube. No real smell as of this morning at 6am. I am at work now so won't be able to check until 5.30pm at earliest to see if yeast has kicked in. The Coopers ale yeast has the ball rolling in 6 hours; just not familiar with other yeast. Fingers crossed.  Thanks for your input.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Barramullafella

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 hour ago, Barramullafella said:

Hi Shamus, it will be 24 hours in three hours or so when I sprinkled yeast on top. There is condensation inside lid of FV and either floaties or light bubble on the surface. I don't want to take lid off for a clearer inspection. The test tube has sediment on the bottom and I know yeast is in it too as I watched the stuff get sucked into and out of the tap when filling tube. No real smell as of this morning at 6am. I am at work now so won't be able to check until 5.30pm at earliest to see if yeast has kicked in. The Coopers ale yeast has the ball rolling in 6 hours; just not familiar with other yeast. Fingers crossed.  Thanks for your input.

I have noticed with my last brew, put down on Sun 18th - MJ Blonde Dry usually in a few hours or less it starts to work & the airlock is active but this one I didn't have any action until well into day 2, yeast was Safale US-05. I put it down to the fact that I used only liquid malt & no dry adjuncts - 1.7gms LME/Saaz 15gm.

May be the addition of some LDME in previous brews speeds up the fermenting process ?

It's now day 4 & the airlock is still active.

[Pickles Jones]

As Shamus said, a characteristic of US-05 is the lead time. It usually takes two or three days to get through the adaptation phase when the yeast is adjusting to the wort conditions and is going through a period of high growth. It will then start doing its job of making beer.

[RDT2]

5 hours ago, Barramullafella said:

Hi Shamus, it will be 24 hours in three hours or so when I sprinkled yeast on top. There is condensation inside lid of FV and either floaties or light bubble on the surface. I don't want to take lid off for a clearer inspection. The test tube has sediment on the bottom and I know yeast is in it too as I watched the stuff get sucked into and out of the tap when filling tube. No real smell as of this morning at 6am. I am at work now so won't be able to check until 5.30pm at earliest to see if yeast has kicked in. The Coopers ale yeast has the ball rolling in 6 hours; just not familiar with other yeast. Fingers crossed.  Thanks for your input.

Sounds like something is happening with condensation and bubbles it will be fine. When I have used US05 with oats in the grist there is hardly any krausen but it’s doing it’s thing, but just doesn’t look like it. If you have a coopers fermenter shine a torch through the wall and you might see movement. Good luck it sounds ok to me.

[MitchBastard]

15 hours ago, RDT2 said:

Nice work! I am now a  big fan of Saisons  and was amazed how a simple grain bill of Pilsner Malt (DuPont style) with the Saison yeast can be so tasty Hope it turns out how you want it  

Absolutely great beers arnt they. 
 

cheera mate!

[Red devil 44]

Coopers IPA, 6 days in fermenter @20degrees, OG 1035, now 1005 FG 2 days in a row, then left for a 7th day, now CC.

ABV just a tick under 4%, just what I was looking for

 

[kmar92]

On 7/18/2021 at 1:03 AM, Shamus O'Sean said:

Similar, similar, kmar.  I put down the Coopers Australian IPA yesterday, Saturday 17 July.  Like you I am using the Verdant IPA yeast.  

Bit of a dog of a brew day.  Using my new Keg King Gen 2 Snub Nose with Gen 3 mods (they have a deal on the Gen 2 Snub Nose that finishes today).  As usual, adapting to new equipment was a challenge.  Small opening in FV.  The PET material cannot take hot additions.  Family trying to cook dinner in the same kitchen as I was brewing in.

Seemed to end up okay.  24 litres of wort at SG 1.057 into fermenter.  Now we wait.

Took my 1st reading today, day 5, 1.020. I would have thought that Verdant would have had the SG a bit lower as it is being pressure cooked @ 23°. Lallemand say it can ferment out in 5 days @ 20°. Anyway after looking at the IanH analysis  it says that i should have had an OG of 1.064 and I had 1.061 in 23lt and it predicts FG of 1.017 so I am not that far off predicted FG. Probably another 2 days.

[Shamus O'Sean]

2 hours ago, kmar92 said:

Took my 1st reading today, day 5, 1.020. I would have thought that Verdant would have had the SG a bit lower as it is being pressure cooked @ 23°. Lallemand say it can ferment out in 5 days @ 20°. Anyway after looking at the IanH analysis  it says that i should have had an OG of 1.064 and I had 1.061 in 23lt and it predicts FG of 1.017 so I am not that far off predicted FG. Probably another 2 days.

Coopers Australian IPA.

Took my first reading yesterday, day 4, 1.023.  Also added dry hop last night.  Up until then I just had it at 5psi pressure and 19°C.  Upped the pressure to 15psi (using the gas bottle).  Holding there today.  Tonight my SG was 1.022.  My OG was 1.057 (but I had about 24 litres in the fermenter to start with).

Also have the Voyage American Pale Ale going with Verdant yeast too.  It got from 1.045 to 1.013.  However, the last few days were slow: 1.022 to 1.013 over 6 days.  At that attenuation my Coopers Australian IPA should get to 1.017, but it might take a few more days.  

[Barramullafella]

On 7/22/2021 at 6:59 AM, Barramullafella said:

I checked FV this morning, and yesterday evening, but no sign of yeast activity yet. Is this common with US-05 ?

Normally, I would have plenty of action by now.

Thank you folks for the tips and advice. Crisis has been averted. Checked FV yesterday when I got home from work and happy to see the little munchkins doing their work. I am used to kit ale yeast kicking off within hours of introducing to the wort. Cheers.