Posted: 8/24/2024 3:42:47 AM EDT
|
I've brewed between 5-10 all grain beers and all have suffered for "off" flavors, with some being drinkable and some going down the sink. Research has led me to believe my biggest issue is fermentation temperature. Today, I ordered a stainless steel fermenter and a thermowell. I already have an Inkbird controller. Once I get the fermenter and can measure it, I'll buy a small chest freezer to use as a fermentation chamber. I'm a high ABV, dark beer fan, stuff like Imperial Stouts and Barleywines and brewing a good version of each is a long-term goal. For this first beer with temperature controlled fermentation, I'm brewing an American Pale Ale, which is basically a clone of Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale. I'll report back on how much difference, if any, this new equipment makes. |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
| You should not need a controlled temperature fermentation for an APA unless you live in a very hot climate. The vast majority of faults leading to undrinkable beer are related to sanitation. |
It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.
|
Originally Posted By BFskinner: You should not need a controlled temperature fermentation for an APA unless you live in a very hot climate. The vast majority of faults leading to undrinkable beer are related to sanitation. One of the reasons I'm starting with a lighter beer is that the darker beers I like need to age, sometimes for months, so this Pale Ale is something I can drink relatively quickly and find out if off flavors are reduced. I know that based on our house temperature and taking into account the thermic effect of fermentation, I'm probably fermenting, at least initially, in the mid-to-high 70's and the yeasts I've used have all had recommended temps in the 60's. |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
|
Originally Posted By corwin1968: I've mostly brewed dark beers, but the two lighter beers that were comparable to a Pale Ale that I brewed were the best, so it does seem they are more resistant to temperature issues. My darkest beers have been the most problematic. One of the reasons I'm starting with a lighter beer is that the darker beers I like need to age, sometimes for months, so this Pale Ale is something I can drink relatively quickly and find out if off flavors are reduced. I know that based on our house temperature and taking into account the thermic effect of fermentation, I'm probably fermenting, at least initially, in the mid-to-high 70's and the yeasts I've used have all had recommended temps in the 60's. You might look at this guide. If you can find it the Fermentis SafAle US-05 might be able to solve your problems with a lot less hassle than a temperature-controlled fermenter. https://expertbrewing.com/high-temperature-yeast-strains-for-brewing/ It looks like Norther Brewer even carries it. https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/safale-us-05-american-ale-yeast |
It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.
|
I do plan to switch to US-05 for the foreseeable future. I want both the neutral and the temperature aspect of it. If all goes well, I'll brew an American Pale Ale this weekend. It's a slightly modified version of Sierra Nevada's recipe. |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
|
I received my fermenter yesterday and the first temp controlled batch is fermenting! I saw the UPS guy carrying the box to my porch and I thought it was the wrong product. I didn't realize how small a 4-gallon fermenter would be!! Eight gallon brew kettle and four gallon fermenter, sitting on a 5.0 cu/ft chest freezer Attached File Raw ingredients Attached File Strike temperature achieved! Attached File Ready for the grain Attached File Beersmith nailed the strike temp in order to achieve mash temp! Attached File MashingAttached File Ready for the first hop addition. Attached File In the fermenter! Attached File Attached File |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
|
Originally Posted By Skunkape71: Well, how did fermentation go? Building a keezer now.. Think I need to invest in a small freezer as well. It took a bit for fermentation to be visible, but I've never fermented at that low a temperature before. My OG was 1.060 and FG was 1.011 for 6.4% ABV. My set-up was a 5.0 cubic foot freezer with a Fermwrap, which is just a plastic sheet with heating elements built in, loosely surrounding the fermenter. The fermenter is SS with a thermowell extending well in the center of the wort. An Inkbird was the controller. Over two weeks of fermentation, the temperature never varied by more than 1 degree F, which was very impressive to me. I bottled the beer this morning and even flat and at room temperature, it tasted like an American Pale Ale. I can't wait for it to carbonate, get some maturation on it and to get cold, so I can finally see what I've created. Later today, or tomorrow, I'm going to brew a Hazy IPA and if that goes well, I'll tackle something dark, like a barleywine, porter or stout. |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
|
