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Author Topic: Yeasty tasting lager  (Read 1983 times)

Offline Village Taphouse

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Re: Yeasty tasting lager
« Reply #15 on: March 09, 2021, 10:24:57 am »
I have been using plastic for many years now after shattering multiple 6.5 and 5 gallon glass fermenters.  As many of you know, when they break, they can break into a billion pieces.  The longest I might leave a beer in the fermenter is about 14 days.  Usually that's 10 days.  I think even the LO guys are okay with that timeframe in plastic and I have never noticed a flavor component from the plastic.  I was going to pull the trigger on a stainless fermenter but I couldn't tell if it would fit in my fermenting fridge. 
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Offline majorvices

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Re: Yeasty tasting lager
« Reply #16 on: March 10, 2021, 07:11:06 am »
I definitely don't have any problems with plastic fermenters but agree that the beer can't sit in the indefinitely. That is especially true in the case of buckets because the lid doesn't always form a great seal. I've had a few times where I let a beer sit in a bucket too long and ended up having to dump it.

On the PET plastic fermenters as long as the seal is good the beer can sit in a lot longer, maybe even as long as glass.

Regardless 8 weeks in the primary fermenter is probably too long for just about any beer. As was mentioned, the problem could be autolysis or a combination of autolysis and oxidation.

Once the primary fermentation is over a week or two cold crashing should be adequate. If any more clearing is needed it can be done in the package.

Offline BrewBama

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Re: Yeasty tasting lager
« Reply #17 on: March 10, 2021, 07:26:25 am »
I never understood leaving finished beer sit for weeks and weeks. I can let it go a few days after fermentation is complete but I want it in a package and move it along the pipeline. I guess there could be reasons but I can’t think of any.


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Offline denny

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Re: Yeasty tasting lager
« Reply #18 on: March 10, 2021, 08:28:36 am »
I never understood leaving finished beer sit for weeks and weeks. I can let it go a few days after fermentation is complete but I want it in a package and move it along the pipeline. I guess there could be reasons but I can’t think of any.


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Too many people have heard (and possibly misunderstood) the old saw about the yeast cleaning things up when fermentation is finished. Then the apply the principle of "if a little is good, more is better" and let the beer sit, thinking something magical will happen.
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Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: Yeasty tasting lager
« Reply #19 on: March 10, 2021, 09:29:09 am »
I never understood leaving finished beer sit for weeks and weeks. I can let it go a few days after fermentation is complete but I want it in a package and move it along the pipeline. I guess there could be reasons but I can’t think of any.


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Too many people have heard (and possibly misunderstood) the old saw about the yeast cleaning things up when fermentation is finished. Then the apply the principle of "if a little is good, more is better" and let the beer sit, thinking something magical will happen.

I am guilty of passing along the old saw for several years (back a while) and regret thinking in that way - done is pretty much done, at least as to primary fermentation.  I had also always heard brewers say "drink the beer fresh" and that philosophy has won out for me at present.  The yeasty-ness question can run on the other direction, too - namely moving beer out of the fermenter quickly.  I now find that most of my beers are done with primary and ready to keg in under a week (Tilt hydrometer confirmed with lab grade FG scale hydrometer). 

I am experimenting with pressurized fermentation at the moment to do some side by side lager ferments - if they turn out acceptable, I may move to more pressure fermentations going forward.  My last batch was with 34/70 at 68F and 30 psi.  The pressure ferment throws off the Tilt reading, but I use it for FG confirmation, not actual FG reading.  So, I am looking forward to see if these fermentations may result in a yeasty-ness from too quick of a turn...but, as long as there is a conditioning/lagering in the keg, I suspect that the beers will be drinkable at some point and be as fresh as I can get - covering both ends of the concerns.
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