moving open fermentation vessel w/ Ringwood

Hey all: I am doing an open fermentation w/ Ringwood yeast. It is fermenting in my basement @ 66-68F. I'm thinking about moving it to a warmer spot ~72F for a diacetyl rest after 2 weeks of primary fermentation. Should I, or is this temp good enough for D rest? I would hate to disturb the crusty top that is preventing crap from entering my beer. I do not have ferm wrap for temp control. It's spooky w/ open ferm, great smell in the basement though.
Thanks all Charlie

Don't know much about the ringwood yeast , but r u sure you need a D rest while fermenting that warm?

smakudwn said:

Don't know much about the ringwood yeast , but r u sure you need a D rest while fermenting that warm?

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That what I need to know. This yeast is notorious for producing D. I just prefer to leave it, seems happy, smells great. I've read somewhere that folks bump the temps to 70-72F. Maybe I'll just get a Ferm wrap.

Diacetyl rests are usually done with lager fermentations. With ale temperatures, diacetyl cleanup isn't a problem unless you do something silly like cold crash or filter too early. Just keep the temps steady or steadily rising a little bit throughout fermentation and you'll get good cleanup of any diacetyl in time.

That said, I've never actually used any Ringwood yeasts. The above should hold true for any ale yeast, though. As a general rule, more time and slightly higher temps should get you more cleanup of diacetyl, esters, etc. What produces the best beer for your palate will always take some experimentation, though. We can't tell you for sure.

I'm with you, Charlie. I would want to D-rest ringwood. I say if you can afford it, just go get a fermwrap or heating pad or something to warm it up.

Props for going with the open ferment. I don't think I could do it. I mean, how did you protect it while you waited for it to get active? I get nervous enough while it sits sealed in a carboy in a fridge in my basement.

Is this your first time open fermenting? I don't have a place to try it, but I was under the impression that breweries that used an open ferment got the beer in a closed container by the time CO2 production slowed significantly (a few days)--since the constant rising of CO2 kept anything from falling into the beer.

I am really interested in your experiment and I hope you get good results. I am just curious about your plan/reasoning. I am always chasing English ale flavors and if I lived in a place where houses had basements you better believe I would be trying this, too.

You definitely will want to get rid of diacetyl with this beer, but don't wait until it's two weeks out. Keep the temp steady for the first 3-4 days of fermentation, and then ramp it up a degree or two per day until a max of 72-75. You want to keep the yeast active for the diacetyl rest. If they flocculate and settle, they'll do less work for you.

I use 1968 London ESB in most of my ales and it can definitely produce some diacetyl (apparently not to the degree of Ringwood, though). I follow the above procedures and my beers are as clean as you'll get for English yeasts. I'm typically able to get my 1.060 beers into a keg within 10 days (though they benefit from a little more aging). The point is, they're clean.

I read about doing a test for diacetyl in the Yeast book by Zaineshef.
It's pretty easy and I don't understand why more people don't do it.
Lot's of questions about diacetyl rests on here but I haven't seen any about doing this test. Here is a link I googled up.
http://www.winning-homebrew.com/diacetyl-test.html

ksbrain said:

Props for going with the open ferment. I don't think I could do it. I mean, how did you protect it while you waited for it to get active? I get nervous enough while it sits sealed in a carboy in a fridge in my basement.

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Hi ksbrain: after I pitched the yeast I lightly covered plastic bucket with aluminum foil. About 12 hours later when fermentation was well under way I took off the foil and replaced with nylon mesh(keep the mice out I think at this point I will cover again with lid and bubbler and move to a warmer area perhaps with a heating pad. I figure moving may disturb the krausenbut also stir up the yeast a little to finish off this brew.

corncob said:

Is this your first time open fermenting? I don't have a place to try it, but I was under the impression that breweries that used an open ferment got the beer in a closed container by the time CO2 production slowed significantly (a few days)--since the constant rising of CO2 kept anything from falling into the beer.

I am really interested in your experiment and I hope you get good results. I am just curious about your plan/reasoning. I am always chasing English ale flavors and if I lived in a place where houses had basements you better believe I would be trying this, too.

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Hey corncob: It's my first time trying open fermentation. Everything i read says that this yeast must not be covered due to its need for O2 and air movement. It got that now for the diacetyl rest.

kanzimonson said:

You definitely will want to get rid of diacetyl with this beer, but don't wait until it's two weeks out. Keep the temp steady for the first 3-4 days of fermentation, and then ramp it up a degree or two per day until a max of 72-75. You want to keep the yeast active for the diacetyl rest. If they flocculate and settle, they'll do less work for you.

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Hey kanzim: I am at 1 week and plan to move to warmer with lid. hopefully the temps and movement will help the yeast do their job. I figure I need to put a lid on it now because I am going to move it possibly "breaking" the krausen seal

dzlater said:

I read about doing a test for diacetyl in the Yeast book by Zaineshef.
It's pretty easy and I don't understand why more people don't do it.
Lot's of questions about diacetyl rests on here but I haven't seen any about doing this test. Here is a link I googled up.
http://www.winning-homebrew.com/diacetyl-test.html

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Thanks dzlater: , I'll check it out

It would be really great, for the sake of science, if you could update this thread when you get to drinking this one. What is the recipe, BTW?

I will update. I covered it with a lid last night and was pleased to see the bubbler still cranking. I also went to White Labs site to read more about thew stain(005/Ringwood). They say it will still ferment @ 60F so I figure I should be good @ 68F. They said leave it for a longer time if low temp fermenting is used. I might try and brew the same batch with either 002 or 007 whitelabs strains of English yeast for a nice comparison.
Here's the recipe. I used Fuggles instead of Stryrians. He used European ale yeast while I used Ringwood
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f64/guvnah-esb-183351/

FWIW: I have brewed several of SpanishCAstles recipes and they are excellent. His bock recipe is spot on. He has won gold at the NHC.