W34/70 not packing down

[RGeats]

I've got a peroni clone which is cold crashing before kegging, but the yeast doesn't seem to be packing down very well. Its W34/70. I've not had this before, is it normal for this yeast? Anything I can do to help it pack down before kegging? Thinking I'll either pull some across into the keg or lose some volume.

Any advice?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

You've got two problems - one is that water for lagers generally doesn't have much calcium, which is needed for good flocculation. Tweaking it up a bit may help, even at this stage - how much calcium did you have in your mash water?

And 34/70 is not the greatest flocculator in the world - WLP800 is better, and also Mangrove Jack M54 although I've not tried it. Adding a little Notty/Wilko will help drop it, although obviously means you have a mixed culture if you want to reuse it.

 

[RGeats]

Ah OK interesting about the calcium. I didn't measure this time but previously its been about 35ppm. Would you add any in the form of CaCl or gypsum now?

I'll bear in mind about the choice of yeast for next time. I was only following the recipe so didn't think too much about it.

Thank you for your reply I appreciate it.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Ah OK interesting about the calcium. I didn't measure this time but previously its been about 35ppm. Would you add any in the form of CaCl or gypsum now?

To be honest it doesn't make too much difference as you only need a gram or so of either to get up to 50ppm. In theory you'd prefer extra sulphate for a more bitter lager like a pilsner and extra chloride for something like a helles, but I'd probably go for chloride regardless as it's such a small amount and chloride is easier to dissolve.

You can still add a bit of Nottingham or Wilko ale yeast to help co-flocculate it, even at this stage.