185 replies to this topic

[positiveContact]

wow - still going hard.  I hope this is a good sign....

[positiveContact]

Sulfur is getting real in that chest freezer!

[positiveContact]

Put the spunding valve on last night and I've got the fermenter and two serving kegs at 5 psi. I'll hold it here until I see a lowering of the pitch of the hissing sound and then I'll start to clamp down on the valve to raise the psi and carb the beer. I'm up to 58f now. I think later today I'll let it free rise as high as 65f if it will go that far in it's own.

[positiveContact]

With just a small nudge it's up to 65f and still dumping co2 at a good clip. Tomorrow will be one week since I pitched the yeast. This fermentation is quite out of the ordinary for me. It will be interesting to see where my fg end up.

[HVB]

The last couple of lagers I did fermented for a lot longer than I expected.  I did bump the last one to 65 to force it to finish.  I will sample that one today as it heads to the keg.  See what the dryhops did!

[positiveContact]

My thought this time is that if any lager can take a less than clean fermentation this is it. With all of the malt and specialty grains in there I think it's already going to be pretty intense flavor wise.

[Mya]

My thought this time is that if any lager can take a less than clean fermentation this is it. With all of the malt and specialty grains in there I think it's already going to be pretty intense flavor wise.

if Diamond is 34/70 it'll be plenty clean even in the 60s in my experience

[positiveContact]

That too! Or so I hear. I've never tried a full on warm fermentation with lager yeast. I always end this way though.

Spunding valve is still spunding. Over a week since brew day.

[Mya]

That too! Or so I hear. I've never tried a full on warm fermentation with lager yeast. I always end this way though.

Spunding valve is still spunding. Over a week since brew day.

I used 2124 to make a really good steam lager 2 years back, very clean. 62 to 68 all the way.

[positiveContact]

I used 2124 to make a really good steam lager 2 years back, very clean. 62 to 68 all the way.

Never made one of those. Not sure I've really every had one either...

[Mya]

Never made one of those. Not sure I've really every had one either...

Anchor steam?

[positiveContact]

Anchor steam?

 

I know of the beer but I don't think I've ever had it.  I probably should just for academic purposes.

[positiveContact]

Slowing down now it seems...

[positiveContact]

this lager yeast is quite the work horse.  brought the wort from 1.084 down to 1.016 beer in a little over a week.  80% attenuation, 8.9% ABV.

 

 

so this is something I've often done but I'm not sure if it's required.  if the beer seems like it's done fermenting is there much use in letting it sit around at fermentation temps for a few days or does it make more sense to just start chilling it?  no real rush here, just curious what you guys do.

[positiveContact]

so this is from the link in the OP.  this was nothing like my experience.  it's been pretty close to typical for me.  started within about a day.  ramped up to be more active.  the one thing this did slightly differently is it was really active for more than a day or two and instead was pretty active for three or four days but then after that it seemed to just slowly ramp down.  did it take a little longer to ferment?  yes.  probably about 40% more time.  was there anything else strange going on?  not really.  I can't imagine it's going to drop much if any further in gravity.

 

 

Fermentation

Be prepared to wait for your Baltic porter. It won’t be ready to drink for many weeks. Hendler recommends boiling it for about two hours before letting it ferment at 54°F (12°C). At the end, he says, let it warm to about 60°F (16°C) to finish fermenting.

At first, things will look like a typical beer, with 75 percent of the fermentation taking place within the first five to seven days. Then nothing. Day ten will look the same as day seven. He says it can take another full seven days before the final 25 percent is done. Again, he stresses that yeast quality is important. “If you don’t have healthy yeast, that last 25 percent will never finish.”

Hendler says he doesn’t bottle Framinghammer for four to six weeks, and then he lets it bottle ferment for another eight weeks before drinking.

Be patient and, if it comes out how you imagine, you’ve got yourself a winner of a beer.

 

Edited by Mando, 09 June 2020 - 12:10 PM.

[Mya]

I always try to let lagers sit at 65 ish a few days no matter what, I don't detect diacetyl in unfinished beer as well as I' do in kegged carbed beer, so I try to mitigate it.

[positiveContact]

I always try to let lagers sit at 65 ish a few days no matter what, I don't detect diacetyl in unfinished beer as well as I' do in kegged carbed beer, so I try to mitigate it.

 

do you let your fermentations finish up before going to 65F?  I ramp up the temperature on all of my beers (ales and lagers) as the fermentation progresses.  basically once I start to see any sign of slowing down I start to let the beer free rise or I force it to rise with a space heater.  for lagers I usually go into the low 60s but in this case I went up to around 68F.  for ales I usually try to get the beer up to 70F or higher by the tail end of fermentation.

 

I think I've probably already taken care of diacetyl simply be fermenting warm for a number of days.  maybe I'm wrong on that.

[Mya]

do you let your fermentations finish up before going to 65F?  I ramp up the temperature on all of my beers (ales and lagers) as the fermentation progresses.  basically once I start to see any sign of slowing down I start to let the beer free rise or I force it to rise with a space heater.  for lagers I usually go into the low 60s but in this case I went up to around 68F.  for ales I usually try to get the beer up to 70F or higher by the tail end of fermentation.

 

I think I've probably already taken care of diacetyl simply be fermenting warm for a number of days.  maybe I'm wrong on that.

Sounds like we do about the same thing. I'm just paranoid about diacetyl.

[positiveContact]

Sounds like we do about the same thing. I'm just paranoid about diacetyl.

Yeah I started doing it this way so I could avoid maturation after fermentation. Fresh beer baby!

[positiveContact]

once again Drez was right.  this beer was the right choice.  holy hell it's good!

 

8.9% ABV and zero alcohol burn.  zero.  unbelievable.  also no cloying sweetness.

Edited by Mando, 10 June 2020 - 04:21 PM.