Open Fermentation.

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I've just kegged a Cali Common that I fermented with the lid laid loosely on the FV.
In a brewfridge you can clean and sanitise the interior to minimise contamination - the next bitter I brew I'll try it without the lid.
Wilko has the 30 litre box for £3 - the dimensions look good for my brewfridge. I suppose the big problem is going to be lifting them when full.
As far as yeast goes, I would grab Notty as a good general ale yeast, but Mangrove Jack's M15 and M36 look interesting - I've never used them myself.
White Labs do a Yorkshire Square yeast - appropriate, perhaps, and harvesting would mean you could re-use it.

 

[marshbrewer]

Don't forget there's a whole lot more to Yorkshire squares than the fact that they are open; the deck that the yeast sits on, the circulation of the wort, etc. Also, the fact they are square is a hangover from when they were made from stone or slate; most modern built 'squares' i.e. Black Sheep, are in fact round for ease of cleaning.

 

[Sadfield]

Very true. I'm not too fussed in exactly replicating a beer brewed in a Yorkshire Square, just mindful of the difference in relationship between surface area and volume, compared to a tall cylindrical Fv.

 

[terrym]

Rousing an old thread to see if there is any sign of activity.

I'm planning to brew a Best Bitter using an open fermentation and wondered if anyone has tried this technique. The local Poundstretcher sell 30 litre foodgrade (PP) storage boxes for replicating a Yorkshire Square. I haven't decide on which yeast strain to use yet, so any suggestions on a good top cropping strain would be welcome.

I cultured a SN 1698 yeast sometime back, and found it was so top fermenting I had to keep stirring it back in or the fermentation died back. So you could try that.

 

[marshbrewer]

Indeedy ~ what I was try to suggest (not very well) is that I think, and its just my opinion, that the flavours gained in a YS system are probably from the aeration / spraying wort onto the to desk part of the process, so if you were experimenting with open fermentation for flavour, ironically, it may be better to avoid a YS yeast and go for something like a california common yeast that was originally (and in the case of Anchor, I believe still is) brewed in non roused open FV's.

Or I may be talking nonsense.

One of my (many) projects in the future is to build a homemade 23 lt Yorkshire square FV, with wort cycling and everything, but I want to go and see a few in action first, and hopefully nab some yeast.

Which means it will probably never get done!

 

[Sadfield]

I think we're both on the same page. Nice project if you do it, @jjsh

Of the commercial cultures I was thinking along the lines of Wyeast London Ale III or Ringwood. Culturing is always another option, thanks for the suggestion @terrym. I do have a Harveys Imperial Extra Double Stout that I've been meaning to harvest from.

 

[IainM]

The Gales yeast, sold as Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale, is good one for bitter and real top cropper.

 

[svenito]

I also plan to do an open fermentation (in a fridge though) for a weizen. I'm doing a series of the same recipe whilst changing a variable along the way. I did find this great explanation on why open fermentation produces more esters

https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/...behind-open-fermentation-leading-to-increased

 

[EddtheBrew]

Hi All,
Not all squares are "Yorkshire" type ie : a two chamber , and not all breweries in Yorkshire used squares , and some only used them on certain classes of beer , old fashioned Open 'squares'(usually an oblong) are , just as described with attemperators sitting in the f.v .
On the yeast cropping , only ever take from the second barm head as the first contains a lot of 'crap' and the later barm heads after 2nd aren't much use for yeast propagation .
I'd say go for a dropping system if you can't be bothered to build a two chamber square ( and design it!!)
Cheers
Edd

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I've just realised that I have two 32 litre under bed storage boxes, both polypropylene, so food safe, and one just fits into my winter fermentation chamber (with a little judicious re-positioning of the tubular heater to the top of the chamber). Once I can get hold of a 220V cooling fan to circulate the air around the chamber I'm getting a dark mild in there to test open fermentation in a shallow vessel.

 

[Sadfield]

I need to pick one up from my local Poundstretcher. I've already ordered a ball valve for it. The plan is to ferment for around 72 hours in the open "square" Fv, harvest the second barm, then "drop" down into a Corny keg via the short dip tube to allow some aeration. I'll then seal the keg and ferment out under pressure. Hopefully, this will leave me with a Corny of naturally carbonated/conditioned Best Bitter.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
Sounds like a great idea.
Will you use a spunding valve on the Corny, or monitor pressure manually?

 

[Spoon]

I think Sierra Nevada brewing use open fermenters as well? Their fermenters have a sluice at the top so bacteria is kept out of the beer by the krausen continually overflowing thus taking anything that would have landed in the beer with it.

Seems quite timing critical though, I'm from the lazy brewing school of thought, my beers go into the fermenter for 2-3 weeks and get ignored until it's time to cold crash and keg them. But I am quite tempted to get a couple of small fermenters, and split a batch, do one without the lid and one with, both in the fermentation fridge to minimise the chances of crap getting in. Then just put the lid on the open one after high krausen and see what the differences are.

 

[Sadfield]

Hi!
Sounds like a great idea.
Will you use a spunding valve on the Corny, or monitor pressure manually?

I'll use the spunding valve, although I may keep it on a lower setting initially.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I'm quite sceptical about anything in a closed fermentation chamber getting into an open fermenter. I clean the brewfridge and spray with sanitiser before putting the FV in. Once the yeast begins to produce CO2 there will be a "safe" layer protecting the fermenting wort.

 

[MyQul]

I think we're both on the same page. Nice project if you do it, @jjsh

Of the commercial cultures I was thinking along the lines of Wyeast London Ale III or Ringwood. Culturing is always another option, thanks for the suggestion @terrym. I do have a Harveys Imperial Extra Double Stout that I've been meaning to harvest from.

Where did you buy that from?

 

[Sadfield]

Was given it by a friend a while ago. Although I was looking at the Harvey's website the other day. Wish they would do a split case of the Double Stout and Sussex Best.

https://www.harveys.org.uk/shop/imperial-extra-double-stout/

 

[Dmet]

I believe that both Cantillon and Elgoods only cool the beer overnight in the coolships and then put them into the fementers with what ever yeast has settled. They don't open ferment in the coolships. Elgoods even have oak planks above which drips back down into the beer. I have a couple of pictures which I will post up later.

I have done a fair few brewery tours and it is quite interesting that a lot of older UK brewers brew in open fermentors where as in the USA they are nearly all closed. Then again, it seems the US definition of a coolship is an open fermenter rather than a cooling vessel.

If anyone is interested, Cantillon is having an open brewday on the 17th March.

 

[Saisonator]

Was given it by a friend a while ago. Although I was looking at the Harvey's website the other day. Wish they would do a split case of the Double Stout and Sussex Best.

https://www.harveys.org.uk/shop/imperial-extra-double-stout/

You could always ask.

 

[Simonh82]

Was given it by a friend a while ago. Although I was looking at the Harvey's website the other day. Wish they would do a split case of the Double Stout and Sussex Best.

https://www.harveys.org.uk/shop/imperial-extra-double-stout/

If you want the Harvey's yeast you can get it from Brew Labs. It's their Sussex strain. It's a great yeast. Lots of esters and a bit phenolic at high temps or high gravies.

They apparently use a duel strain with the second one being a weird strain, not usually used in brewing (not a sacc or brett strain).