Stevodevo Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 Hi all, Is it normal to get a lot of yeast build up in the spigot during the primary ferment? A mate at work reckons it never happens to him and we both use the same DIY kit FV. I've had it happen in both this brew (Fruit Salad Ale using US-05), and my first, which was the DIY kit using the included Coopers Lager and kit yeast. To give you an example, my FS Ale has been on for 6 days now. Yesterday morning the spigot was visibly half full of yeast cake so I drew off some beer to take a SG reading. That cleared the tap and I thought all was good... when I got home after work that night it was half full again. I took another reading this morning which cleared the yeast out again, and you guessed it\u2026 tonight it\u2019s half full again. The FV is sitting flat and I've even tried tilting it slightly back a bit, but it always ends up collecting in the spigot. To be honest it doesn't really bother me too much. When I bottled my Coopers Lager the yeast didn't even budge until about bottle number 20 and then the next 2-3 bottles got a bit of extra "body". This time the US-05 seems to clear out fairly easily if I draw a little bit of beer, so I\u2019m more just wondering what the norm is, considering I've had it happen both times vs the workmate that never has it happen. Thanks, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 I get sediment build up in the tap all the time. I only take a couple of readings so I don't end up wasting much beer clearing it out. It's nothing to worry about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 Hiya Stevodevo. Yesterday morning the spigot was visibly half full of yeast cake so I drew off some beer to take a SG reading. That cleared the tap and I thought all was good... when I got home after work that night it was half full again. I took another reading this morning which cleared the yeast out again' date=' and you guessed it\u2026 tonight it\u2019s half full again.[/quote'] My advice is to just let your brew be from the day you tighten the lid on the fermenter on Day 1, & don't bother doing a single thing until you believe it may have totally finished fermenting. What is landing on the base of your fermenter after you tighten the lid are undissolved ingredients, waste products expelled via fermentation from the yeast doing it's job, & small portions of yeast. This is your "Trub". Clearing the "spiggot" or "tap entry" is a waste of time & beer until you are almost certain primary fermentation is complete. New brewers like to play with their brew on an almost daily basis believing they are monitoring everything correctly & making sure to prevent some potential catastrophe by doing so. Trust me when I say you are more likely to create one by constant interference & intervention. Leave your brew alone for a minimum of a week after you notice the beginnings of a Krausen ring (around the top of your brew), then if after a week you feel the need, take a SG reading with your hydrometer to gauge roughly where your brew cycle is at with that particular brew. That first dispense from the tap of about 100mls that will unclog your spiggot/tap, throw down the sink. Then take another portion to use for your hydrometer reading. Attaining your start ferment temperature just before pitching your yeast allows you almost always a week of freedom before having to even look at your brew provided you are able to maintain a brew temperature within the recommended range for that brew type. Patience will give you better results all on it's own. Beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne (Captain Yobbo) Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 Yep its perfectly normal for yeast deposits in the spigot in both my DIY kit and old school bucket FV yeast like to go in them between each brew clean properly and sanitize no worries. Less stress and more home brew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 Ditto with Hairy,captain Yobbo and Beerlust. take an OG and a FG to establish ABV, but leave well alone in between. the deposit in the tap clears with the first bottle and settles while conditioning. nothing wrong with a bit of sediment in moderation, it wont hurt you...a bit like steak and eggs in a glass [wink] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevodevo Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Thanks for the replies. I fully agree with the "leave it be" philosophy, and that's my plan (although without a fermentation fridge I do have to screw about a lot with fans and ice etc). I'm pretty patient and I did do pretty well on the first brew (left Krausen Kollar on and first FG reading was on about day 6), but this time in my head I'm saying "It must be just about done fermenting... maybe if I clear the tap out once more, this time it will stay clear"... and... "maybe if I swirl the FV gently, that US-05 Krausen will drop"... etc etc etc OK, I'll stop fiddling with it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 OK, I'll stop