I brewed a New England Hazy IPA yesterday and since I lack a chilling system, I used an ice bath to get it down to around 120 F and then transferred to the fermenter and placed it in the freezer with the Inkbird set at my pitching temperature of 66 F. It took until this morning to reach pitching temperature and it's now fermenting. OG = 1.057 or 1.058. Predicted OG was 1.059. |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
Joined:
Dec 2022
Posts:
788
EE: 100% (42)
SC, USA
|
Looks like a good setup. I've fermented US05 all over the place, and it is definitely temp sensitive. I like 68; I feel it is pretty clean there. I would absolutely not run it into the mid to upper 70's personally. Just some additional comments.... How steady is your mash temp? You could probably hold it better in a cooler converted to be a mashtun. Temp controlled fermentation; very important, you are addressing that. How are you packaging? Cold side oxygen exposure (or lack thereof) is very important for any kind of hop forward beer. Until you can do very low or zero oxygen packaging, in my opinion your quality level on beers of this type will be capped. If you can describe the off flavors and end to end process, it might help. |
|
Originally Posted By corwin1968: I've brewed between 5-10 all grain beers and all have suffered for "off" flavors, with some being drinkable and some going down the sink. Research has led me to believe my biggest issue is fermentation temperature. Today, I ordered a stainless steel fermenter and a thermowell. I already have an Inkbird controller. Once I get the fermenter and can measure it, I'll buy a small chest freezer to use as a fermentation chamber. I'm a high ABV, dark beer fan, stuff like Imperial Stouts and Barleywines and brewing a good version of each is a long-term goal. For this first beer with temperature controlled fermentation, I'm brewing an American Pale Ale, which is basically a clone of Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale. I'll report back on how much difference, if any, this new equipment makes. Professional brewer of 10 yrs here, breweries small, and with national distribution. Anyway, temp control, pitch rate, and basic pH controls are king. There are creative ways to do cooling of a fermentation beyond a fridge/freezer. I am out of brewing at this point, exited the industry for better work/life balance last year. If you want to ask questions. PM me. |
|
Quick update: I screwed up and totally oxidized the Hazy IPA. I put it in a 70 degree fermentation chamber to help with carbonation, but didn't stop to think that 70 degrees is the middle of the wort in the fermenter and the Hazy IPA was in the open, with the fermentation heater right next to it. Way hotter than 70 degrees, I'm sure. It turned a remarkable shade of bronze. Oh well, it was a good Hazy IPA, so I know my processes (other than the bone-headed move of putting it in the fermentation chamber) are good. The American Pale Ale clone, which was the first I brewed with temperature controlled fermentation, came out better than I originally thought. I'm pretty sure it's a recipe problem, not a process problem. I was conservative on the hops and way under hopped, resulting in an overly sweet beer. The malt backbone of an American Pale Ale is there, it's just not balance with any bitterness or hop flavor. Yesterday, I bottled an 8.3% ABV Barleywine. This is the first one I plan to try and wait out. I'll try one every two weeks and see how it ages over the months. Today, I brewed a stout, using the recipe from the Tree House Brewing Yahoo channel. The wort was delicious. I've made this recipe once, but ended up with fusel alcohol/solvent flavor and aroma. Finally, I went back and tested bottles of a SMASH beer and a brown ale that I brewed to guidelines, rather than a recipe. Both are drinkable, which I hadn't thought was the case, earlier. I think my plan is to let the stout ferment and once it's bottled, I'll put all of the other beers (SMASH, brown ale, Barleywine, American Pale Ale) in the freezer at a good refrigerator temperature. Once the stout has had time to carbonate. I'll add it, as well. I've been thinking that I would have better results if I can store finished beer at cooler than room temperatures, but haven't figured out how I might do that, equipment-wise. |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
|
Temp control can make a huge difference if you already have good sanitization dialed in. I used to struggle a lot with good fermentation as my basement temps where I ferement are usually too cool for good ale fermentation and too warm for lagers. started off with a chest freezer with a inkbird and old hair dryer, worked great. I've moved on to a home made glycol chiller and the chest freezer is now a second kegerator. |
Carthago delenda est
Illegitimi non carborundum
Illegitimi non carborundum
|
