[eric]

Hey all

Very new to brewing and having a great time. I tried brewing a "Bohemian pilsner" and the recipe calls for adding a package of Wyeast just prior to bottleing. I'm worried I will blow the tops off.  I kept out one gallon of wort before I pitched thee first yeast, and have it air tight in the fidge.  I have the rest in primary for 2 weeks at 45 degrees. I plan on racking to the secondary for 2 more weeks.  On bottleing day my plan was to take out the gallon of cold wort let it return to room temp.  Dump wort and package of 2124 Wyeast to the bottleing bucket then rack in the beer. 

Wiil it Blow?

[blatz]

it might.  especially adding 20% new wort and new yeast.  where you get instructions like that?

and, no matter how air tight or sanitized you kept your gallon that you held out, if it was in the fridge for 2 weeks, and wasn't pressure canned, I would be concerned about contamination.   

[denny]

where you get instructions like that?

Agreed...you _might_ need more yeast, but I doubt it.  You certainly don't need to add wort, especially that's been in your fridge for weeks.

[eric]

Well thanks for the info


I guess I tried to be too slick for my own good.. The directions call for adding 1.4 cups light DME with the yeast and I thought I could just use some wort instead. I read that the old German way was to add wort back at the end to condition and not add sugar. Again the learning curve is a circle here. Do you think if I boil the wort first then add it back I would be alright? Should I punt? Now I have 4 gallons of Pilsner in the fridge at 45 degrees. I need to rack it to the secondary this weekend. Can i save this beer

[enso]

The method you are referring to is kraeusening.  It involves adding a certain amount of actively fermenting wort from a new batch of beer to condition the lager ready to be bottled.

[hopfenundmalz]

Adding wort is called speise, and adding at full yeast activity is called Kauesening.

It turns out Kai has a page on that.  No suprise as it is a traditional technique in production lager breweries that have plenty of both on hand.  Krausening with fresh yeast is said to clean up many things left by the first part of fermentation.  

The link thingy that I almost forgot.

http://www.braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Accurately_Calculating_Sugar_Additions_for_Carbonation#Speise

[tubercle]

Well thanks for the info


I guess I tried to be too slick for my own good.. The directions call for adding 1.4 cups light DME with the yeast and I thought I could just use some wort instead. I read that the old German way was to add wort back at the end to condition and not add sugar. Again the learning curve is a circle here. Do you think if I boil the wort first then add it back I would be alright? Should I punt? Now I have 4 gallons of Pilsner in the fridge at 45 degrees. I need to rack it to the secondary this weekend. Can i save this beer

 You can certainly save the 4 gallons. Consider the 1 gallon of unfermented wort a learning tax

[Kaiser]

I'd be the first one to tell you go for it but even I would be suspect of storing wort in the fridge for more than one week. But our friends over in Germany do that all the time.

If I Kraeusen my beer or want to add Speise I freeze the wort and boil it before it is added to the beer.

Eric, you may want to try this for future beers. I still think it is a very elegant way of carbonating a beer. Besides the link that Jeff posted check out this one: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Kraeusening it details the process. There is also a spreadsheet that does the calculations for you. And to top it off, if you do the fast ferment test to determine the terminal gravity you can even bottle beer that has not completed fermentation as long as there is not more unfermented sugar than you need for carbonation.

Kai

[eric]

Thanks all for th info....Great site

[eric]

After reading posts going to websites and reading the "Brewers Bible" I have decided to go for it.
I have my wort in the freezer, in two weeks I will boil it cool it to 75 pitch some fresh Wyeast.
Then rack the pilsner to the bottle bucket and bottle. I will post results for those that care.   Thanks again for the help

[a10t2]

Go for it, but don't waste the Wyeast packet on it. A quarter packet of dry yeast, rehydrated, will do you just fine.

[eric]

Well I'm now a month down the road my Pilsners is in the bottles. It tastes very "Buttery" will it get better or do I need to dump it?

[Kaiser]

how long has it been in the bottles, how warm are the bottles and did you prime it in the bottles?

Kai

[Hokerer]

Well I'm now a month down the road my Pilsners is in the bottles. It tastes very "Buttery" will it get better or do I need to dump it?

Isn't "buttery" diacetyl?  Did you do a diacetyl rest during your fermentation?

[eric]

No rest. Bottles went right into the fridge at 42