fiddling with it! Yep, just like mum said[lol] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne (Captain Yobbo) Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 With the Krausen collar I tend to not use it for non volcanic beers like pale ales etc and cleaning the FV is a breeze at the end of 2 weeks I prefer to not mess around with pulling the collar out and giving parasites the chance to ruin my beer even though there is a layer of cO2 less mucking with the FV the better. When making stouts dark ales you need the krausen collar without a doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevodevo Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Yeah probably the only reason I took the Krausen collar off this time was because at 21 litres it seemed like a mile of headspace above the beer. Any thoughts on that theory? I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it, but the guy a the local homebrew shop said I should match my FV to the size of the brew to reduce headspace. Silly beginners mistake that I didn't even to think to just not use it at all for the smaller qty of pale ale! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 My own fermenters don't have Krausen collars. The purpose of the collar seems to be to give the brewer the ability to seperate krausen waste product expelled by primary ferment away from the eventual brew that will be bottled. The collar seems to sit in a position to give most effectiveness for a 23L brew. If you are brewing a 21L brew, there seems no need at all to have it present. I will stand corrected on this. Beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne (Captain Yobbo) Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 As you would already know that the beer sits just at the bottom of the krausen junk if you don't swirl or rock the fermenter there will be no issue. The purpost for the collar is to create a bigger headspace for volcanic brews and to make cleaning the krausen trub rubbish easy. I have had no problems with cleaning without the collar and the krausen crap never has made its way into my beers yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Yep, +1 to stop fiddling with it for sure. I also don't use my Krausen Collar as I see I have no need for it. However, if I think I might get a volcanic type brew then I use it and don't bother removing it. Not that this is good or bad practice just I can't be stuffed. With regards to leaving your brew alone, all I do is take a OG then don't even touch it for at least 13 days later. I'll then take 2 consecutive day readings and if they are the same (99.9% of the time they are by then) I will CC it for another 3-7 days. However, if I was as lazy as my last brew, I didn't touch it for about 6 weeks. [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevodevo Posted October 18, 2012 Author Share Posted October 18, 2012 Good advice people... thanks. Billk - 6 weeks! Holy crap, you must have nerves of steel mate. Haha, yeah I figure if I leave it for at least 10 days I should get a stable FG by that stage and save a heap of frigging about and beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 With regards to leaving your brew alone' date=' all I do is take a OG then don't even touch it for at least 13 days later.[/quote'] on the flipside to that though Bill.. Im using some frikkin crazy Yeast I got from an certain Wolf man at the moment which is awesome (Greenbelt Blended with some rinsed US-05) ferment is violent as all get out and is all over in 4 days tops.. I still leave it for another few days and dry hop and then CC. and then dry hop.. Im thinking I shall fill my kegs quickly with this yeast [bandit] as it happens, Ive been cold conditioning a beer for a week and the next brew has finished since Sunday night.. if I can keep that yeast going and keg one a week.. well, I will be very happy. [lol] All that said.. Ive not brewed for a month now.. its the longest Ive gone since I started this 3 Years ago [crying] I do have 4 or 5 cubes to ferment though [w00t] [whistling So how does that relate?.. a ferment relys on a whole host of factors and each really should be treated on it's own merit. Big krausen, little krausen, dont matter and wont tell you whats going on in the brew. A blanket 2 weeks is fine generally speaking and hay, Im actually a big believer in it, But.. you can trim times according to the conditions of the particular brew. I still take hydrometer readings to tell me whats going on. 3 or 4 per brew.. [wink] [wink] *edit.. just realised that none of it relates to the OP though [lol] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Good advice people... thanks. Billk - 6 weeks! Holy crap, you must have nerves of steel mate. Haha, yeah I figure if I leave it for at least 10 days I should get a stable FG by that stage and save a heap of frigging about and beer. Nah no nerves of Steel. Just had no urgency to keg it as I didn't need the space and had 5 full kegs in supply anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.