beer Begin! : May TD: Golden Stout

jbeer32 said:
This is the craziest fermentation I have had yet to date.  First, I had the krausen foaming up thru the airlock in an 8 gallon bucket with a 5 gallon batch.  Now, it has been 12 days since the yeast was pitched and the airlock is still bubbling away at a good rate.  I checked the gravity and it was down to 18. I have used Safale US 05 a handful of times in the past and it never went past 9 days to completely ferment.  The room it is fermenting in is at 64 which is within range for the yeast.  Anyone think I should move it somewhere warmer to finish the fermentation?
Click to expand...
 
I saw this yesterday and couldn't really imagine the timeline, so I didn't say anything ...
 
This morning, I saw Wheebz reply and something popped into my mind ...
 
You might be getting a slower start from the cold-crashing and decanting ...
 
For one, for the same reason you can crash, rack off the cake, and still bottle-prime beer, if you are decanting the liquid of a starter - you definitely dumping out *SOME AMOUNT* of yeasties ...
 
I'll defer to Wheebz for whether the one's in solution are more or less healthy than the one's blanketing the bottom, and the counts between them, but the fact is, there's def yeast in the starter wort getting decanted ...
 
Depending on how long you let it warm up, and whether or not you've given them wort/food, nutrients, and/or oxygen, or whatnot, is going to determine what mode they are in when they hit the wort, right? ...
 
Relative temp similarity would be another factor, with that 5F window one's trying to have the yeast and wort be within when pitching, but perfectly aligned is more better yet ...
 
I've had the slowest starts when dumping  yeast from the fridge in a batch, without allowing it to warm up to wort-temp ... those have been the batches that made me nervous.
 
So, if it's stretching out for days, and it's not a really giant beer loaded with unfermentable/roasted grains, then I'd be looking at my process for making sure I'm not ending up with a low-pitching-rate or for yeast shock, if I was experiencing a more gradual ferm ...
 
I have feelings about the timeline for starters that I've posted in the other threads of mine ... they coincide with Wheebz typical *ACTUAL* process, which is more of an 16-18 hr starter than a 24 hr one ...
 
I don't believe the maxim for yeast being in "go-mode" is anywhere near the 24 hr mark, let alone longer ...
 
If they run out of resources from the wort, they start shutting down ...
 
Probably on to something. Most of the dry yeast are ready to go after just rehydrating. I know most of them reccomend not making a starter. I never have on the dry stuff.
 
Dry yeast do not need a starter, nor even a rehydration really. I have never rehydrated any yeast other than champagne yeast for cider, and I use dry yeast all the time in breweries. 
 
If you have the ability, pitch your yeast warmer than your wort, no more than 5 degrees. Dont pitch your yeast colder.
 
And I never ever decant starters unless they are yogurt or weird cultured starters. Just mix up the slurry and pitch the entire thing in there
 
wheebz said:
Dry yeast do not need a starter, nor even a rehydration really. I have never rehydrated any yeast other than champagne yeast for cider, and I use dry yeast all the time in breweries. 
 
If you have the ability, pitch your yeast warmer than your wort, no more than 5 degrees. Dont pitch your yeast colder.
 
And I never ever decant starters unless they are yogurt or weird cultured starters. Just mix up the slurry and pitch the entire thing in there
Click to expand...
 
My only problem with this is below ...
 
tctenten said:
If your not rehydrating the yeast, how can it be warmer than your wort? I rehydrate and pitch into 70-75f wort.
Click to expand...
 
Cooling the wort in the ferm chamber, after the chilling, but before the pitch. I did this last time. Wheebz has mentioned in the past doing this, "running over to the  bar for a few beers, then heading back to the brewery to pitch the yeast real quick" ...
 
Consequently, this batch took off, the only lag was the concentration of CO2 having to build up in the wort before gas began to escape solution. The yeast was already in fermentation mode.
 
I gave them ample oxygen in the canned wort by aerating it nicely with the Aerolattee ...
 
The only qualm about pitching dry yeast, is that it's hard to get it into the wort without it getting deposited on the glass or keg walls higher than the resting state liquid levels.
 
I really liked the process from my last batch.
 
Using wort instead of water addressed the downside of rehydrating.
 
And using the aerolatte milk frother was effective for giving them oxygen when they wanted it most.
 
I didn't use pure O2 in the fermenter this time, because the wort went through a strainer-filter getting poured into the glass carboy, and the yeasties were already in ferm mode when they were pitched.
 
My batch was mostly don't fermenting at like 60-65 hrs, and it's an 8%+ beer ...
 
Extended-length starters for ale yeast isn't right, it's the kind of oversimplification that makes brewing seem accessible for someone interested in homebrewing, but that doesn't exactly pan out over time ...
 
A decanted 48 hr starter for an ale yeast is ultimately an underpitch, IMHO ...
 
Just like bread, using the starter when it's at full vigor ... is what you want with a beer starter ... the two are in parity ... you want those yeasties to go in there and go to work, so other shit doesn't set up shop ...
 
Kiss With A Fist's tasty, terminal, and ready for the next part of the process ...

02a8a8069d833efd2244409002118a5f.jpg


bd87d648dc5fd9c6bf152a4154be749a.jpg


I purged the headspace and popped it up on a freezer in preparation to siphon it into a keg this evening, firstly ...

