What's in Your Fermenter? 2016

[Otto Von Blotto]

Just pitched my Simcoe pale ale a little while ago. It had been sitting in the brew fridge since this morning when I kegged the previous batch to cool down closer to my intended ferment temp. As with the previous one, I ended up with 26 litres into the fermenter again, OG of 1.0512 which was slightly over the predicted, and overall efficiency of 79.3%. It was given a hit of pure O2 for around 90 seconds to two minutes and pitched with 1272 yeast at around 20C, which I'm happy with. Sitting at 18C now.

 

This time I'll be home until tomorrow afternoon, so I'll be able to more closely monitor the lag time on this batch. Will be interested to see what it is.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[joolbag]

You boys were right! The citra pale.ale is drinking brilliantly at 13 days. Y

I'm very impressed with it. It might be the Briess Pale Ale malt extract, or the heavy hopping of Citra in the brew. Up there with one of my best ales, that's for sure.

 

Can't wait until the guests arrive so I can serve up a beer I am really proud of!

 

Cheers and Merry Xmas.

 

Jools

[Otto Von Blotto]

Glad to hear the beer turned out a good one joolbag! How did it go down with the guests?

 

I forgot to update this yesterday or whenever but I kept an eye on the current batch the day after pitching the yeast. This brew was oxygenated via the cylinder for between 90 seconds and 2 minutes, after which the yeast was pitched still reasonably cold from the fridge*. This was at around 4/4.30pm on Xmas eve. I checked it at 10.30ish on Xmas day and there was no visible activity, but after another hour some groups of small bubbles began appearing. I kept looking in on it every hour after that, during which time the groups turned into a thin layer, which grew thicker, and by the 23/24 hour mark there was a healthy looking krausen on top of the brew, so it was off and running.

 

These lag times are longer than I have been experiencing with cold pitching yeast, but it is due to there being extra oxygen in the wort that the yeast use up before they get going on the fermentation side of things, so I'm not bothered by it.

 

I haven't been home since then but will be later today so I'll check the SG and bump up the temp to 21ish as well.

 

*I've started taking the starter out of the fridge and decanting then swirling it all up, and then getting the FV ready and filled with wort. I imagine during this short period of time that the yeast does warm up a little bit, but it's still well under the temp of the wort at pitching time. Certainly not sitting there warming up for hours. It's just easier to do it this way because the slight warming up of it makes it a bit easier to swirl up and pitch.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[Morrie]

Yeah - its interesting to see how the visible signs of fermentation appear. I always think it looks likes someone has spat into the top of my wort.

 

I have a brew sitting on cold crash awaiting a spare keg now and I decided to give it a taste test yesterday. This one had been bittered with 15 g of Magnum for 19 IBUs and the remainder 100 g of Mandarina Bavaria which took the total IBUs to 39.

 

I really couldn't taste the Mandarina very much, for me I had a lot of trouble detecting it at all, so I whacked in 60g of Citra commando style while this is still on cold crash.

 

Kelsey - do you think the Citra will be effective dry hopping in the cold crash phase?

[Mark D Pirate]

in about 30 mins i'll have the kit based rye saison .... shortest brewday in a while ! even including the time to pre boil and treat all my water

1.5 kg Briess liquid rye malt

1.7 kg MJ Munich Lager

.5 kg LDM

10 g galaxy @ 10

belle saison starter 1.25 l

OG 1.058

exp FG 1.008

21 litres + starter

with the unseasonable cool weather i'll have to run a heater to keep this up at 28 C

[Mark D Pirate]

Bugger ...while cleaning up before i brew a AG batch i found the coriander seeds that were supposed to go in the Saison at 5 mins

decision time do i draw a few litres off the FV that's almost to pitching temp for a short boil or do i just do an even shorter boil with less and add it to the priming sugar/ hop tea mix ?

[ImaginativeName]

I don't know the correct answer, but if I was caught in that pinch, I might be inclined to boil them in a very small amount of water, let it cool a little and throw it in.

[joolbag]

Kelsey the beer went down a treat! My bro in law and father in law both loved it. Got the biggest compliment of all: they said it was on par with the stuff we can buy from our local craft brewers! It's not THAT good, but it is getting very close. Citra is def one of my favourite hops at the moment. Have u tried your all citra Pale ale yet?

 

I heard it matches perfectly with Galaxy. I have a Mismatch Session Pale Ale which has this exact hop combo. Will have it tomo after work (yes, I'm working this week!)

[Morrie]

I heard it matches perfectly with Galaxy.

 

That's what I'm drinking on tap now. citra/galaxy. Yummy' date=' yummy, yummy. The zero whirlpool/steep additions have gone in for 15 mins after the first steep/whirlpool 15 min additions were done and then followed up with a chiller.

