Topics

1

Yeast and Fermentation / Wyeast 3944

« on: April 12, 2012, 09:49:31 am »

Hi Everyone,

I brewed a wit using 3944 (Belgian WitBier) almost 4 weeks ago. The beer still has a krausen on it which is about 1/4 inch high but airlock activity is virtually zero and the gravity has been steady the last two times I checked (spaced 10 days apart). So my question is am I ok to go ahead and bottle this or should I wait until the krausen drops?
Starting gravity was 1.056 and it is now at 1.006. I have been fermenting at 70 -72 degrees for the last two weeks but last night turned off the heater to see if cooling it down would cause the yeast to flock.
Thanks in advance for any advice!

2

Yeast and Fermentation / Addition of Raspberries to a lambic.

« on: March 10, 2012, 05:26:34 am »

Hi All,

Apologies if I have placed this in the wrong category!

I have a lambic that I brewed back in November (my first attempt at such a brew) and I am planning on adding raspberries to this for a Framboise. The beer is still in the primary on the roselare blend and is getting nice and funky looking. I am getting itchy to add the berries into the fermenter but have a couple of questions:
1: How many lbs of fresh raspberries do I need to add in order for a framboise taste?
2: Is 17 weeks or so a good point in time to add?
3: Should I think about replacing my airlock with a blow off once the fruit has gone in?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

3

Yeast and Fermentation / Wyeast roeselare ale blend

« on: November 01, 2011, 04:34:24 am »

Hi All,

Is making a starter with this blend a bad idea, in that will it upset the proportions of the different yeasties in there?
Would I perhaps be better off using a straight belgian yeast for the primary and then pitching this roeselare blend in the secondary?

Thanks for any advice.

4

Kegging and Bottling / Adding yeast at bottling

« on: August 16, 2011, 04:30:44 am »

Hi everyone,

So my old ale is going to get bottled this coming weekend and I think the concensus from my other posts is to add yeast at bottling to ensure adequate carbonation but I have a question....
I typically add the priming sugar to each individual bottle (I had issues in the past with uneven carbonation which have since gone away with this method) so can I add the yeast into the same sugar solution? The sugar solution is typically for my english ales about 2 - 2.5 oz table sugar in about 500ml of water I then dispense this out to each bottle with a syringe will the sugar solution shock the yeast? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Oh I bought some US05 for the botlling.

5

Yeast and Fermentation / Strange fermentation

« on: August 03, 2011, 04:22:20 am »

Hi All,

I brewed a strong porter a couple of weeks back and am seeing a little bit of weirdness going on...
I checked the gravity after two weeks (og was 1.094 and I am using white labs bedford british ale yeast fermentation temp was 66F) and was at 1.030 which was almost at were I was expecting to be but the beer was still very very cloudy. I removed the blow off tube and inserted an airlock and this has been popping away ever since (4 days now). Is it possible that the beer isnt done and fermentation is still taking place? I have never really seen behaviour like this with this yeast before and i have used it several times and with this recipe also. I am starting to worry that I have some sort of infection and the bubbling airlock will never stop.

6

Kegging and Bottling / Old Ale Q's

« on: July 26, 2011, 09:37:00 am »

Hi Everyone,

I brewed using the Wyeast Old Ale blend (9097 I think) back in January and wanted to get peoples opinion on bottling after using this strain. Original gravity was 1.068 and was transferred to secondary about 4 weeks later with a gravity reading of 1.016. I finally got around to taking a sample a couple of weeks ago and the gravity is down to 1.009 and the beer tastes pretty good. So now to my questions:
I am planning to bottle this and hopefully age some of them for a significant period of time so do you think I am safe to do that already or do I need to wait a while longer and let the Brett continue to do its stuff?
Once I do bottle should I be adding fresh yeast to ensure carbonation and if so how much and what yeast?

I did ask these same questions of Jess at Wyeast and he advised to go ahead BUT to keep a constant check on the bottles which worried me somewhat... he also recommended I use one of Wyeast products (of course) to add to the beer at bottling but if I did use liquid yeast should I add the whole packet?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

7

Yeast and Fermentation / Schneider Yeast

« on: February 25, 2011, 10:26:47 am »

Hi Everyone,

I am planning on brewing a dunkelweizen pretty soon and my Missus loves Schneider weisse. Does anyone know if their yeast is commercially available and if not what a good substitution would be?

Thanks!

8

Yeast and Fermentation / 1026 British Cask Ale yeast

« on: December 20, 2010, 10:40:38 am »

Hi Everyone,

I just wondered if anyone had noticed any sulfur smells in their beer after using this yeast?
I tried a bottle of my new brew on saturday and there is a very noticable sulfur smell, the beer tastes ok once you get past the smell. The beer actually reminds me a lot of Marstons Pedigree which can sometimes have the sulfur overtones on draught.
The curious thing is that I didnt detect the smell before bottling. The beer has only been in bottles just over a week so hopefully the smell will dissapear over time? I never experienced this when I brewed with this yeast a couple of years ago the last time it was available so am interested to know what others experiences are.

