Brewed the Baltic Porter with Les last weekend (1.090 OG).
Brewing 10 gallons of American Amber at the moment, hopped generously with Falconers Flight 7 C's, Centennial, and Simcoe.
Have a Falconer's IPA on tap, along with a Saison made with the infamous 565 Dupont strain (1.004 FG), a Belgian Tripel, Makers Mark RIS, Belgian Single with Peaches, and Belgian Single with house Belgian Strain.
Need to get rid of some of those on tap to make room in my fermentation fridge and get on some Lagers!
Brewed an American Barleywine yesterday (1.106 SG) and 10 gallons of Berliner Weiss the weekend before. I hope the Berliner is ready for the July meeting!
Brewed an Imperial/Double American India Pale Ale, our first, on Sunday. Starting OG was about 1.089 with about 12 ounces of various hops in the boil. Racked it on top of the yeast cake from an ESB. We'll try it at the May meeting along with my presentation on Imperial IPAs.
Brewed a Wee Heavy on Saturday; was glad I hit my target gravity of 1.105 after a 3 hour boil... Should be drinking good by this fall. After the success of other split batches (did a Pale split of Belgian w/ Pacific Jade hops and American w/ Zythos hops recently) will be looking to do another 10 gallon split to replenish the drafts.
FYI...The subject of transferring to a secondary ferementation vessel to avoid yeast autolysis (aka death) has come up several times in the past few months at the Brewmasters meetings. I have been a strong advocate of never transferring to a secondary fermenter as the risk of oxidation is considerably higher than the risk of autolysis. I have had several high gravity beers age in the primary fermenter on the trub and yeast cake for over a year and have never had an issue. Assuming you take the steps necessary to ensure a healthy fermentation, autolysis should never be an issue. The following was copied from a thread of questions on the AHA's "Ask the Experts" posed to John Palmer, and his response supports this view as well.
Per John Palmer: When and why would you need to use a secondary fermenter? First some background – I used to recommend racking a beer to a secondary fermenter. My recommendation was based on the premise that (20 years ago) larger (higher gravity) beers took longer to ferment completely, and that getting the beer off the yeast reduced the risk of yeast autolysis (ie., meaty or rubbery off-flavors) and it allowed more time for flocculation and clarification, reducing the amount of yeast and trub carryover to the bottle. Twenty years ago, a homebrewed beer typically had better flavor, or perhaps less risk of off-flavors, if it was racked off the trub and clarified before bottling. Today that is not the case.
The risk inherent to any beer transfer, whether it is fermenter-to-fermenter or fermenter-to-bottles, is oxidation and staling. Any oxygen exposure after fermentation will lead to staling, and the more exposure, and the warmer the storage temperature, the faster the beer will go stale.
Racking to a secondary fermenter used to be recommended because staling was simply a fact of life – like death and taxes. But the risk of autolysis was real and worth avoiding – like cholera. In other words, you know you are going to die eventually, but death by cholera is worth avoiding.
But then modern medicine appeared, or in our case, better yeast and better yeast-handling information. Suddenly, death by autolysis is rare for a beer because of two factors: the freshness and health of the yeast being pitched has drastically improved, and proper pitching rates are better understood. The yeast no longer drop dead and burst like Mr. Creosote from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life when fermentation is complete – they are able to hibernate and wait for the next fermentation to come around. The beer has time to clarify in the primary fermenter without generating off-flavors. With autolysis no longer a concern, staling becomes the main problem. The shelf life of a beer can be greatly enhanced by avoiding oxygen exposure and storing the beer cold (after it has had time to carbonate).
Therefore I, and Jamil and White Labs and Wyeast Labs, do not recommend racking to a secondary fermenter for ANY ale, except when conducting an actual second fermentation, such as adding fruit or souring. Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary, and therefore the risk of oxidation is completely avoidable. Even lagers do not require racking to a second fermenter before lagering. With the right pitching rate, using fresh healthy yeast, and proper aeration of the wort prior to pitching, the fermentation of the beer will be complete within 3-8 days (bigger = longer). This time period includes the secondary or conditioning phase of fermentation when the yeast clean up acetaldehyde and diacetyl. The real purpose of lagering a beer is to use the colder temperatures to encourage the yeast to flocculate and promote the precipitation and sedimentation of microparticles and haze.
So, the new rule of thumb: don’t rack a beer to a secondary, ever, unless you are going to conduct a secondary fermentation.
Brewed a Saison a week ago and she's open fermenting at the moment around 75 degrees (started @ 65) and brewing a Belgian Tripel this weekend. Think I'm going to keg a Raspberry Berliner Weiss today have an Orange Blossom Mead to bottle soon. Too much beer stuff to do and not enough time!
I have my first brew in Georgia merrily fermenting...a clone of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale but with California Ale Yeast, not 1056. Should be ready by Super Bowl. When will the calendar be updated?
I made a watermelon wheat ale about six or eight weeks ago, and for some strange reason I added two jalapenos to the puree. What I have now is a strange but not unpleasant jalapeno beer with a sweet finish!
On Tap:
ReplyDelete1.Pliny the Toddler session IPA
2.Zombie Love Potion #666 Imperial PA
3. Little Dickens Cider
4. open
Aging:
Spinal Tap (American Strong Ale)
Fermenting:
Belgian Wit Trash
Apple Berry Cider w/ Pasteur Red wine yeast (1 gal)
Apple Berry Cider w/ Montrachet wine yeast (1 gal)
Apple Cranberry Ginger Cider w/ Pasteur Red wine yeast (1 gal)
Apple Cranberry Ginger Cider w/ Montrachet wine yeast (1 gal)
Next batch:
Porter for club barrel project
Brewed the Baltic Porter with Les last weekend (1.090 OG).
