Newbie Fast Guinness!

[glingerbrewerr]

This is my first post, having gleaned an enormous amount of valuable info from you experts, for which I thank you all very much.

I made Graham Wheeler Guinness (AG) last Wednesday (22nd Jan) I over compensated for evaporation in the boil and I had to make a sugar addition of 300 grams to get the correct OG 1.042. This was then fermented with Safale s04 yeast in a STC1000 controlled brewing fridge at 20C until Saturday, when I dropped the temp to 14C for a Diacetyl break for 24 hours. Then I dropped temp. down to 10C to condition. On Monday, whilst measuring FG(1.012), I was tempted by a little taste and was surprised how good it was. So I racked it into pressure barrel and gave it a zap of CO2. Tried it again - delicious and very like the real thing with a good thick head. This was confirmed by an independent panel of 6 self-proclaimed experts on Tuesday!

Is this normal for a stout? Perhaps all the off flavours are concealed by the roast and flaked barley. But even if I'm given a hard time by you lot for being hasty, I am well pleased with this brew. Are there any other quick brews out there?

 

[RobWalker]

Coopers stout was pretty ready out of the FV if you ask me.

Session IPAs with lots of american hops tend to be pretty quick too, on account of the bad flavours being masked by the extreme hopping levels. I had mine ready in 3 weeks including dry hopping and conditioning, and it was well received at TST.

 

[bobsbeer]

Welcome :

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome, cracked it on your fist brew. :thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

To be fair guinness doesn't really have many complex flavours to develope so as said above it probably would be ready pretty fast, and probably even faster in the brewery. :thumb:

 

[joe1002]

Welcome to the forum :

My first stout was pretty much gone after being in the keg for only 2 weeks :whistle:

 

[abeyptfc]

aye Mike (Bigyin) has said he makes the Graham Wheeler Guinness and drinks it early aswell. I've made it and it was cracking after a week in the cornie.

 

[winelight]

Coopers stout was pretty ready out of the FV if you ask me.

Agree with that, except when I made a batch with treacle - that needed a while to soften the bitterness.

 

[ryanshelton]

Interesting thread, waiting for my GW book to be delivered and this is the first brew from it! Good to see it's a good pint

 

[ryanshelton]

Is the s04 a good yeast to use with this?

 

[dennisking]

Is the s04 a good yeast to use with this?

I would go for Whitelabs WLP004 Irish ale yeast. Reputed to be developed from the Guinness strain.

 

[GavH]

I would go for Whitelabs WLP004 Irish ale yeast. Reputed to be developed from the Guinness strain.

Reputed? How WELL reputed? Sounds like an interesting possibility.

 

[glingerbrewerr]

Is the s04 a good yeast to use with this?

Well, it seemed to work quickly and the result is OK. I was thinking that one of the generic liquid yeasts might be a good idea the next time, but s04 is cheap and I'm cheerful!

 

[Scubabrewer]

Hi Glingerbrewer - glad to hear your GW guiness tastes good. I believe the speed is down to the Safale yeast. Whenever I use it with a starter ( as always) it goes off like a rocket even at 17deg in my incubator. It then ferments out in< 3 days! I tapped my latest cask of GW's Jennings Cockerhoop 30.1.14 made 16.1.14 and it's delicious. It was the first time ( in a long history of AG brewing) I tried torrefied wheat and now I'm hooked. I can't say enough about GW's book - to me he is the natural successor to St Dave (Line) so anyone reading this just get his book "Brew your own British Real Ales"
Happy brewing and even happier drinking
Cheers
Scubabrewer

 

[dennisking]

I would go for Whitelabs WLP004 Irish ale yeast. Reputed to be developed from the Guinness strain.

Reputed? How WELL reputed? Sounds like an interesting possibility.

This their description on their website

This is the yeast from one of the oldest stout producing breweries in the world. It produces a slight hint of diacetyl, balanced by a light fruitiness and slight dry crispness. Great for Irish ales, stouts, porters, browns, reds and a very interesting pale ale.

They will never name the source and this is about as close as they come to it.

 

[Bribie]

Whitelabs and Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale are both close cousins of Guinness yeasts. In the book "Guinness, the 250 year quest for the perfect pint" the American beer writer Bill Yenne describes the Guinness fermentation schedule. They pitch the yeast at around 20 degrees then let it rise to between 24 and 25 degrees. Primary fermentation is over in 40 hours, then the beer is matured in holding tanks for a couple of days, filtered and kegged. This is firm information, Bill was allowed free run of the brewery and actually lived at St Jame's Gate when writing the book.

I've used the Wyeast at these temperatures, exactly as the guy published, and got a prize in a HB competition with the resulting dry stout. Also makes an excellent and very quick Irish Red.

 

[NickW]

Wow, 25c? That's interesting to know.

If you mentioned that temperature on here people would be all... :nono: :nono: :nono:

 

[Bribie]

The first time I did it was accidental. My fermenting fridge had broken down and the brew (Irish Ale on that Wyeast strain) was already at 25. I panicked and wrapped the FV in a wet towel with a fan, but the fermentation was well away. I stopped it getting any higher, but it didn't budge downwards by much. On morning 3 the top of the beer was like a millpond and clearing out already. Finally wrestled the temperature down to 20 then kegged it. One of the best Irish Reds I've ever made.

A year later I read Bill Yenne's book and said "told you so"

 

[graysalchemy]

Not advised for the homebrewer IMHO. Commercial breweries pitch far higher quantities of active yeats than we would achieve, as a result there is not as much growth phase were high temps can cause off flavours. Unless you pitch a lot of yeast you would need to keep it at 20 for at least 24 hrs which doesn't seem to fit in your time frame.