Repitch?

Quick question: I brewed a Belgian strong ale on Friday. It was already going strong 12 hours later and one of the strongest fermentation's I've seen 24 hours later. I lost about 1/2 or a little more due to blowoff. About 48-60 hours later the fermentation slowed and now it appears to have nearly come to a stop. This was one of two carboys from a 10 gal batch and the other that did not blowoff (got some fermcap in before the initial blowoff) is still going pretty strong. My question is whether or not blowoff will or can kill fermentation?


FYI, I had a great brewday last Fri. Was off work for the day, so I figured I'd start early and really push it. Last spring I move to 10 gal batches, which has been going great so far in terms of easily keeping my kegs full. I figured that since I still have a lot of time in between mashing, boiling, etc I'd try doing two 10 gal batches.

All went well. While my big 20 gal pot was warming the mash water I was able to crush 55 lb of grain after some improvements to my corona mill setup (added a chute for the grain). After the first mash (Mojo IPA) and while the wort was coming to a boil I was able to get my smaller 9 gal pot of water to mash temp, and got the second mash underway (Belgian strong ale). Retrieved my second 12 gal of wort before the first boil was complete. At any rate both batches were complete in 9.5 hours. When I started a year ago it would take 6 hours for one 5 gal batch. I figured I'd share this story for those who may want to more than double their brewing efficiency.

I would imagine it would nearly impossible to blow off all of your yeast and stop fermentation. I would just let it finish out and compare gravities with the other batch.

How did you pitch your yeast in each of the carboys?

What's your gravity reading??? You airlock bubbling or lack of it means absolutely nothing except your airlock isn't bubbling.

This is where you guys who instantly equate a bubbling airlock with "FERMENTATION" seem to miss...An airlock is simply a valve, a vent to release excess co2, to keep your lid on your fermenter and your beer off the ceiling.

It's always going to slow down eventually. The yeast are going to have less fermentables to consume, than they did in the first few days, so they are not going to produce that much EXTRA co2, and therefore the airlock is not going to NEED to blip as fast, if at all.

But that DOESN'T mean the yeast has stopped doing their job....they just don't have that much food to chew....but they're not going to stop, they just don't go to sleep unless the temp dips down to the low 50's, and they just don't die....they MAY eat all the consumables they can in the case of a high grav wort and shut down, like in a barlewine.

The most important tool you can use is a hydrometer. It's the only way you will truly know when your beer is ready...airlock bubbles and other things are faulty.

The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in....

Thinking about "doing anything" like repitching, or bottling, or racking, without first taking a hydrometer reading is tantamount to the doctor deciding to cut you open without running any diagnostic tests....Taking one look at you and saying, "Yeah I'm going in." You would really want the doctor to use all means to properly diagnose what's going on?

You may indeed have to repitch, or the beer is still chugging away...but you won't properly know until you take a reading.

Thanks guys. I plan to do a gravity reading when I get home this evening, so should have probably waited to ask for advice until that information is collected.

I was just a little worried this morning when I saw one of the carboys in a full rolling fermentation mode and the other with very little visible movement. Both came out of the same brewpot pitched with two packs of dry yeast.

As usual Revvy was right on target.

It must have been the new Belgian yeast, the 1.075 OG strong ale went down to 1.018 in just a few days. It should finish near 1.015 or a little less.

Some Belgian strains are notorious for slowing down fermentation after they reach the end of the growth phase, and taking forever to attenuate. If this is the case warming the beer up to about 75-80*F and stirring/shaking the fermenter a few times to rouse the yeast will encourage them to hurry up and finish the job.