Originally Posted By Mp40Gunner: I'm assuming you are adjusting your water profile. Having the proper water can have a huge impact on the finished product. I use my well water for brewing and have done water tests to see what I need to add. Yes, all of my recent brews (really most, even from the beginning) I've started with distilled water and adjusted the mineral content using Brewfather. The recent Amber ale I just used tap water and it came out fine. I'm at a point where I'm not getting the off-flavors that were bugging me and my beers are mostly decent, but they lack depth and I'm not sure what to do about that. I just ordered my first all-grain kit (I've been buying my all-grain ingredients at the local brew store, based on recipes I found online). It's a Deschutes Black Butte Porter clone for five gallons of beer. I fell in love with their Imperial version of that beer which was brewed as part of their anniversary and I'm going to brew the five gallon kit as a three gallon batch, with the hops adjusted accordingly. It's a total experiment and I'm fully ready for it to be a total disaster. It will be fun to see how it turns out. Instead of a 5.3% porter, it will be an 8% Imperial Porter. |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
Joined:
Dec 2022
Posts:
1013
EE: 100% (42)
SC, USA
|
Originally Posted By corwin1968: Quick update: I screwed up and totally oxidized the Hazy IPA. I put it in a 70 degree fermentation chamber to help with carbonation, but didn't stop to think that 70 degrees is the middle of the wort in the fermenter and the Hazy IPA was in the open, with the fermentation heater right next to it. Way hotter than 70 degrees, I'm sure. It turned a remarkable shade of bronze. Oh well, it was a good Hazy IPA, so I know my processes (other than the bone-headed move of putting it in the fermentation chamber) are good. The American Pale Ale clone, which was the first I brewed with temperature controlled fermentation, came out better than I originally thought. I'm pretty sure it's a recipe problem, not a process problem. I was conservative on the hops and way under hopped, resulting in an overly sweet beer. The malt backbone of an American Pale Ale is there, it's just not balance with any bitterness or hop flavor. Yesterday, I bottled an 8.3% ABV Barleywine. This is the first one I plan to try and wait out. I'll try one every two weeks and see how it ages over the months. Today, I brewed a stout, using the recipe from the Tree House Brewing Yahoo channel. The wort was delicious. I've made this recipe once, but ended up with fusel alcohol/solvent flavor and aroma. Finally, I went back and tested bottles of a SMASH beer and a brown ale that I brewed to guidelines, rather than a recipe. Both are drinkable, which I hadn't thought was the case, earlier. I think my plan is to let the stout ferment and once it's bottled, I'll put all of the other beers (SMASH, brown ale, Barleywine, American Pale Ale) in the freezer at a good refrigerator temperature. Once the stout has had time to carbonate. I'll add it, as well. I've been thinking that I would have better results if I can store finished beer at cooler than room temperatures, but haven't figured out how I might do that, equipment-wise. Not sure I'm following here, but oxidation comes (99%) from cold side, post-fermentation exposure to the atmosphere. Fermentation temp is an entirely separate topic. Examples of how to pick up oxidation: -Opening your fermenter to take gravity samples/dry hop/whatever you might be doing. -Cold crashing without a pressure capable fermenter; without special considerations this will pull in outside air and you will 100% get oxidation from doing this -Bottling with standard homebrew starter kit equipment, which will have your new beer exposed to the atmosphere for quite a while as you mix with priming solution in a bottling bucket and fill non-purged bottles. Bottle conditioning after this helps, but in my experience/opinion, the quality of your hoppy beers is still capped at decidedly sub optimal by this equipment. Hoppy beers suffer the worst from oxidation. Considering the amount of hops/cost in a NEIPA, personally I would just not do them until you have pressure capable fermenters and kegging equipment that will let you avoid the oxidation with ability to cold crash, transfer, etc, oxygen-free. If a NEIPA has any sort of brown color to it, you're oxidized. You can taste it too. With darker beers, they aren't as susceptible, or at least the results aren't nearly as noticeable, as an oxidized hoppy beer... I believe these are therefore better for relative newbies until they upgrade to better equipment. |
| Pressurized fermentation and closed (pressurized transfers) are awesome for hoppy beers. I used to do mine in 10gal kegs but would just move straight to 15.5gal sanke with a 4” TC top for that with a racking wand/setup built into the top or side. That’s not cheap though….. |
|