 

Ingredients:

------------

Amt Name Type # %/IBU

33.5 l RO Water Water 1 -

10.00 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent 2 -

6.00 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 3 -

2.00 g Magnesium Sulphate (Mash 0.0 mins) Water Agent 4 -

4.32 kg Pale Malt, Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcet Grain 5 87.0 %

0.30 kg Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett) (118 Grain 6 6.0 %

0.25 kg Munich II (Weyermann) (16.7 EBC) Grain 7 5.0 %

0.10 kg Wheat Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.0 EBC) Grain 8 2.0 %

10.00 g Magnum [12.00 %'] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 9 13.8 IBUs

0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 10 -

20.00 g Citra [13.20 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 11 8.3 IBUs

20.00 g Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 12 8.8 IBUs

20.00 g Citra [13.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 Hop 13 7.0 IBUs

20.00 g Citra [13.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 m Hop 14 0.0 IBUs

20.00 g Galaxy [14.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 Hop 15 0.0 IBUs

20.00 g Galaxy [14.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 Hop 16 7.4 IBUs

200 billion cells Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 17 -

60.00 g Citra [13.20 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 18 0.0 IBUs

 

 

[Mark D Pirate]

Just pitched starter into the rye XPA

24 litres

OG 1.052 2 points higher than expected

IBU 43

EBC 10.7

2.76 kg Bo pils

.92 kg Munich 1

.92 kg Rye

.29 kg caramalt

20 @ 20 each Chinook and Centennial

25 each @ 0 same plus 15 g Galaxy

1 tsp gypsum

.5 whirlfloc

Wyeast 1272 starter tried its hardest to escape the bottle .... think i like this strain already !

[joolbag]

Woah Morrie! 120g of late hop additions + 60g of dry! That would make for a tasty beer. I haven’t brewed anything with that amount of late hops yet – my Citra Pale ale had about 90g later in the boil (15 minutes to dry hop). Yet it was nice and hoppy, but I could’ve handled more! I may have to do a Galaxy and Citra brew as I have stocks of both in the freezer.

 

Is the malt bill your standard pale ale bill and you change the hops around each brew?

 

[Beerlust]

Yup! A couple of tasty looking brews there gentleman. (Morrie & Markoman)

 

Good luck with them both.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

[Morrie]

Yep - that's pretty well my standard APA malt bill now. I may play about with a couple of percent with the munich, crystal and wheat still. My TTLA knockoff is different though, 97% GP and 3% dark crystal.

 

I'm not concerned now about going in hard with the hops as there is probably only a couple of weeks difference between a over hopped ale and one that's about right. The way I see it the more hops the longer it will last, although this keg will probably be gone in a couple of weeks.

 

If you think that one was a bit loaded then have a look at some of Ben10's IPAs.

 

[Mark D Pirate]

Yup! A couple of tasty looking brews there gentleman. (Morrie & Markoman)

 

Good luck with them both.

 

Cheers' date='

 

Lusty.[/quote']

A good reason to attend the case swap Lusty , not had a bad beer from those guys yet .

What are you brewing for it ?

[joolbag]

So Morrie have you had a beer that you considered over hopped? Too right tho. Can always leave it to age but can't add hops is after the fact!

 

I just had a Mismatch Session Ale that someone bought for me at for a Chrissie present. It is also hopped with Citra and Galaxy. The combo was good, albeit a little hard to taste as it was a session ale (4%, 25 IBU). I really don't see the point of session beers. I was only going to have one tonight anyway. Shouldve made it count and had the XPA!

 

Whoever said "life begins at 40 IBU" was on the money!

[Mark D Pirate]

Joolbag " life begins at 40 ...IBUs " is my tag line on the other forums i use .

The Mismatch XPA is a very drinkable beer , with the warmer weather around it'd cop a flogging at my place if there weren't so many other local craft beers to try and mostly love

Have you tried the Big shed offerings ?

[Morrie]

So Morrie have you had a beer that you considered over hopped? Too right tho. Can always leave it to age but can't add hops is after the fact!

 

I just had a Mismatch Session Ale that someone bought for me at for a Chrissie present. It is also hopped with Citra and Galaxy. The combo was good' date=' albeit a little hard to taste as it was a session ale (4%, 25 IBU). I really don't see the point of session beers. I was only going to have one tonight anyway. Shouldve made it count and had the XPA!

 

Whoever said "life begins at 40 IBU" was on the money![/quote']

 

Jools - I did a Citra/Cascade/Galaxy which I bottled. I can't remember how old I tested it, maybe 2 weeks and I thought I had over done it. Within a couple of weeks after that it was drinking really nice. At 6 to 8 weeks I reckon the hops had really diminished.

 

I guess you could keg dry hop if you're doing kegs. It's something I haven't done yet. But only a matter of time. Maybe if the hops are diminishing too much I may undertake this. I think its best to consume IPAs and APAs early.

[joolbag]

Love that tag line Markoman. I knew I had read it somewhere. I haven't tried Big Shed beers but see them referenced a lot on the forums. I'll see if I can track them down.

 

Cheers for all your responses guys! I have a hop hog clone scheduled for next brew day, heavy in hops. And a Zombie dust clone that uses over 200gm Citra! Mmmmm hophead

[Otto Von Blotto]

Kelsey the beer went down a treat! My bro in law and father in law both loved it. Got the biggest compliment of all: they said it was on par with the stuff we can buy from our local craft brewers! It's not THAT good' date=' but it is getting very close. Citra is def one of my favourite hops at the moment. Have u tried your all citra Pale ale yet?

