Cold Enough For Clean Fermentation?

Minbari said:
Apple and plastic is from acetaldehyde. tied to yeast health and ending fermentation too soon. You always want to let the beer sit for a few days after active fermentation is done.
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Not all apple flavors are consider "bad". American lagers are famous for a red apple flavor which is caused by ethyl hexanoate. Acetaldehyde has a characteristic green apple flavor, more vegetal and not pleasant at all. The red apple character can add a pleasant background to the malt. Most people don't pick up on it until it's pointed out.

Less experienced judges will call all apple flavors in lager beers as caused by acetaldehyde, which frustrating when some beers (American Lager) actually are expected to have some level of red apple.

I'll get off my soap box now, it just pisses me off when judges expect American lagers to be as clean as German lagers. They're not.
 
HighVoltageMan! said:
Not all apple flavors are consider "bad". American lagers are famous for a red apple flavor which is caused by ethyl hexanoate. Acetaldehyde has a characteristic green apple flavor, more vegetal and not pleasant at all. The red apple character can add a pleasant background to the malt. Most people don't pick up on it until it's pointed out.

Less experienced judges will call all apple flavors in lager beers as caused by acetaldehyde, which frustrating when some beers (American Lager) actually are expected to have some level of red apple.

I'll get off my soap box now, it just pisses me off when judges expect American lagers to be as clean as German lagers. They're not.
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ya, pilsner urquel has a nice red apple and sulfur note. both would be off flavours in most styles.

with the addition of the plastic flavor., prolly the bad one.
 
Minbari said:
Apple and plastic is from acetaldehyde. tied to yeast health and ending fermentation too soon. You always want to let the beer sit for a few days after active fermentation is done.
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I know a true statement when I see one! Never felt bad about leaving a brew to sit a few days after active ferment. Also a full 3 weeks in the bottle and sometimes 6-8. Time can be such a good friend when brewing.
 
Daniel Parshley said:
I know a true statement when I see one! Never felt bad about leaving a brew to sit a few days after active ferment. Also a full 3 weeks in the bottle and sometimes 6-8. Time can be such a good friend when brewing.
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This.

Given time, yeast can work wonders.
 
the_goat_Birdman said:
It tastes pretty clean, although it smells like a fruit bomb. I will use W34/70 exclusively on my German lagers. I pitched 2 packs of S-23 on a 1.055 wort. Didn't do any pitch calculations....will do in the future. I am going to take your advice and relax a bit. Surely it can't be that bad..... ;)
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I normally go the equivalent of 2 in my ales. I pitch 4 of the 34/70s in my lagers. Lagers have basically double the pitch rate.
The new White Labs Pure Pitch is basically 2 packs in one container for cheaper. They must have had me in mind:)
I had issues with some things when I was doing extract. The big pitch became habit after that and from talking to an English brewer at a bar one night.
The beer has been brewed. Good, bad or indifferent, there is not a damn thing you can do about it at this point except learn.
I had a wife pass from cancer in May. I miss her dearly , but I can't bring her back. Same premise. I can only learn how to deal with it, cope, and move forward.
 
Sandy Feet said:
I normally go the equivalent of 2 in my ales. I pitch 4 of the 34/70s in my lagers. Lagers have basically double the pitch rate.
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@the_goat_Birdman I too pitch the equivalent of 4 packs. I actually buy 34/70 by the brick because it is cheaper and I use it for damn near everything these days :) I vacuum seal packs of 30, 40 and 50 grams. The least I have pitched for a lager is 3 packs (33 grams) and only when below 1.050. I'd say this is most likely your cause.

I do only pitch 1 pack in some ales (like hefeweizen for instance) - recently fell in love with Mangrove Jack's M20 Hefe yeast! It took way too long to find a decent dry yeast for German Wheat Beers!
 
To all ->

Fermentation finished completely today. Starting at 1.057 and finishing at 1.012, I got a slightly bigger schwarzbier than expected: slight fruit character, but overall pairs nicely with the chocolate and malty caramel notes. Very drinkable for a 6% beer, and after gelatin finings it dropped clear. Slight problem with bottling, for I have no way to prevent yeast sediment from gathering during lagering before submitting it to the competition, but I will figure it out.

I think next time I will listen to yall and stick to 34/70.
 

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the_goat_Birdman said:
To all ->

Fermentation finished completely today. Starting at 1.057 and finishing at 1.012, I got a slightly bigger schwarzbier than expected: slight fruit character, but overall pairs nicely with the chocolate and malty caramel notes. Very drinkable for a 6% beer, and after gelatin finings it dropped clear. Slight problem with bottling, for I have no way to prevent yeast sediment from gathering during lagering before submitting it to the competition, but I will figure it out.

I think next time I will listen to yall and stick to 34/70.
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Just make a note that it was bottle conditioned, the judge(s) will know to pour gingerly.
 
the_goat_Birdman said:
To all ->

Fermentation finished completely today. Starting at 1.057 and finishing at 1.012, I got a slightly bigger schwarzbier than expected: slight fruit character, but overall pairs nicely with the chocolate and malty caramel notes. Very drinkable for a 6% beer, and after gelatin finings it dropped clear. Slight problem with bottling, for I have no way to prevent yeast sediment from gathering during lagering before submitting it to the competition, but I will figure it out.

I think next time I will listen to yall and stick to 34/70.
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Most competitions assume the yeast is not to be roused when pouring. Hazys or Hefeweitzens excepted usually.
 
the_goat_Birdman said:
Hi all,

Making a schwarzbier with S-23 for a local competition. After a 72-hour lag time, fermentation took off after I warmed the wort up a little by leaving it in my warm garage. It was initially around 42F and after warming up it was about 50 degrees, which is low but near the recommended range. I have left it to go for a day now in my keezer, set to 50F. A sample I pulled this evening smelled off like some previous batches that fermented too warm, but the fermenter temp was 50F. It tasted fine, not at all funky, just very sweet, so fermentation has a long way to go.

Where should I set my probe to ensure it is cold enough for clean fermentation? As of now I have it on the top of the fermenter in the airspace, which was reading 60F. It has now been cooled to 45F. I also set my Inkbird to 45F, because I know yeast likes to warm up the environment when fermentation begins.

Let me know!
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Suggest you look into getting a TILT hydrometer. It floats in the fermenting wort and gives you constant readout via Bluetooth of temperature and specific gravity
 
Frank Beebe said:
Suggest you look into getting a TILT hydrometer. It floats in the fermenting wort and gives you constant readout via Bluetooth of temperature and specific gravitY
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I have considered it. Perhaps for my own birthday....
 
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