New ferm chamber. Need advice on time & temps
Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:47 am
So I'm still still a bit of a NooBrewer but I've done my reading and how-to video watching and feel like I have a pretty good handle on first principles across the board.
What I'm learning about now is how to manage my process using my new whiz-bang fermentation chamber (chest freezer) with an Inkbird 310b (12 step) temp controller. I also have the Mangrove Jacks Heat Pad ready to go. More on that in a minute. My goal in modifying my process is motivated by some good brews so far in my first year of all-graining but most with a bit of off flavours that I'm more critical of than others. I know I can do better and although I know there's a lot of variables at play, I'm trying to remove temp control as one of them. So here we are.
Recipe:
I'm doing a 6G BIAB Ale using a bunch of leftover and forgotten stuff in case my new equipment beguiles and befuddles me. Hopefully I'll cry less.
Grain = 4.87kg (3.631 2 row, 228g cara pils, 908g munich, 50g oats, 50g rye)
Hops = 60m 16g Amarillo 8.6% | 45m 6g Centenial 10.3% | 25m 8g Citra 12.4% | 10m 8g Simcoe 12% | 1m 14g Citra @12.4%
I had a bunch of leftover hops and just decided to chuck em all in. Knowing that my OG on my last batch of this recipe was about 1.045 I tossed in a bit of corn sugar during the boil and sparged like a samurai (their sparge technique is a little known feature of their awesomeness, true story...) and got to a starting gravity of about 1.058.
I pitched one pack of White labs California Ale that was 20 days past it's BB date @17C and set it into the chamber at a target temp of 18, with a 0.3C cold kick in and 1.5C hot shut off. Theoretically that should mean my temp should be stable between 17.7 and 19.5.
Observations:
Day 1 (Oct 25) - Crickets. Paranoia about expired yeast and too low a temp. Action: bump up the temp range about a degree and a half.
Day 2 - More crickets. Action: procure kleenex for tears.
Day 3 - Got my head down into the ferment chamber to check temp sticker on bucket and accidentally vaped the largest single dose of CO2 i've ever experienced. Gas-induced tears from sinus trauma mixed with tears of joy.
Days 4- 7 (today) - I continued to tweak by 0.2-0.5C the set value of the temp controller to try and keep the reading at 18. The temp probe is on the (out)side of the bucket 3/4 down. A small thermometer is on the freezer "shelf" a few inches above that. A brew thermometer from Noble Grape is in a pitcher of star-san to mimic the beer temp. The probe consistently reports a temp of 17.8-18.2 per my adjustments. The small thermo reads 19. The brew thermo says 20-22 and I have found it to be an outlier during my mash measuring as well. I'm close to concluding it sucks but I have no reliable objective way of knowing "truth" so treat it like the junkie it is and keep giving it another chance to do what it says it's going to do. But I digress.
The last few batches I've done I skipped racking to a secondary. Party because I wanted to try the Coopers DIY Carbonation Drops (rock sugar) for bottle conditioning, thus making a bulk prime unnecessary and partly because I had a suspicion that I was oxidizing. I've since read from and spoken to tonnes of righteous minded folks who scoff at that and I understand there's some thoughts on all sides on that one.
I haven't done a gravity reading yet because I'm paranoid, fearful and superstitious and just don't want to frig with anything just yet. There's still activity in the air lock as well.
My questions now are:
1) How long should I expect the yeast to stay in suspension at this rate? My concern is that they'll start to finish up nd during a kick-on of the cooling will get shocked out of suspension. To counter that and as a segue to my next step:
2) I intend to allow a gradual warm up to 19, 20 etc as primary turns to secondary (irrespective of whether I do or don't rack to a carbuoy). I have not been able to find any real solid guidelines for when exactly I ought to do this, for how long or at what rate I ought to increase temps. The idea being that the temp rise = a cleaning up the beer.
3) Total time. Obviously at some point I'm going to figure out when I've hit my target. BUT- because I've never used THIS yeast, and because it was perhaps less than 100% (given that it was slightly past BB date) and because I bumped the gravity with sugar a bit and because I'm fermenting at a lower slower rate I'm not fully confident I'm going to "know" when its done and when it's time to start ramping up the temps (and for how long or by how much)
4) On that last point - I intend to use the heat pad one of two ways: either directly under the bucket or sort of suspended in the chamber. I honestly don't know which is best. Obviously whatever I do this time I'll do differently next time and see if there's a difference (all else being equal...) but does anyone have any leanred wisdon or sage advice on one route versus the other?
The room the freezer is in is in the basement and with November chills won't get above 16 or so. I don't have confidence the brew alone will produce enough heat to let it free rise much above 19 today, much less in a few days when things slow down that much more.
Based on the above does anyone have a suggested "heres what you should do for the next week/2/3"? Anyone feel passionate about me racking versus just leaving on the cake? I have a deadline of Nov 20th to remove from the chamber so I can get the Bulwark Cider kits that should be in by then in there
Thank you!!
