foxbat's brewdays

[matt76]

This Brewlab Yorkshire strain isn't in any hurry to finish. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks in the fermenter and it's still bubbling about every 30 secs.

I think I'll let it ride another week as I'd rather it drop sediment in the fermenter instead of the keg. I think I'll lower the temperature in the fridge to encourage it to finish.

I was going to ask you exactly this. I've found A09 "Pub" very fast and I wondered if this might be similar but apparently not.

(Of course, if you had a Tilt you'd know exactly where it's at and how fast it's going )

 

[Northern_Brewer]

if you had a Tilt you'd know exactly where it's at and how fast it's going

Except Tilts don't normally cope well with the amount of barm produced by proper British top-cropping yeasts.

 

[matt76]

Except Tilts don't normally cope well with the amount of barm produced by proper British top-cropping yeasts.
View attachment 55851

I know what you mean, they can get thrown off by krausen, and that can happen with any strain. I have experienced it but it's certainly not every brew.

But the more useful aspect of these devices (and interesting for nerds like me) is that while the absolute reading can sometimes get thrown off a little they give you a very good idea of the trends - that is, the rate at which fermentation is/has been progressing

Anyway, @foxbat needs one, he knows he does

 

[foxbat]

Anyway, @foxbat needs one, he knows he does

I don't think bluetooth's puny signal would get out of both my stainless fermenter and brewfridge.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I know what you mean, they can get thrown off by krausen, and that can happen with any strain. I have experienced it but it's certainly not every brew.

My point was that a proper English yeast, such as the one foxbat is using, is far more likely to give you problems. Most of the yeasts from US labs have been passaged through conicals and generally bottom-cropped, which selects heavily against top-fermentation.

I don't think bluetooth's puny signal would get out of both my stainless fermenter and brewfridge.

The new Tilts have a stronger transmitter and are meant to be a lot better in that regard, although I don't have personal experience (cough, Santa...)

 

[matt76]

The new Tilts have a stronger transmitter and are meant to be a lot better in that regard, although I don't have personal experience (cough, Santa...)

Not the same as a stainless fermenter I know but FWIW, mine is a Mk.2 and will happily connect from the plastic FV in the brew fridge (metal box - steel or Al ???) to the Pi Zero W sat just on top.

In fact I previously had 2 Tilts running when I was aging my Brett Porter - at that point the Pi was in the loft and both Tilts connected fine, the first still being in the fridge in the garage, effectively two floors below.

 

[foxbat]

That brewlab Yorkshire has a very odd fermentation profile for an ale yeast. It's still bubbling fairly regularly which I'm now putting down to off-gassing since I've just tapped off a sample and it's attenuated 88% down to 1.005.

Some CO2 was escaping from the sample jar which was clear and tasted fine with no sign of infection being the reason for the high attenuation. I'll put that down to mashing a 100% pilsner malt grist between 64.5 and 66.5 and fermenting at 20-21C. Now I know it's a strong attenuator I think I'll mash a bit warmer, possibly 68C or something like that.

I'll keg it after work tonight.

 

[Buffers brewery]

Posted in error. Sorry about that!

 

[foxbat]

The Simple Autumn Ale is now kegged and I got 2 extra bonus bottles from the left overs. The final gravity was 1.005 for an ABV of 5.0%. Slightly more than I was planning for but at this stage I'm still learning about how this yeast behaves.

I wouldn't describe this strain as particularly flocculant, nor would I describe it as powdery. It does flocculate and when it does it seems to leave behind a nice clear ale. This is the sample from the fermenter:

The dregs and trub cake in the fermenter smelled amazing! It was all peach, apricot and mild citrus aromas. At this stage I can't say what was from the yeast and what was from the Archer hops but I'm quietly confident that this ought to taste good even with the low FG.

The keg's on at about 15 psi to carbonate sitting alongside my last lager at 6C so it's also going to get a bonus cold crash in the keg before I raise it to 12C for drinking.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Foxbat, if you might indulge me a quick question.... Have you ever noted a smell from bottle B of the clear it finings? I am hoping the ones I used earlier werent off, bottle A had no smell, but B wasnt great.....

Im now thinking I shouldnt have put it in....

 

[foxbat]

Foxbat, if you might indulge me a quick question.... Have you ever noted a smell from bottle B of the clear it finings? I am hoping the ones I used earlier werent off, bottle A had no smell, but B wasnt great.....

Im now thinking I shouldnt have put it in....

Yes it's the gelatine and it stinks like rancid pork I've never been able to detect any of it in even the lightest of finished beers thankfully.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Yes it's the gelatine and it stinks like rancid pork I've never been able to detect any of it in even the lightest of finished beers thankfully.

Perfect thanks. Makes me feel a bit better. The bottles have been open for more than the recommended month, but not much more I dont think. Just worried I had fired in something that had gone bad.

 

[foxbat]

Perfect thanks. Makes me feel a bit better. The bottles have been open for more than the recommended month, but not much more I dont think. Just worried I had fired in something that had gone bad.

I probably keep them for 4 or 5 months. I don't know how they expect homebrewers to use it all in a month. I think I might start storing them in the fridge to keep the gelatine fresher for longer.

 

[samale]

I see you recently replaced your brew bag. What supplier did you use, just noticed a hole starting in my one.

 

[samale]

BIAB Brew Bag for Mashing grains during home brewing craft beer

I was looking at this one. I use a 30litre Burco boiler

 

[moto748]

This is how most people who do "basic BIAB" do it? With an 'open' bag like that, presumably so that a limited amount of stirring can be done?

 

[foxbat]

I see you recently replaced your brew bag. What supplier did you use, just noticed a hole starting in my one.

bj-filters on ebay. Very strong bags.

 

[foxbat]

This is how most people who do "basic BIAB" do it? With an 'open' bag like that, presumably so that a limited amount of stirring can be done?

Stirring, yes. But it's more that with the bag held open it lines the pot and virtually all the water is then in amongst the grain.

 

[moto748]

Thanks. If I were Devils' advocate, I'd say, why is that considered an advantage, when a 'closed' bag would have the grain fully submerged and in contact with all the liquid?

But we shouldn't derail foxbat's thread.
Well, I mean, I shouldn't...

 

[foxbat]

This weekend I'll be brewing a Timothy Taylor's Landlord clone following the Wheeler recipe in the BYOBRA book so that makes the Tuesday before the weekend my yeast starter day.

Brewing with the Brewlab Yorkshire strain has had a number of 'firsts' for me and tonight there was another one. This is the first time that I've tightened the lid of the overbuild jar too much when putting it in the fridge. You're supposed to leave it a little loose for the first couple of days to allow the yeast to finish off-gassing. I knew I had a problem when I noticed the lid was bulging. I took it out of the fridge and released the lid a little and this happened:

I'd created a force-carbonated starter beer and was very lucky the jar didn't explode. The starter beer was perfectly clear before I cracked the lid but then it all fizzed up, kicking up some of the yeast in the process making it look like the above photo. I blame the lid - it's not a genuine Kilner and is a bit stiffer. I think it needs a little more backing off to create the vent that it needs when it first goes into the fridge.

Back to this weekend. TTL isn't a strong beer at only 1.042 and 4.3% so I only did a 1.5 litre starter of which 500ml will go back into the fridge for next time.

This time it's in the 3 litre flask which should prevent the overflowing experience that I had last time when I entrusted it to the 2 litre flask. I measured the gravity of the spent starter beer and found it to be 1.007 so the explosiveness is down to my mistake and not a spoilage organism. It also tasted fine, although obviously rather yeasty.