Originally Posted By DVCNick: Not sure I'm following here, but oxidation comes (99%) from cold side, post-fermentation exposure to the atmosphere. Fermentation temp is an entirely separate topic. Examples of how to pick up oxidation: -Opening your fermenter to take gravity samples/dry hop/whatever you might be doing. -Cold crashing without a pressure capable fermenter; without special considerations this will pull in outside air and you will 100% get oxidation from doing this -Bottling with standard homebrew starter kit equipment, which will have your new beer exposed to the atmosphere for quite a while as you mix with priming solution in a bottling bucket and fill non-purged bottles. Bottle conditioning after this helps, but in my experience/opinion, the quality of your hoppy beers is still capped at decidedly sub optimal by this equipment. Hoppy beers suffer the worst from oxidation. Considering the amount of hops/cost in a NEIPA, personally I would just not do them until you have pressure capable fermenters and kegging equipment that will let you avoid the oxidation with ability to cold crash, transfer, etc, oxygen-free. If a NEIPA has any sort of brown color to it, you're oxidized. You can taste it too. With darker beers, they aren't as susceptible, or at least the results aren't nearly as noticeable, as an oxidized hoppy beer... I believe these are therefore better for relative newbies until they upgrade to better equipment. Originally Posted By DVCNick: Originally Posted By corwin1968: Quick update: I screwed up and totally oxidized the Hazy IPA. I put it in a 70 degree fermentation chamber to help with carbonation, but didn't stop to think that 70 degrees is the middle of the wort in the fermenter and the Hazy IPA was in the open, with the fermentation heater right next to it. Way hotter than 70 degrees, I'm sure. It turned a remarkable shade of bronze. Oh well, it was a good Hazy IPA, so I know my processes (other than the bone-headed move of putting it in the fermentation chamber) are good. The American Pale Ale clone, which was the first I brewed with temperature controlled fermentation, came out better than I originally thought. I'm pretty sure it's a recipe problem, not a process problem. I was conservative on the hops and way under hopped, resulting in an overly sweet beer. The malt backbone of an American Pale Ale is there, it's just not balance with any bitterness or hop flavor. Yesterday, I bottled an 8.3% ABV Barleywine. This is the first one I plan to try and wait out. I'll try one every two weeks and see how it ages over the months. Today, I brewed a stout, using the recipe from the Tree House Brewing Yahoo channel. The wort was delicious. I've made this recipe once, but ended up with fusel alcohol/solvent flavor and aroma. Finally, I went back and tested bottles of a SMASH beer and a brown ale that I brewed to guidelines, rather than a recipe. Both are drinkable, which I hadn't thought was the case, earlier. I think my plan is to let the stout ferment and once it's bottled, I'll put all of the other beers (SMASH, brown ale, Barleywine, American Pale Ale) in the freezer at a good refrigerator temperature. Once the stout has had time to carbonate. I'll add it, as well. I've been thinking that I would have better results if I can store finished beer at cooler than room temperatures, but haven't figured out how I might do that, equipment-wise. Not sure I'm following here, but oxidation comes (99%) from cold side, post-fermentation exposure to the atmosphere. Fermentation temp is an entirely separate topic. Examples of how to pick up oxidation: -Opening your fermenter to take gravity samples/dry hop/whatever you might be doing. -Cold crashing without a pressure capable fermenter; without special considerations this will pull in outside air and you will 100% get oxidation from doing this -Bottling with standard homebrew starter kit equipment, which will have your new beer exposed to the atmosphere for quite a while as you mix with priming solution in a bottling bucket and fill non-purged bottles. Bottle conditioning after this helps, but in my experience/opinion, the quality of your hoppy beers is still capped at decidedly sub optimal by this equipment. Hoppy beers suffer the worst from oxidation. Considering the amount of hops/cost in a NEIPA, personally I would just not do them until you have pressure capable fermenters and kegging equipment that will let you avoid the oxidation with ability to cold crash, transfer, etc, oxygen-free. If a NEIPA has any sort of brown color to it, you're oxidized. You can taste it too. With darker beers, they aren't as susceptible, or at least the results aren't nearly as noticeable, as an oxidized hoppy beer... I believe these are therefore better for relative newbies until they upgrade to better equipment. Now, if heat doesn't impact oxidation, then it was just a mistaken assumption. |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
Joined:
Dec 2022
Posts:
1024
EE: 100% (42)
SC, USA
|
Originally Posted By corwin1968: My understanding, which is fairly limited because I won't every brew many hoppy beers, is that heat can drastically speed up oxidation. I made a heavily dry-hopped hazy IPA, bottled it and let it sit at room temperature to carbonate. I got impatient and since my freezer/fermenter was in use making beer, I stuck my hazy IPA in there, thinking it might speed up the carbonation process. We keep our house pretty cold. I didn't take into account that the temps I read on my inkbird are NOT the temps in the freezer. They are the temps at the center of my fermenter. So the temp just in the freezer was probably way too high and my bottles were sitting right next to the heating element. Now, if heat doesn't impact oxidation, then it was just a mistaken assumption. Re heat speeding up oxidation: It will, but you still need a source of oxygen, and if your fermenter is