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@Bobby_M I did notice that this yeast flocculated pretty quickly as well. Further adding to the idea that using a D rest would be useful in case this yeast wants to give up too quickly and fall out of suspension.

Good point. Still a good practice to perform a D rest to remove other residual off flavors, even if diacetyl is not a concern.

Do you plan on adding fresh wort to the DKO batch to try and clean up the acetaldehyde? Any chance that this strain produces apple esters? I think I've seen that reported about the Bayern strain in other forums.

Overall, this was a strong fermenter and didn't produce any perceivable diacetyl. This was also low in sulfur production. Great all around workhorse lager strain. I overbuilt a starter, so I'll be using this particular strain for another few batches.

Took a sample, and it fermented down to 1.008 from 1.046, about 82% attenuation. No sulfur or diacetyl detected. The sample is surprisingly clean for 12 days. I'm going to slow crash to 35F and then transfer to a keg for lagering.

Well, after 6 days at 52, airlock activity has ceased. I'm going to give it 4-5 more days and then transfer to a keg. I don't even want to touch it until then.

I hope it's a great one! My grist was a bit off the beaten path and might actually fall into the Festbier territory... but, if it's maltier than expected, that's okay with me. Very curious to see how to yeast performs as well.

Helles is currently fermenting at 52F and bubbling away.

This starter took off yesterday just hours after pitching the yeast. And this morning has a nice krausen. No doubt this yeast is fresh and healthy!

Just received the Bayern DKO pack today, and the yeast was still cool to the touch! Can't wait to overbuild a starter and use this in a Helles.

Sounds like a solid plan. I just may have to order some because I am already a big fan of the standard pack.

I'm definitely intrigued. Have you tested the DKO and noticed any differences between that and the standard Bayern strain?

Wow, all this time I thought I've been mashing at "too high" a pH, when in reality my cooled samples measured at 5.6 have been 5.35 at mash temperatures this whole time. Okay - this is a huge discovery for me. Thank you

Have you ever tried using slaked lime to precipitate out the calcium carbonate? I saw Kai's wiki on that process, and doesn't require boiling.

Good call on making a plan. I'll see if I can make a checklist and print it out.

That's interesting. Do you boil off the CaCO3, let it cool naturally, and decant the water into another vessel?

Here are the Ward Labs results I just got back. Very similar to the city's monthly analysis. pH 8.3 Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 162 Sodium, Na 20 Calcium, Ca 26.3 Magnesium, Mg 6 Total Hardness, CaCO3 90 Sulfate, SO4-S 6 Chloride, Cl 22 Bicarbonate, HCO3 77 Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 65...

Here are the results from Ward Labs for my municipal water profile. Unfortunately, these line up with the monthly water analysis that I already get from the city. So, I may have wasted money here, but at least it's reassuring to know I can rely on the city reports in the future. Would you brew...

I'll be damned - I took apart my ball lock valve after reading this cautionary tale, and it looked exactly like the one in the story! Nasty stuff, but I cleaned it all off. Hopefully, this will eliminate one of the variables for the next batch!

It's an Anvil Foundry 10.5 gal, that runs on 240v. The temp probe is at the bottom of the kettle along with the heating element underneath (in the base). I haven't broken down the tap yet, but that is something I will check and clean.