Talk me out of doing an open fermentation

I just brewed a 6 gallon batch of KingBrianI's Common Room ESB and split it between a 5 gal carboy and a 6.5 gal bucket. Part of me wants to try an open ferm on the bucket half. I'm not sure this is the best beer to try this technique on.... Thoughts?.

And oh yeah I ferment in a cellar with a dirt floor, not really sanitary conditions.
I guess the worst that could happen would be to lose 3 gallons of beer.

Try it out. You might be surprised to find out your cellar is "cleaner" than the rest of house. Worst that could happen is to get infected by wild yeast. That would really be going old school.

This should probably be in the "Fermentation and yeast" section if a mod would like to move it...... To many homebrews while brewing I guess.

Go for it. What's the fun of just brewing the same thing the same way all the time.

Don't do it!You said to talk you out of it. The worst might happen and you lose 3 gallons of beer, have to clean a bucket, and.....oh yeah, you may also end up with some damn tasty brew.

Give it a try...then pour it out, cuz its going to taste like crap from the infection......

Check out brewingtv.com. In one of the past episodes, they did an open Fermentation with a Hefe. On a later episode they did a taste test of it. The way they described it, sounded damn tasty!
If I remember correct, you only leave it open for like the first 3 days... I think.

I don't see any huge problems with it. Just remember, commercial breweries doing open fermentations do it in rooms dedicated to ferm tanks. Its not like they are aseptic, but its not in a house with dog/cat hair, carpet dust, fans blowing that stuff all over the place etc. Like someone said above though, that dirt floored cellar might be more clean than the rest of your house. As long as people aren't down there tromping around stirring up dust every day, you should be fine.

Go for it. Are you going to pitch yeast with it or let something random try and take hold?

I say give it a try, but maybe cover your bucket with a piece of cheese cloth to keep the dust out.

Well, it's in the cellar...... totally topless.

I've brewed this recipe several times so I'm pretty familiar with what to expect from the normal airlock/carboy combo. That's one of the reasons I chose this batch to try. It should make any differences really stand out.

@knightbeer39, I hope your wrong.... we'll see.

@Dave, I watched the BrewingTV episode when it came out, that's what gave me the idea.

@IrregularPulse, I pitched a starter made with White Labs WLP005 British Ale Yeast into the whole batch, aerated the hell out of it and then split it into separate fermenters.

Too late for my advice, I guess.

A while back, where I work, we hired two new engineers. They were all full of wanting to change this, and redesign that. I kept asking them, "What problem are you trying to solve?" More often than not, they didn't really have an answer.

Point being, don't change something just because you can. If you are trying to achieve a different result, and open fermentation is the way to get it, fine. But there's a reason it's not often done: your odds of success go down, and at best you get the same beer you would have gotten with closed fermentation.

Good luck.

The only thing I would be afraid of is knowing if you got enough yeast into each fermentor.
Why not split the starter between the two after splitting the wort?

lewisaurus said:

Well, it's in the cellar...... totally topless.

I've brewed this recipe several times so I'm pretty familiar with what to expect from the normal airlock/carboy combo. That's one of the reasons I chose this batch to try. It should make any differences really stand out.

@knightbeer39, I hope your wrong.... we'll see.

@Dave, I watched the BrewingTV episode when it came out, that's what gave me the idea.

@IrregularPulse, I pitched a starter made with White Labs WLP005 British Ale Yeast into the whole batch, aerated the hell out of it and then split it into separate fermenters.

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Don't take it the wrong way; I hope I'm wrong too. I've had batches of beer go bad just because the airlock fell off or the stopper came out and I didn't know for a couple of days and BAM infection. It's just such a big risk for contamination and I'm not sure what you will gain out of it. It's not really going to be like doing a lambic or something; you probably don't have those types of wild yeasts floating around. If I were going to try that experiment, I would try to do it in the most sterile environment I could find and it sounds like a dirt floor cellar might not be that.

Just my 2 cents. good luck either way!

I used to open ferment in a rubbermaid brute trashcan. I put the lid on to keep dust and bugs out. When the krausen fell, I racked to a carboy to secondary. I never had an infection. YMMV

Im glad u gave it a try. It could be the best beer you've ever made. U never know until u try it. As far as the dirt cellar though... maybe a pillowcase over the bucket would be a good idea. or stick it in a trashcan like steve

thezepster said:

Im glad u gave it a try. It could be the best beer you've ever made. U never know until u try it. As far as the dirt cellar though... maybe a pillowcase over the bucket would be a good idea. or stick it in a trashcan like steve

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we all know that the co2 produced will form a "blanket" over the krausen. My worry would be spores and dust in the cellar not visible to the eyes. Especially prior to the yeast cranking in and the co2 being produced. As a fun experiment, go for it. But why take a risk?

I ferment in a plastic bucket with cling film over the top. Won't take the risk.

I was going to talk you out of it but alas I am too late, I think the bible says God kills kittens by the hundreds whenever a homebrewer open ferments on a dirt floor in a basement or root cellar. I might be wrong on this of course. but still, think of all those poor fuzzy kittens you have doomed!

if you got an old fridge or freezer not in use(or the previously mentioned rubbermaid container) just to keep dust and other crap out

I have read some articles and which they said that open fermentation is a lot better than closed, but that discussion is for the industries purpose.
I will say that yes you should do the open fermentation , but with some safety and precautions. Like beer can be contamination very easily by dust and other things. So in my view first make the environment for open fermentation and then gave it a try, why to spoil the tasty beer.
You can get a nice beer,after some try, Trying is the key to success.

I think it's a great idea. Sure you might lose 3gal of beer but is that really the end of the world? I think keeping the major dust and stuff out is a good idea but if you know your recipe and know your beer, why not experiment a little and have some fun, oh, and have a homebrew while you're at it. I'm interested in how it comes out. Good luck.

All I got to say is: after all this fuss, you better damn well post the results!!!

For anyone that would want an all wild yeast fermention, how can you be sure that you have enough/any wild yeast around to guarantee fermention will take place?

Open fermentation gets a bad rap, but it's fine. The biggest issue really is long term aging--but if it is gonna be consumed in less than a year don't sweat it. When I say long term I just mean that the dozen or so cells of brettanomyces and lactobacillus may overwhelm the flavor. (well, excluding oxidation)