closed, there should be none. To demo this, you can do the following; any light macro lager/Bud light etc will work: Pour two into glasses, leave them overnight; one on the counter and the other in the fridge. In the morning, look/taste. Both will be oxidized, but the one out on the counter will be worse. Color will likely be darker, and the "wet cardboard" flavor will be more noticeable than the one left cooler in the fridge. Re bottle conditioning temp: Since bottle conditioning to carbonate with priming sugar is a small fermentation, it needs to be at about room temp to work best. Temp here is not as critical as the primary fermentation; a week or two anywhere from 65 to 75 should be fine. If you have an active fermentation going in a ferm chamber, and your inkbird is hooked to a temp probe in the middle of the beer, the ambient temp inside the chamber should be a few degrees cooler than the center of the beer since the fermentation is generating heat (exception maybe if you're driving the temp way high above what the fermentation could generate, but that should be a pretty extreme corner case unless your basement is really frigid). Once primary fermentation as has slowed to a crawl or stopped, if your outside ambient temp dictates that a heater in the ferm chamber will be needed to keep the temp where you want it, at that point the air inside the chamber will be a little above the center of the beer at times, but either way, it should not be a huge difference. I would expect if you were bottle conditioning in the ferm chamber, that should be fine and if your hazy IPA is oxidized, I would bet it occurred from atmospheric exposure prior to bottling as a massively bigger contributor than the exact temp you bottle conditioned at. Of course once you put bottle conditioning beers in an actual fridge, they will not continue to carbonate further since the fridge temp will cause the yeast to stop whatever they are doing and drop out... you want to give them adequate time to carbonate before doing this. |
|
Originally Posted By DVCNick: Re heat speeding up oxidation: It will, but you still need a source of oxygen, and if your fermenter is closed, there should be none. To demo this, you can do the following; any light macro lager/Bud light etc will work: Pour two into glasses, leave them overnight; one on the counter and the other in the fridge. In the morning, look/taste. Both will be oxidized, but the one out on the counter will be worse. Color will likely be darker, and the "wet cardboard" flavor will be more noticeable than the one left cooler in the fridge. Re bottle conditioning temp: Since bottle conditioning to carbonate with priming sugar is a small fermentation, it needs to be at about room temp to work best. Temp here is not as critical as the primary fermentation; a week or two anywhere from 65 to 75 should be fine. If you have an active fermentation going in a ferm chamber, and your inkbird is hooked to a temp probe in the middle of the beer, the ambient temp inside the chamber should be a few degrees cooler than the center of the beer since the fermentation is generating heat (exception maybe if you're driving the temp way high above what the fermentation could generate, but that should be a pretty extreme corner case unless your basement is really frigid). Once primary fermentation as has slowed to a crawl or stopped, if your outside ambient temp dictates that a heater in the ferm chamber will be needed to keep the temp where you want it, at that point the air inside the chamber will be a little above the center of the beer at times, but either way, it should not be a huge difference. I would expect if you were bottle conditioning in the ferm chamber, that should be fine and if your hazy IPA is oxidized, I would bet it occurred from atmospheric exposure prior to bottling as a massively bigger contributor than the exact temp you bottle conditioned at. Of course once you put bottle conditioning beers in an actual fridge, they will not continue to carbonate further since the fridge temp will cause the yeast to stop whatever they are doing and drop out... you want to give them adequate time to carbonate before doing this. Originally Posted By DVCNick: Originally Posted By corwin1968: My understanding, which is fairly limited because I won't every brew many hoppy beers, is that heat can drastically speed up oxidation. I made a heavily dry-hopped hazy IPA, bottled it and let it sit at room temperature to carbonate. I got impatient and since my freezer/fermenter was in use making beer, I stuck my hazy IPA in there, thinking it might speed up the carbonation process. We keep our house pretty cold. I didn't take into account that the temps I read on my inkbird are NOT the temps in the freezer. They are the temps at the center of my fermenter. So the temp just in the freezer was probably way too high and my bottles were sitting right next to the heating element. Now, if heat doesn't impact oxidation, then it was just a mistaken assumption. Re heat speeding up oxidation: It will, but you still need a source of oxygen, and if your fermenter is closed, there should be none. To demo this, you can do the following; any light macro lager/Bud light etc