G'day all - a question on brightness and clarity. I've started fermenting a kolsch using Wyeast 1007, which doesn't floc easily. I intend to fix this by adding finings at the start of the conditioning - as I drop the temp it should help the solids fall out of suspension and into the trub. Am I on the right track here? Edit: I should add this is mine and my brother's first go at an extract brew, after years of …
In this question defining cold crashing, there is some discussion of ramping the temperature down slowly over a long time, but then says quicker cold crashing is possible if the beer has already completed fermentation. In this question, I'd like to explore an appropriate, quick, and effective cold crash technique on an ale that's had plenty of time to ferment and "clean-up". And for this example, the purpose of cold crashing is primarily for settling. Given the carboy is in …
According to "How to Brew" by John Palmer (4th ed.), cold conditioning (a.k.a. lagering) is the act of cooling beer after fermentation has completed (including maturation) in order to clarify the beer. So far so good. The book also suggests to slowly decrease the temperature (down to 1 °C/day!) to avoid thermal shock on the yeast: The point of slow cooling is to prevent thermal shock of the yeast and subsequent excretion of fatty acids and other lipids. These lipids …
So I cold crashed and force carbed a saison recently, but after trying a glass I realized that it might be a little young and too funky. I took the keg out of the fridge and let it warm to room temperature. Will the yeast in the keg still be viable and able to clean up their mess a little? For reference I used White labs WLP590, french saison yeast. Also is there any issue with warming the beer so …
First attempt at home brew. Not sure what to look for. My brewing time line so far is: 28 days in fermenter tank. Bottled at room temp for 36 days. Put in fridge yesterday, 24 hours refrigerated so far. Questions: Bottles have small rafts floating on top, will those settle? How long should I leave in fridge before trying? Thx Ken
I am bottle-conditioning and storing beer in a storage room with temperatures reaching as low as -5°C (significantly below the freezing temperature of water). There are few sudden changes in temperature, and the beer itself does not seem to freeze inside the bottles. Already-carbonated beer that has been left there as the temperature have fallen tastes fine, but I am curious however as to what impact these kind of temperatures have on the beer - especially since I now want …
I brewed up the Grapefruit Sultan from Midwest on 12/7 and I'm facing a bottling predicament. As it stands fermentation is complete and the yeast are just cleaning up. No plans to secondary, and I'll be dry hopping in primary. Due to the holidays we have to head out on 12/22 and won't return until 1/1. Considering dry hopping this beer 12/17, and bottling it 12/21. Is it too soon to bottle this one, or should I just let it …
I'm thinking of buying a CO2 bulb and holder to fit a 25 litre keg. I have the right cap to fit one. Am I right in thinking the only purpose is to stop air ingress through the tap (that would cause taints) ? Or will it also contribute to carbonation ? I use honey or brew sugar for priming in the keg. Beer is fairly fizzy when it comes out but goes still quite quickly.
If you happen to be out of priming sugar, but really want to bottle your beer, what are the alternatives? Let's assume a 5 gallon batch that's fully fermented - call it 1.010-1.014.
I boiled an IPA last weekend, and am getting ready to rack it to a secondary, for dry hopping. I understand the 1-2-3 rule (and follow it regularly, with good results). Is two weeks sufficient for 1.065 OG IPA? or should I let it go longer? If yes, how long? (I don't want to wait forever! Getting thirsty!)
I'm brewing a Belgian Pale Ale on Monday (12). It's my first time and using BeerSmith has been of great help. These last few days have filled me with a whole lot of doubts though. After fermantation is done (2-3 days with the same FG value) I'm gonna drop temperature down to 10 °C for maturation. On Beersmith it says under Carbonation and Storage tab that keg/bottling temperature is 21,1 °C, carbonation used is about 175 g DME, aging time …
I've recently been reading the labels a bit more on one of my favourite beers and have discovered that the brewers bottle condition their Pale Ale. Yet it's sold with no signs of any flocculated yeast in the purchased product. How is this possible? Is some sacrifice made to prevent the sediment? Can I do this at home?
More reading - this time about bottle conditioning. If my yeast attenuation level is say 80%, does that mean there would be enough sugars in the bottle for the yeast to carb the beer? Or would priming sugar still need to be added... Thanks in advance!
I've got a batch of beer which was bottled last Saturday and a friend insisted I should shake them to assist in the conditioning. He couldn't offer any particular reason, so I was curious if/when it should be done. If it matters, these bottles were batch-primed (I thought he may be thinking of ensuring all sugar is dissolved if it's bottle-primed).
I'm getting ready to try kegging for the first time and I'm wondering how much conditioning time might be lost in the process (assuming the keg is refrigerated and force-carbonated immediately after filling). When bottling the beer gets another couple of weeks or more at room temperature to further condition/age. When kegging the lower temperatures will likely be inhibiting this some, if not entirely, which makes me wonder if I should leave it in the fermenter longer than normal. Assuming …
Looking for information on adding citrus (lime, lemon, grapefruit, etc) juice at kegging to make a shandy. I have made several fruit beers by adding fruit juice, actual fruit, zest, and even flavored liquors to the secondary. I would like to make an actual shandy for the summer. I toured Miller in Milwaukee a couple years ago and the Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy was super, super lemony at the brewery. I asked about that and was told that is because the …
I have been in the habit of leaving my beers in their primary fermenter for three weeks across the board, which is a significant amount of time longer than their primary fermentation usually takes. My rationale is that this gives the yeast time to start cleaning up any off flavours and by-products prior to me bottling the batch. How long does this secondary process actually take? Given that I give the beer three weeks to carb and condition after bottling, …
I made a coopers classic IPA beer kit with a hop tea (about 5min boil), tin of light malt extract and 500g of light spray malt. I forgot to add water to the airlock in the first 4 days of fermentation (hoping that was ok though, it was inside and the kit yeast looked pretty happy after hydrating it). Fermentation was kept stable at about 19 degrees Celsius. Anyway, I just tasted the beer going into the keg and it …
Although tanin gives an unpleasant astringent effect in beers, in wines - also, but - it is known as antioxidant and protector against UV light. So, in beers can tanins also be welcome at least considering aging ? Or hops react to O2 and light more quickly than tanins ?