What I'm learning about now is how to manage my process using my new whiz-bang fermentation chamber (chest freezer) with an Inkbird 310b (12 step) temp controller. I also have the Mangrove Jacks Heat Pad ready to go. More on that in a minute. My goal in modifying my process is motivated by some good brews so far in my first year of all-graining but most with a bit of off flavours that I'm more critical of than others. I know I can do better and although I know there's a lot of variables at play, I'm trying to remove temp control as one of them. So here we are.
Recipe:
I'm doing a 6G BIAB Ale using a bunch of leftover and forgotten stuff in case my new equipment beguiles and befuddles me. Hopefully I'll cry less.
Grain = 4.87kg (3.631 2 row, 228g cara pils, 908g munich, 50g oats, 50g rye)
Hops = 60m 16g Amarillo 8.6% | 45m 6g Centenial 10.3% | 25m 8g Citra 12.4% | 10m 8g Simcoe 12% | 1m 14g Citra @12.4%
I had a bunch of leftover hops and just decided to chuck em all in. Knowing that my OG on my last batch of this recipe was about 1.045 I tossed in a bit of corn sugar during the boil and sparged like a samurai (their sparge technique is a little known feature of their awesomeness, true story...) and got to a starting gravity of about 1.058.
I pitched one pack of White labs California Ale that was 20 days past it's BB date @17C and set it into the chamber at a target temp of 18, with a 0.3C cold kick in and 1.5C hot shut off. Theoretically that should mean my temp should be stable between 17.7 and 19.5.
Observations:
Day 1 (Oct 25) - Crickets. Paranoia about expired yeast and too low a temp. Action: bump up the temp range about a degree and a half.
Day 2 - More crickets. Action: procure kleenex for tears.
Day 3 - Got my head down into the ferment chamber to check temp sticker on bucket and accidentally vaped the largest single dose of CO2 i've ever experienced. Gas-induced tears from sinus trauma mixed with tears of joy.
Days 4- 7 (today) - I continued to tweak by 0.2-0.5C the set value of the temp controller to try and keep the reading at 18. The temp probe is on the (out)side of the bucket 3/4 down. A small thermometer is on the freezer "shelf" a few inches above that. A brew thermometer from Noble Grape is in a pitcher of star-san to mimic the beer temp. The probe consistently reports a temp of 17.8-18.2 per my adjustments. The small thermo reads 19. The brew thermo says 20-22 and I have found it to be an outlier during my mash measuring as well. I'm close to concluding it sucks but I have no reliable objective way of knowing "truth" so treat it like the junkie it is and keep giving it another chance to do what it says it's going to do. But I digress.
The last few batches I've done I skipped racking to a secondary. Party because I wanted to try the Coopers DIY Carbonation Drops (rock sugar) for bottle conditioning, thus making a bulk prime unnecessary and partly because I had a suspicion that I was oxidizing. I've since read from and spoken to tonnes of righteous minded folks who scoff at that and I understand there's some thoughts on all sides on that one.
I haven't done a gravity reading yet because I'm paranoid, fearful and superstitious and just don't want to frig with anything just yet. There's still activity in the air lock as well.
My questions now are:
1) How long should I expect the yeast to stay in suspension at this rate? My concern is that they'll start to finish up nd during a kick-on of the cooling will get shocked out of suspension. To counter that and as a segue to my next step:
2) I intend to allow a gradual warm up to 19, 20 etc as primary turns to secondary (irrespective of whether I do or don't rack to a carbuoy). I have not been able to find any real solid guidelines for when exactly I ought to do this, for how long or at what rate I ought to increase temps. The idea being that the temp rise = a cleaning up the beer.
3) Total time. Obviously at some point I'm going to figure out when I've hit my target. BUT- because I've never used THIS yeast, and because it was perhaps less than 100% (given that it was slightly past BB date) and because I bumped the gravity with sugar a bit and because I'm fermenting at a lower slower rate I'm not fully confident I'm going to "know" when its done and when it's time to start ramping up the temps (and for how long or by how much)
4) On that last point - I intend to use the heat pad one of two ways: either directly under the bucket or sort of suspended in the chamber. I honestly don't know which is best. Obviously whatever I do this time I'll do differently next time and see if there's a difference (all else being equal...) but does anyone have any leanred wisdon or sage advice on one route versus the other?
The room the freezer is in is in the basement and with November chills won't get above 16 or so. I don't have confidence the brew alone will produce enough heat to let it free rise much above 19 today, much less in a few days when things slow down that much more.
Based on the above does anyone have a suggested "heres what you should do for the next week/2/3"? Anyone feel passionate about me racking versus just leaving on the cake? I have a deadline of Nov 20th to remove from the chamber so I can get the Bulwark Cider kits that should be in by then in there
Thank you!!