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Author Topic: Fermentation and beer character - day 3 vs. day 4  (Read 1001 times)

Offline Joe_Beer

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Fermentation and beer character - day 3 vs. day 4
« on: May 20, 2021, 02:53:37 pm »
I ferment in a bucket, in a small fridge. I've noticed on a few brews that a sample pulled around day three smells and tastes so much brighter, fresher and "aromatically dimensional" than after bubbling stops - like day four and beyond. It's not an unpleasant difference, just more like the flavor/aroma volume knob is turned up to 11 on day two and then gets turned down to like 5 on day four.  Hop character is still there, color, taste and aroma are still good, but wow, there was so much more of it on day three.

Is this just the difference between super-active fermentation and things settling down or is it maybe indicative of a needed process change?
« Last Edit: May 21, 2021, 02:30:09 am by Joe_Beer »

Offline erockrph

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Re: Fermentation and beer character - day 3 vs. day 4
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2021, 04:47:03 pm »
I don't know if this is what you are experiencing specifically, but I know that I have noticed a big increase in flavor in my beer (malt flavor especially) after moving to closed fermentation in kegs and using gallotannin to chelate the metals in my brewing water. Do you keg? If so, try brewing a batch in one of your kegs and do a closed transfer to your serving keg to see if it preserves that flavor intensity you're missing.

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Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

Offline Joe_Beer

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Re: Fermentation and beer character - day 3 vs. day 4
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2021, 02:45:29 am »
Do you keg? If so, try brewing a batch in one of your kegs and do a closed transfer to your serving keg to see if it preserves that flavor intensity you're missing.

Hmm... I do keg and that's a great idea. Do I need a spunding valve to vent fermentation pressure or do you just put a hose on the gas port for a blow-off tube?

I've been trying a few things to figure out how to re-use all that CO2 the yeast produces (to at least purge starsan out of another keg) and fermenting in a keg would certainly help with that.

Offline erockrph

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Re: Fermentation and beer character - day 3 vs. day 4
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2021, 08:07:26 am »
Do you keg? If so, try brewing a batch in one of your kegs and do a closed transfer to your serving keg to see if it preserves that flavor intensity you're missing.

Hmm... I do keg and that's a great idea. Do I need a spunding valve to vent fermentation pressure or do you just put a hose on the gas port for a blow-off tube?

I've been trying a few things to figure out how to re-use all that CO2 the yeast produces (to at least purge starsan out of another keg) and fermenting in a keg would certainly help with that.
You can rig up a blowoff tube off the gas port if you're just testing things out, but if you plan on using kegs as fermenters in the long term, then a spunding valve and a floating dip tube are worth investing in.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer