Hey, what a Surprise, Another One Finished High!

Evan! · 04-07-2008, 01:41 PM

I can't f*cking stand this. I just want my goddamned beers to finish like they're supposed to. Stupid lazy bastard yeast. I brewed a big RIS on Saturday morning, mashed at 154 or so, ended up with 1.092 OG. Racked it onto a notty cake from a 1.047 OG bitter, and had activity in 30 or 45 minutes. Within a couple hours it was almost blowing off. I left for a day, came back, and the bastard had blown off quite a bit into the bucket. And the krausen had dropped. And the airlock activity had ceased. And the SG was...1.040!

I mean, come the f*ck on. I did everything right, I oxygenated thoroughly, I had an adequate cell count for a big beer like this, and I still end up with this horsesh*t. 1.040? Are you kidding me?! Is it possible to actually blow off most of the viable yeast?

So what now? Should I make another notty culture with a starter and pitch that? First the saison, now this...I'm none too happy with these damn yeasts lately.

**bradsul** · 04-07-2008, 01:44 PM

There should still be lots of yeast in the fermenter, you have tried giving it a swirl to get them back into suspension?

**e lo** · 04-07-2008, 01:58 PM

Sorry, man. That sucks. I had two batches in a row do that to me over the winter. Frustrating as all hell.

Evan! · 04-07-2008, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradsul

There should still be lots of yeast in the fermenter, you have tried giving it a swirl to get them back into suspension?

yeah, there is a very large cake settling down, and yeah, I whirlpooled it this morning with my CPVC kettle measurer. We'll see what happens.

**Bobby_M** · 04-07-2008, 02:01 PM

I would seriously look at that thermometer and make sure it's dead on. I think 154 is too high already for such a big beer, but if you were off by 1 or 2 degrees, it could be even worse.

If you'd had fermenting issues many times, I'm highly suspect of your mash temp.

**FSR402** · 04-07-2008, 02:05 PM

Two beers in a row, did your thermometer go wacked on you?

Evan! · 04-07-2008, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FSR402

Two beers in a row, did your thermometer go wacked on you?

Nah---the Saison yeast pooped out, and so I racked it on a Wit cake, and bam, it got a new krausen and fermented it out fine. My thermo is NIST certified, and i also double-check it with my analog one here and there, so it's not my thermo. Not only that, but I mashed the Saison @ 148, and the RIS @ 154, so even if the thermo was reading low, the saison would still be in the range.

mr x · 04-07-2008, 02:11 PM

Maybe you did blow too much of the yeast out. Wyeast had mentioned to me that this was possible, especially on big beer.

Evan! · 04-07-2008, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr x

Maybe you did blow too much of the yeast out. Wyeast had mentioned to me that this was possible, especially on big beer.

Really? Hmmmm...so yeah, maybe I'll make a nice starter with some new Notty and see what that does.

It's definitely not my thermometer, unless somehow I have 2 NIST certified digital thermos and one analog thermo that are all reading low, and all reading the same amount off. You tell me the probability of that...

**the_bird** · 04-07-2008, 02:16 PM

Fermentation temperatures?..... I think you said you ramped the Belgian, didn't you?

You know the first thing I would do? Brew a small, session beer (special bitter, APA, something like that... a 1.050-ish beer without a lot of extras) and see if you're still having problems. Start by seeing if it's an issue with ALL the beers that you make, or if it's something specific that you're doing on the "fancy" recipes.