9

Kegging and Bottling / Bottling issues again

« on: December 02, 2010, 12:53:40 pm »

Hi Everyone,

So this isnt the first time I have posted on here regarding carbonation issues when bottle conditioning. Several of my batches have had issues with inconsistent carbonation which results in many bottles becoming gushers. I have tried various priming sugars and always rack on top of the boiled and cooled sugar solution. The last couple of batches I have racked into the bottling bucket and stirred in an attempt to ensure proper mixing and still had issues. All bottles are thoroughly cleaned with PBW and sanitized with StarSan and the beer always tastes fine so I dont think infections are the cause of my woes.
Well I am getting ready to bottle another batch this weekend and was thinking of trying to prime the bottles individually and see if that helps but whilst researching this I came across lots of different advice on amounts of priming sugar to use and apparently for carbonation like that of English Pale Ale I should be using a lot less sugar than what I have been (I have been using 2/3 cup table sugar for 5 gallons) and one calculator recommended using only 1.5 - 2 ozs when taking into account the temperature of the beer. Could the amount used be the cause of all my troubles? My first seven or eight batches had absolutely no issues with carbonation it has been the next 7 or 8 that have been the issue.
Any thoughts or ideas would be very appreciated.

10

Yeast and Fermentation / Wyeast Old Ale Blend

« on: November 08, 2010, 05:23:57 am »

Hi Everyone,

I was thinking of trying out the Wyeast private collection offering of the Old Ale Blend. After reading about this I see that it has a little bit of Brett in the blend, so I was wondering if I would need to be careful with this and use separate equipment etc to ensure future batches aren't contaminated or if the amount is so small as the effect would not be enough to worry about.

Thanks in advance!

11

Yeast and Fermentation / Britsh Ale Yeast Questions.

« on: August 08, 2010, 06:49:40 am »

Hi Everyone,

I have a beer that I brewed a little over 2 weeks ago (I know it is still pretty young) using a starter with 2 vials of White Labs British ale yeast (005) and after taking a gravity reading yesterday I was a little disspointed. OG was 1.065 and the gravity reading yesterday was 1.022 which by my reckoning is attentuation of around 66%ish. This is the first batch where I have tried to control fermentation temps (68F) and was hoping to get down to around 1.014 or so. I am not planning to do anything with the beer for another 3 weeks or so but was wondering if I should try and stir up the yeast a little as I know this particluar yeast is very flocculant or should I leave it be?

Also with these very flocculant yeasts do I need to worry about there being enough yeast left in suspension come bottling time? I have another ale which is ready for bottling (4 weeks in primary & 5 weeks in secondary gravity readings are steady and have been for a while) where I used white labs 002, do I need to add fresh yeast?

Thanks in advance for your help.

12

Kegging and Bottling / Gushing bottles

« on: July 28, 2010, 09:26:37 am »

Hi Everyone,

So I have had a problem on a couple of batches recently with gushing bottles and am looking for help in eliminating this problem go forward. The beer in both instances tastes good so I am unsure as to whether it is an infection or uneven carbonation (although all of the bottles have had the issue). My sanitation has not changed and I typically use bleach to sanitize my carbuoys,funnel, tubing etc and use Star San for the bottles, I also scrub everything super clean after use and before sanitizing.
 The thing that concerns me with my brewing is that I do not use a full boil (I still use the kitchen stove: ) and typically only boil 1.5 - 2 gallons and then add this to cold tap water to make up the volume. If this is an infection could it be coming form the tap water? If so will using bottled water help and again if so are there certain brands etc that are better for brewing than others?

Again this has only happened on a couple of batches and have not had an issue with the vast majority of my brews.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

13

Yeast and Fermentation / Fermentation Temp control

« on: July 08, 2010, 09:25:57 am »

Hi everyone,

I am looking at setting up some equipment in order to better regulate fermentation temperatures and have been looking at the system available from northern brewer which consists of the fermwrap heater, a temp controller and a stopper thermowell. My question is regarding the thermowell as I now usually utilize a blow off tube and regularly need this so if I was to move to the thermowell how do I stop blow offs?
Obviously if anyone has any better or different ideas for controlling temps I am all ears

Thanks!

14

Kegging and Bottling / Over carbonation issue

« on: May 11, 2010, 10:28:45 am »

Hi Everyone,

I always  bottle my brews and have had no problems until my last couple of batches. On these two batches which have been conditioning for a couple of months now when I pop the cap everything is normal but once I start to pour it into the glass an extraordinary amount of foam is produced. I then have to wait what seems like an age for the foam to settle before I am able to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I have no idea why these beers should be acting in this way I used my normal amount of priming sugar (1 cup DME ), the gravity readings were consistent for several readings ( both beers were in the primary for 2 weeks and secondary for 4 and 5 weeks) and my sanitation was exactly the same as it has been for all my previous beers. Does anyone have any ideas as to were I have gone wrong so I can avoid this problem on future brews?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

15

Yeast and Fermentation / Need help with possible fermentation problem

« on: March 10, 2010, 10:25:14 am »

Hi everyone,

I am in need of some advice on a possible problem I have with a brew on the go at the minute. I know I have probably made some pretty stupid errors here but I am learning as I go along....

The  plan was to make a bourbon oak barrelish strong ale. The brews inital gravity was 1.068 and I used the Bedford British Ale Yeast form White labs and the starter was 2 liters and was then repitched in another 2 liters about 24 hours prior to brewing. The fermentation took off very quickly and was very aggressive (blow off hose was required) and I left it in the primary for about 2 weeks. After 2 weeks there was no sign of activity in the airlock so I racked to the secondary. The gravity at this point was 1.033 so no where near what I was hoping for, anyway I went ahead and inserted my bourbon soaked oak chips and occasionally tasted and took gravity readings. Last Sunday I tested again ( 9 weeks in the secondary) and the brew tastes really good but the gravity is still 1.030ish so my questions are:
1: Will I have any issues as far as bottle explosions/over carbonation if I bottle now?
2: Could I repitch yeast into the secondary and attempt to achieve a lower gravity? If so could I repitch some of the original yeast cake which I have kept in the fridge?

Thanks in advance for your kind advice.