Fermenting with Wyeast 1968 London ESB Questions

I just brewed 10 gal batch of an ESB on Sunday, this became a true Labor Day brew. Since I am feeling my way though a new brew rig. In the past I used a Gott cooler for 5 gal batches. I just moved up to a 15 gal Sanke keg, brew day started pre heating the tun then drained most of the mash water, adjusted it to 170 F added my 23# of grain planning to hit a 154 F mash temp. To my surprise temp was reading 160 F. To compensate I added about a gal of preboiled room temp water (in hindsight my temp would have settled in at 154 if I would have waited 10 minutes for the grain to absorb the 170 F temp of the water). By adding this cool water my temp lowered my mash temp to 150 F not catastrophic but not what I wanted. I waited 20 mins and I decocted about 1/4 mash and boiled for a few mins but the mash failed to rise, I pulled a second decoction and boiled. This brought the temp to 152 and I was happy with that. Lautered and ended up with 12 gallons of wort. I Boiled 90 mins, added hops during boil, immursion cooled. My efficiency was much higher than the 70% I had expected for, I was shooting for an OG of 1.052 and my actual OG was 1.064 (78% efficiency). I split batch between (2) 5 gal fermenters.
Here is were my question arises I used a different yeast strain for each
Fermenter 1 (5 Gal air locked carboy) is London ESB 1968 with built up starter
Fermenter 2 (5 Gal Cornie open fermenter) Safale 004 English ale sprinkled from pack.
Ferment temp in my caller is 62 F (I suspect the temp in the fermenter is a degree or 2 higher.
I know the 1968 usually finishes around 1.015 to 1.018 so I am contemplating ramping up my ferment temps (I'm thinking 67 F) at the end of the ferment to get better attenuation. Anybody have experience with this yeast? I know I am currently on the low side (too low perhaps) of the suggested fermenting range and I am worried it won't even attenuate to the average level for the 1968 yeast.

I brewed something similar last year. I ended up at 1.060 after getting much greater efficiency than I'd calculated or planned for. The 1968 ESB yeast took it down to 1.018, about 70% attenuation. However, I mashed at 156°F for a full bodied beer. Your lower mash temperature should make the wort more fermentable, so you might get another point or two out of it, so 1.015 would be about right.

My only worry about the temperature is that on the low side of its range this highly flocculant yeast might drop out too soon. Your temps inside the fermenters, though, will be a good 5-8° above ambient just from the heat of the fermentation. Like you, my inclination would be to leave them alone for the first 5-7 days then take the fermenters out of the basement and put them in a very slightly warmer spot for 3-4 days to make sure the yeast has a chance to finish up.

Wyeast 1968 and Safale S-04 are both reputed to be the Fuller's strain, so it will be interesting to taste them side by side when all is said and done. I can tell you that the rich, malty beer that I ended up with was one of the best English ales I've brewed to date. I suspect yours will be pretty darn tasty as well.

Good luck. Keep us posted.
Chad

I had some interesting results with my 10 gallon split batch between Wyeast 1968 and Safale S-04 dry. first off the dry yeast took off like crazy, I had never used this dry yeast before and was very happy with the results thus far.
I fermented both 5 gal batches in a 62 F room after 1 week the 1968 gravity was at 1.018 and the S-04 was 1.010.
I ramped the 1968 to 68 F for 1 week also I ramped the s-04 to 68 F for 3 days (as a Diacetyl rest). I was very surprised at the final gravity of the 1968, it finished at 1.011. The S-04 finished at 1.008. I am drinking the 1968 and I am very pleased with the results (I dry hopped 3 gals with 1/4 oz Williamette, 3/4 Cascade). I will be doing some side by side comparisons soon.

Greggor:
please keep us updated on the side by side comparison. I've heard good things about the saf04--but I"m skeptical. Let us know!

I'm interested in how these beers are progressing as well. It seems like 1.008 would be a little low, resulting in a thin body. How's it taste?

Chad

Chad said:

I brewed something similar last year.

...


I can tell you that the rich, malty beer that I ended up with was one of the best English ales I've brewed to date. I suspect yours will be pretty darn tasty as well.

Good luck. Keep us posted.
Chad

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Can you share the recipe? What you are describing is what I am going for in this weekends brew. I harvested 1968 from a local commercial beer...And yeah, I know this thread is 4 years old.

I know I'm necro-ing an old thread, but it's pinning onto an idea I need solved.

My buddy and I are brewing all grain in a three-vessel Sanke system. However, for fermentation, we use two 5-gallon carboys or two six-gallon brewing buckets. In the past we've simply used S-04 and poured a packet into each carboy and we were on our way. However, we are planning on using 1968 for our next batch.

After watching/reading all the posts, how-to's, etc., we know we have to make a starter for the 1968 and we're fine with that; we know we got that knocked out of the park. Our question, however, is what the volume for all of these how-to's are gauged at? I'm assuming that one packet of 1968 (with starter) is good for one-half of our batch (5 gallons). Our concern, though, is that we have only one stir plate and need to split out yeast into two fermenters.

According to Beersmith, for our 10 gallon batch, we should be using one packet of 1968 with 2.52 L of starter. This seems off to me. If Beersmith is accurate, knowing how 'flocc-y' 1968 is going to be, how can we safely split this volume across two carboys without degrading the quality of the yeast we pour into each?

I'm hoping that we're not the only two that have ever come across this concern, and we're looking for some assistance in navigating through this as smoothly as possible.

Thanks in advance!

rustedbucket said:

I know I'm necro-ing an old thread, but it's pinning onto an idea I need solved.

My buddy and I are brewing all grain in a three-vessel Sanke system. However, for fermentation, we use two 5-gallon carboys or two six-gallon brewing buckets. In the past we've simply used S-04 and poured a packet into each carboy and we were on our way. However, we are planning on using 1968 for our next batch.

After watching/reading all the posts, how-to's, etc., we know we have to make a starter for the 1968 and we're fine with that; we know we got that knocked out of the park. Our question, however, is what the volume for all of these how-to's are gauged at? I'm assuming that one packet of 1968 (with starter) is good for one-half of our batch (5 gallons). Our concern, though, is that we have only one stir plate and need to split out yeast into two fermenters.

According to Beersmith, for our 10 gallon batch, we should be using one packet of 1968 with 2.52 L of starter. This seems off to me. If Beersmith is accurate, knowing how 'flocc-y' 1968 is going to be, how can we safely split this volume across two carboys without degrading the quality of the yeast we pour into each?

I'm hoping that we're not the only two that have ever come across this concern, and we're looking for some assistance in navigating through this as smoothly as possible.

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

You need about 800ml of starter pitched with a packet of 1968 to get the 160 billion cells for a 5.5 gallon batch of a ~4% bitter. An ESB at ~5% ABV would be closer to 200 billion cells, and about a 1.1l starter. 2.52 l for 10 gallons sounds about right for a single stage starter with a fresh packet of 1968, as you need to grow a lot more yeast.

You need to stir up the starter just before you split it. If you cold crash it, decant off the liquid and divide up the slurry equally. If you don't cold crash, leave it on the stir plate until the last second.