ReplyDeleteBrewing 10 gallons of American Amber at the moment, hopped generously with Falconers Flight 7 C's, Centennial, and Simcoe.
Have a Falconer's IPA on tap, along with a Saison made with the infamous 565 Dupont strain (1.004 FG), a Belgian Tripel, Makers Mark RIS, Belgian Single with Peaches, and Belgian Single with house Belgian Strain.
Need to get rid of some of those on tap to make room in my fermentation fridge and get on some Lagers!
Brewed an American Barleywine yesterday (1.106 SG) and 10 gallons of Berliner Weiss the weekend before. I hope the Berliner is ready for the July meeting!
ReplyDeleteBrewed an Imperial/Double American India Pale Ale, our first, on Sunday. Starting OG was about 1.089 with about 12 ounces of various hops in the boil. Racked it on top of the yeast cake from an ESB. We'll try it at the May meeting along with my presentation on Imperial IPAs.
ReplyDeleteBrewed a Wee Heavy on Saturday; was glad I hit my target gravity of 1.105 after a 3 hour boil... Should be drinking good by this fall. After the success of other split batches (did a Pale split of Belgian w/ Pacific Jade hops and American w/ Zythos hops recently) will be looking to do another 10 gallon split to replenish the drafts.
ReplyDeleteFYI...The subject of transferring to a secondary ferementation vessel to avoid yeast autolysis (aka death) has come up several times in the past few months at the Brewmasters meetings. I have been a strong advocate of never transferring to a secondary fermenter as the risk of oxidation is considerably higher than the risk of autolysis. I have had several high gravity beers age in the primary fermenter on the trub and yeast cake for over a year and have never had an issue. Assuming you take the steps necessary to ensure a healthy fermentation, autolysis should never be an issue. The following was copied from a thread of questions on the AHA's "Ask the Experts" posed to John Palmer, and his response supports this view as well.
ReplyDeletePer John Palmer:
When and why would you need to use a secondary fermenter? First some background – I used to recommend racking a beer to a secondary fermenter. My recommendation was based on the premise that (20 years ago) larger (higher gravity) beers took longer to ferment completely, and that getting the beer off the yeast reduced the risk of yeast autolysis (ie., meaty or rubbery off-flavors) and it allowed more time for flocculation and clarification, reducing the amount of yeast and trub carryover to the bottle. Twenty years ago, a homebrewed beer typically had better flavor, or perhaps less risk of off-flavors, if it was racked off the trub and clarified before bottling. Today that is not the case.
The risk inherent to any beer transfer, whether it is fermenter-to-fermenter or fermenter-to-bottles, is oxidation and staling. Any oxygen exposure after fermentation will lead to staling, and the more exposure, and the warmer the storage temperature, the faster the beer will go stale.
Racking to a secondary fermenter used to be recommended because staling was simply a fact of life – like death and taxes. But the risk of autolysis was real and worth avoiding – like cholera. In other words, you know you are going to die eventually, but death by cholera is worth avoiding.
But then modern medicine appeared, or in our case, better yeast and better yeast-handling information. Suddenly, death by autolysis is rare for a beer because of two factors: the freshness and health of the yeast being pitched has drastically improved, and proper pitching rates are better understood. The yeast no longer drop dead and burst like Mr. Creosote from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life when fermentation is complete – they are able to hibernate and wait for the next fermentation to come around. The beer has time to clarify in the primary fermenter without generating off-flavors. With autolysis no longer a concern, staling becomes the main problem. The shelf life of a beer can be greatly enhanced by avoiding oxygen exposure and storing the beer cold (after it has had time to carbonate).
Therefore I, and Jamil and White Labs and Wyeast Labs, do not recommend racking to a secondary fermenter for ANY ale, except when conducting an actual second fermentation, such as adding fruit or souring. Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary, and therefore the risk of oxidation is completely avoidable. Even lagers do not require racking to a second fermenter before lagering. With the right pitching rate, using fresh healthy yeast, and proper aeration of the wort prior to pitching, the fermentation of the beer will be complete within 3-8 days (bigger = longer). This time period includes the secondary or conditioning phase of fermentation when the yeast clean up acetaldehyde and diacetyl. The real purpose of lagering a beer is to use the colder temperatures to encourage the yeast to flocculate and promote the precipitation and sedimentation of microparticles and haze.
So, the new rule of thumb: don’t rack a beer to a secondary, ever, unless you are going to conduct a secondary fermentation.
Brewed a Saison a week ago and she's open fermenting at the moment around 75 degrees (started @ 65) and brewing a Belgian Tripel this weekend. Think I'm going to keg a Raspberry Berliner Weiss today have an Orange Blossom Mead to bottle soon. Too much beer stuff to do and not enough time!
ReplyDeleteI have my first brew in Georgia merrily fermenting...a clone of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale but with California Ale Yeast, not 1056. Should be ready by Super Bowl. When will the calendar be updated?
ReplyDeleteSteve Maitland maitlandlaw@att.net
I made a watermelon wheat ale about six or eight weeks ago, and for some strange reason I added two jalapenos to the puree. What I have now is a strange but not unpleasant jalapeno beer with a sweet finish!
ReplyDelete