 

I heard it matches perfectly with Galaxy. I have a Mismatch Session Pale Ale which has this exact hop combo. Will have it tomo after work (yes, I'm working this week!)[/quote']That's awesome to hear mate! Well done I haven't tried it yet but if I stay up long enough tonight I'll sample a glass. I put the keg in yesterday along with a Bo Pils keg on 40PSI gas (for 22 hours), to be ready for NYE and they should be gassed up enough by now to at least sample them. It tasted promising out of the fermenter though.

 

The Simcoe pale ale appears to be going along well. I don't know what the SG of the brew in the FV is but the hydrometer in the sample tube appears to have stopped dropping after 3 days of fermentation (4 days in total since pitching), and looks to be somewhere around 1.010. It is obviously at a higher temp than the FV though, it's also hard to read it because of the krausen muck the yeast decided to deposit in the sample jar. I'll rinse the thing out soon and take a proper reading tomorrow some time and see where it's at. If it kept dropping at the approx. 10 points per 24 hours of the first two days of fermentation then it should be pretty well finished by tomorrow, and well and truly finished by Saturday, which keeps me on track to begin the temperature drop to 0C on Monday as planned.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

 

 

[joolbag]

So Kelsey, I'll assume you didn't stay up late enough for a sample? Surely today!

 

I haven't tried my Citra Pale Ale since Christmas Eve. Been having one commerical beer each day instead - loving what Santa brought me! Spoilt for choice tonight - might try the Pirate Life NZ Hopco Pale Ale, or the Mismatch XPA, or the Mismatch Archie Red Ale. I think I'll save the Modus Operandi Former Tenant Red IPA (7.8%) for NYE!

 

Will also try the Citra Pale Ale on NYE again. Looking forward to that hop-forward, fresh and crisp flavour. Yum

[Otto Von Blotto]

I did, but it's a bit green still. It's only been in the keg for 5 days although it is tasting better today. Needs more time to carbonate properly too which it will get now as it will be left alone until NYE. Should be tasting even better by then.

 

The Simcoe brew was down to 1.014 when I checked it just before, so still a little way to go but I expect it will be finished by tomorrow, and be ready to cold crash on Monday. Given the whole thing will be kegged it doesn't really matter if it isn't completely finished, but I still like to give the yeast a bit of time to clean up before CCing.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[joolbag]

What's your OG for these brews? The SNPA all-grain brew started at 1.054 and stopped at ten days at 1.015. By my calculations that's 75% attenuation, about what I can ask for from US-05.

 

I read a lot about people getting down to 1.011 and 1.010, but I rarely get a brew down that low. Could be because I'm using extract and could be because most of my brews start around 1.050

[Otto Von Blotto]

What's your OG for these brews? The SNPA all-grain brew started at 1.054 and stopped at ten days at 1.015. By my calculations that's 75% attenuation' date=' about what I can ask for from US-05.

 

I read a lot about people getting down to 1.011 and 1.010, but I rarely get a brew down that low. Could be because I'm using extract and could be because most of my brews start around 1.050[/quote']The Simcoe one started at 1.051, predicted FG is 1.0114. This brew I used 1272 yeast instead of US-05. I normally mash APAs at about 66/67C which affects the FG as well as the yeast used. The last one was a few points lower in OG for some reason even though the pre-boil gravity was fine. I'm thinking about increasing the temperature of the mash a little though, because they are turning out a little too watery at the moment.

 

Extract batches, at least liquid extract, seem to finish a little higher most of the time. I guess they mash high in the brewery where it's made, or something, I don't really know but I often see higher FGs with LME based brews, unless some dextrose is added.

 

Your SNPA probably stopped higher because of the mash temp mainly. The OG does affect it but not as much as the mash temp does. I've had lagers start at 1.050ish and get down to 1.007/8. What temperature was it mashed at?

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[joolbag]

Hey Kelsey, I checked my notes and the strike temp was 71.5C, then after adding grain and stirring, the mash temp was 67.1C. It was faily stable for the first hour and I didn't add heat until the 70 minute mark. And I promptly overshot (gas burner) so I mashed out earlier than the 90 minute mark as per recipe.

 

I cold crashed it after 10 days at 1.015 as it wasn't dropping any lower. Interestingly, I experienced a stubborn krausen for the first time ever using US-05. It was also the first time I built up a starter with a packet of US-05. The krausen hung around until cold crash, even with repeated tapping of the FV.

[Mark D Pirate]

Samples of both brews taken this morning

Rye XPA - 1.012 and already starting to drop clear , think that 1272 and i are going to be good friends as there's a slight fruity ester there i quite like and hope it stays around .

big dry hop planned with 40 g each of the Chinook / Centennial combo and maybe something else as well

 

Rye Saison - 1.010 suspect this has a few points to go but already tasting funky , peppery with the trademark dry then bitter finish ....quite surprised how dark this beer still is but safely with style guidelines , won't be a session beer at close to 7% in the bottle

unsure on dry hops here , more galaxy in a chux for a few days(?) and will add the coriander seeds to a short boil on Perle on bottling day