Let the experiments begin!
 
image.jpeg


Looks like remnants of the white chocolate rose to the top. When I rack to the bottling bucket I will leave that in the fermenter. This is turning into more of a science experiment than a beer. Happy drinking Wheebz.
 
Ozzy2001 said:
Probably on to something. Most of the dry yeast are ready to go after just rehydrating. I know most of them reccomend not making a starter. I never have on the dry stuff.
Click to expand...
 
I have never made a yeast starter from dry yeast either.  I have also never rehydrated yeast prior to pitching a dry yeast packet either.  I just showed the packet in my teaser pic to show that is what I was using.  It is actually washed yeast from a recent previous batch.  I know most do not wash dry yeast cakes but it is nice to have a bunch around so I tend to.
 
 
grantmichaels said:
 
My only problem with this is below ...
 
 
Cooling the wort in the ferm chamber, after the chilling, but before the pitch. I did this last time. Wheebz has mentioned in the past doing this, "running over to the  bar for a few beers, then heading back to the brewery to pitch the yeast real quick" ...
 
Consequently, this batch took off, the only lag was the concentration of CO2 having to build up in the wort before gas began to escape solution. The yeast was already in fermentation mode.
 
I gave them ample oxygen in the canned wort by aerating it nicely with the Aerolattee ...
 
The only qualm about pitching dry yeast, is that it's hard to get it into the wort without it getting deposited on the glass or keg walls higher than the resting state liquid levels.
 
I really liked the process from my last batch.
 
Using wort instead of water addressed the downside of rehydrating.
 
And using the aerolatte milk frother was effective for giving them oxygen when they wanted it most.
 
I didn't use pure O2 in the fermenter this time, because the wort went through a strainer-filter getting poured into the glass carboy, and the yeasties were already in ferm mode when they were pitched.
 
My batch was mostly don't fermenting at like 60-65 hrs, and it's an 8%+ beer ...
 
Extended-length starters for ale yeast isn't right, it's the kind of oversimplification that makes brewing seem accessible for someone interested in homebrewing, but that doesn't exactly pan out over time ...
 
A decanted 48 hr starter for an ale yeast is ultimately an underpitch, IMHO ...
 
Just like bread, using the starter when it's at full vigor ... is what you want with a beer starter ... the two are in parity ... you want those yeasties to go in there and go to work, so other shit doesn't set up shop ...
Click to expand...
 
 
I only decant about half of the liquid because I know some of the yeast are still in suspension.  I made a 2 Liter starter so there should be plenty of yeast.  I have read so much on the debate about pitching at peak krausen vs cold crashing and decanting to pitching the starter cold to warming it up first.  There are multiple opinions for all scenarios but I typically cold crash for48 hours, let it warm up in a dark place to room temp, decant half the liquid so I have some to swirl the cake back into suspension, then pitch.  Have never had a problem before.  I don't necessarily see this as a problem but I am just in awe that it is still perking away 13 days later
 
It took off strong within 24 hours like all my brews have done, and is still perking away at a fairly good rate.  All in all, I am not sure why this is taking longer than other batches with this yeast have in the past.
 
So you take a room temp starter, then chill it quickly for 2 days, then heat it back up quickly at room temp to be able to pitch it?
 
That could be a huge reason for the lag right there. 
 
Your starter you make should stay at room temp until you pitch
 
cold crashing a starter is a horrible idea, as it makes the yeast go through 2 finishing stages back to a starting stage of fermentation/propagation
 
You want to pitch your yeast starter at the peak of its propagation step, so it continues to propagate in the larger batch until it hits its target cell count
 
Twice-filtered, now ...

788c1ac4929a62c7b4ce85293db9afb7.jpg


Haze's mostly gone, now ...

Not much for heat from that pod, it's a smoked rocoto from Freeport Bum ... but it's smoked over sour apple that is $$$ ... like, tits ...

Just had a shot of it ...

Nice little residual tingle from the szechuans ...

No obvious fresh pepper taste ...

Vanilla is def there ...

Their (SK) rum is gorgeous ...

Color won't hurt me ...

Just need to iron out the ratio on the small, before mixing the whole amount, next ...
 
Finally, after 2 weeks fermentation is done clocking in at 1.009. 
 

 
Racked into secondary
 

 
2 week old solution of cacao nibs and vanilla bean soaking in vodka
 

 
Empty jar after dumping into secondary.  Will let this sit for a week, then add coffee beans for a couple of days to taste then bottle
 

 
:onfire:
 
Nice ...

I just racked to secondary myself ;)

fe5103438fb3c8eef7f3bce9715eb6e5.jpg


7058179c6399356b819da3d06e6467f3.jpg


Flushed secondary with CO2 ...

Using a middle-of-the-road rate of 2 fl-oz-booze/gallon-of-beer ...

Thusly, I put 120mL of my rum stout infusion in the bottom of the keg ...

4672feb544797dd3da31b05c68ae0f2a.jpg


Time to siphon ...

60bdbe3c8e59f2cdc7beaa410169f0b1.jpg


Glad the break settled down at the bottom, the wheat break looked messy the day after brew day ...

b99f17cbed5ae01a33fbf0114d5b19bf.jpg


Flushed headspace with CO2, and left 12psi to hold the lid while placing it in the freezer at 32F to cold-crash ...

Friday night I'll rack onto biofine in a keg setup with a ClearBeer pick-up, a then we'll see what it tastes like and how to proceed ...

The aftermath ...

a00f03154b9b98ce8460daf80ea71ef5.jpg


:CHEERS:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top