Ringwood techniques

I'm getting some Ringwood yeast from an ultra-traditional english-style real ale brewery on Friday. The brewmaster came out to give me a detailed rundown on what to do to make this finicky yeast do its magic for me. Some of the techniques he talked about were unorthodox (heretical!) from a homebrewer's perspective. I need peer advice!

He insisted it must be in an open fermenter, and said that to get it to attenuate he had a pump system to agitate and aerate the beer throughout fermentation. He told me to just stir and splash it vigourously during the late stages of the fermentation.

I'm willing to go out and buy an ale pail, and I'll even leave the lid loose (I have too many fruit flies around to risk a genuine open fermentation - sorry Kevin). But I'm loathe to go against everything I've been taught and introduce oxygen into fermented beer. Should I suck it up and do it? This man knows this particular strain of yeast better than anyone, and his methods do often turn out great real ales. I'm just worried that, given the longer lifetime mine will have (3 months vs 2 weeks), the effects of oxidation will make themselves obnoxious.

There are a few UK breweries that use open fermenters. The krausen makes a lid/barrier.

If I was doing it I'd think stuff it I know what works for me and do it my way.

OR

Split the batch, do one has instructed and one my way.

Than at least one will hopefully turn out if not both. You can then compare.

i'd follow the advice from the guy who uses the yeast to support his family.

I like Orfy's idea of splitting the batch. Then you'll know for sure and can say you did an open ferment!

If it was me I would be very curious as to how the beer would come out by following the guy's instructions. However, I would go with the split batch like orfy suggested, to compare them side by side.

Excuse my ignorance. Is the Ringwood yeast related to Ringwood Breweries of Hampshire/Dorset?

OhioBrit said:

Excuse my ignorance. Is the Ringwood yeast related to Ringwood Breweries of Hampshire/Dorset?

Click to expand...

I'd imagine it might. Ringwood I believe is a town in Hampshire, and the yeast strain (popular in atlantic brewpubs) is supposed to have originated there.

Easy open fermentation screen:

Cheesecloth. Take a string and tie said cheesecloth around the opening of the pail. You'll keep flies out and probably let anything else in that might be beneficial.

Also, according to my research, ultra-traditional ale was either drank after 1 year or very quickly, depending on who you read and believe. I'm prone to figure that the "very young" history is far more likely, as sanitation was not at it's best. Oxygenation probably wouldn't be as much of an issue with beer that is drunk within a month or three of brewing.

Also, as an aside, if we're talking ultra-traditional, then there needs to be a distinction between "beer" and "ale". Throughout the 16th century hops was establishing itself as the premiere bittering agent over the previously used methods. The older methods had a history of being controlled by the Catholic church, but that's neither here nor there. In England, there was the differentiation between ale, which was not brewed with hops, and beer, which was.

I'll see if I can muster the will to split it (probably three and three if I did). If I do, I'll do half in an Ale Pail with agitation, and half normally in a 5G carboy. If not, it'll all go in an open ale pail with cheesecloth. Apparently this guy's yeast is pretty dirty, and his beers are good fresh but don't age well. We'll see.

TheFlatline said:

Also, according to my research, ultra-traditional ale was either drank after 1 year or very quickly, depending on who you read and believe. I'm prone to figure that the "very young" history is far more likely, as sanitation was not at it's best. Oxygenation probably wouldn't be as much of an issue with beer that is drunk within a month or three of brewing.

Also, as an aside, if we're talking ultra-traditional, then there needs to be a distinction between "beer" and "ale". Throughout the 16th century hops was establishing itself as the premiere bittering agent over the previously used methods. The older methods had a history of being controlled by the Catholic church, but that's neither here nor there. In England, there was the differentiation between ale, which was not brewed with hops, and beer, which was.

Click to expand...

When I say "ultra-traditional", I mean it in the twentieth century, CAMRA-celebrated sense of a small brewery using reharvested yeast to produce unfiltered, cask-conditioned, beer-engine-served real ale. We're not talking about seventeenth century intire butt beer, or fifteenth century gruit ale. We're talking early twentieth century, small scale craft ale.

By the way, both the "very young" and the "very fresh" stories are true. Much beer was brewed to a higher gravity and stored for a year in huge wooden casks, where Brettanomyces would mature it into a classic English "stock ale". Other beers were low-gravity beers served fresh. They were often blended (as in the case of early porters), where the fresh mild beer would soften the harder, older, 'stale' beer.