Clarification for a low-flocculating yeast

Question

Clarification for a low-flocculating yeast

Ray

2016年12月9日 21:29

I'm brewing a batch using WY2565 Kolsch which mentions that is low-flocculating and that it "remain in suspension post fermentation. It requires filtration or additional settling time to produce bright beers."

I was planning to rack to secondary and add finings as mentioned in another post (I did not mention the yeast I was using). In one response, it was brought up that using fresh and healthy yeast mitigates the need for these extra measures.

In my case, I had purchased the yeast just the day prior to brewing, and LHBS had received it that same day. The wort was very well aerated, which I understand should help give me healthy yeast. With that information, is it going to be necessary to take measures to drop the yeast out? If so, how should I deal with it? Some sort of finings such as gelatin? Cold-crash? The Wyeast profile mentions filtration--I'm not too familiar with that process; is that something I should look into? Or is the additional settling time mentioned sufficient?

Topic clarity techniques beer homebrew

Category Mac

brewchez · Accepted Answer · 2011年9月2日 01:03

I make a brilliant Kolsch with a good healthy starter of yeast to begin with, and a good cold crash after fermentation is done. The yeast is a low flocculator for sure, but the cold lagering phase takes care of the suspension for me. No finings needed.

But if you want to accelerate the process, finings could help.

pjreddie · Accepted Answer · 2011年9月1日 21:11

Generally filtration systems are a little complex and unnecessary for the average homebrewer, although there are plenty of sites that help you make your own systems if you so choose. Unless you already are kegging and thus have CO2 lying around to force the beer through filters, I would put that option aside for now.

I think your best bet is a combination of cold-crashing and using gelatin as a fining. 1 tsp of gelatin dissolved in hot water then added to secondary will help flocculate out yeast, as will a couple days in the fridge.

Since the yeast is low-flocculating, you can't just get the yeast to the bottom, you have to make sure it stays there as well. Any jarring or movement of the container will cause the finely settled yeast to stir up into your beer again. I would add the gelatin and put it in the fridge, then take it out after a couple of days and let it sit on a high table with the lid already open but still sitting on top. Let it sit there for an hour or two to let any yeast resettle after the move, then siphon off the beer into your bottling bucket or what have you.

As to the question of yeast health, it's not just the age of the yeast but the pitching rates as well. Using a starter will dramatically improve pitching rates, giving you better results all around. John Palmer has a good section on starters here.

Clarification for a low-flocculating yeast

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