will work: Pour two into glasses, leave them overnight; one on the counter and the other in the fridge. In the morning, look/taste. Both will be oxidized, but the one out on the counter will be worse. Color will likely be darker, and the "wet cardboard" flavor will be more noticeable than the one left cooler in the fridge. Re bottle conditioning temp: Since bottle conditioning to carbonate with priming sugar is a small fermentation, it needs to be at about room temp to work best. Temp here is not as critical as the primary fermentation; a week or two anywhere from 65 to 75 should be fine. If you have an active fermentation going in a ferm chamber, and your inkbird is hooked to a temp probe in the middle of the beer, the ambient temp inside the chamber should be a few degrees cooler than the center of the beer since the fermentation is generating heat (exception maybe if you're driving the temp way high above what the fermentation could generate, but that should be a pretty extreme corner case unless your basement is really frigid). Once primary fermentation as has slowed to a crawl or stopped, if your outside ambient temp dictates that a heater in the ferm chamber will be needed to keep the temp where you want it, at that point the air inside the chamber will be a little above the center of the beer at times, but either way, it should not be a huge difference. I would expect if you were bottle conditioning in the ferm chamber, that should be fine and if your hazy IPA is oxidized, I would bet it occurred from atmospheric exposure prior to bottling as a massively bigger contributor than the exact temp you bottle conditioned at. Of course once you put bottle conditioning beers in an actual fridge, they will not continue to carbonate further since the fridge temp will cause the yeast to stop whatever they are doing and drop out... you want to give them adequate time to carbonate before doing this.  It was the only one that I would compare favorably to a good store bought hazy. I don't see myself investing in the equipment for a completely closed system, so I probably won't do another dry hopped beer. |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
|
I finally invested in kegging equipment and it's re-ignited my interest in brewing. The last beer I bottled was an Amber ale and it's not too bad! My first kegged beer is that Black Butte Porter kit, again, with some additions and brewed as a three gallon batch. It ended up being an 8% ABV Imperial Porter. I brewed and fermented it and then it just sat in my fermenter at temp. The thought of bottling it just prevented me from moving forward. Finally, after 40 days on yeast, I bought a keg and transferred it. A week or two later, I bought a CO2 tank, regulator and all the misc. stuff needed to hook it up. I started carbonating at 12 psi on Tuesday afternoon and I check it every day, to see the progress. I chose not to force carbonate and just let it do it's thing. The beer is most definately drinkable but still has at least one flaw that I can't ID. It may well be a recipe flaw, rather than a process flaw. My tastes have changed from huge, sweet, syrupy stouts to regular porters, so that's what I plan to brew next. Just a straight, 5.5% ABV English Porter. It will be awhile because the water temp is so high, I'm going to have a hard time bringing the wort down to pitching temperature. |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
|
Originally Posted By corwin1968: I finally invested in kegging equipment and it's re-ignited my interest in brewing. The last beer I bottled was an Amber ale and it's not too bad! My first kegged beer is that Black Butte Porter kit, again, with some additions and brewed as a three gallon batch. It ended up being an 8% ABV Imperial Porter. I brewed and fermented it and then it just sat in my fermenter at temp. The thought of bottling it just prevented me from moving forward. Finally, after 40 days on yeast, I bought a keg and transferred it. A week or two later, I bought a CO2 tank, regulator and all the misc. stuff needed to hook it up. I started carbonating at 12 psi on Tuesday afternoon and I check it every day, to see the progress. I chose not to force carbonate and just let it do it's thing. The beer is most definately drinkable but still has at least one flaw that I can't ID. It may well be a recipe flaw, rather than a process flaw. My tastes have changed from huge, sweet, syrupy stouts to regular porters, so that's what I plan to brew next. Just a straight, 5.5% ABV English Porter. It will be awhile because the water temp is so high, I'm going to have a hard time bringing the wort down to pitching temperature. As far as chilling, I'm in Oklahoma and on a well.. Water is still pretty warm. I still use my immersion chiller, but I use a 48qt ice chest, and fill it about 5in deep with water. I bought a little pond/aquarium pump, and connected it to my IM, with the return line going back into the ice chest. I have 8-10 gallon water jugs filled and frozen in the deep freeze, I can fit 4 in it, and get the water circulating. Usually gets me to low-mid 90F once all of the ice is melted. Switch out to fresh frozen jugs, and that will get me down to pitching temp. |