pkiller001
Well-Known Member
So I've been focusing on small batch, lower gravity beers to let me work on process and reproducibility, with the added bonus that I can easily mash in a 2 gallon cooler if I'm only brewing 2.5 gallons!
My most recent attempts have focused on using Wy1318 (London Ale III) to brew a premium bitter. I mashed at around 158 - 160 (my last attempt was too thin bodied, and I did a better job of pre-heating the mash tun leading to a slight overshot of my mash temp), but realized too late that my smack pack was a bit old, and probably warranted a starter. OG was 1.042
I pitched at 63 F, and put the better bottle in a water bath that got no higher than 68Fk. 4 days later it had only dropped to 1.016, but tasted good, and had a decent mouth feel. 3 days after that it was still at 1.016, starting to clear, tasted even better and still had a full bodied mouth feel. I got everything set to bottle in the following day or two when the krausen re-formed, and even though the beer still seems to be clearing, there is a slight amount of circulation visible in better bottle.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with this yeast? Is this just do to underpitching and thus a temperamental fermentation? The ferment was ticking along nicely at 67-69F the entire time while in the water bath, is it as simple as the beer heating to 72F once out of the water bath?
My most recent attempts have focused on using Wy1318 (London Ale III) to brew a premium bitter. I mashed at around 158 - 160 (my last attempt was too thin bodied, and I did a better job of pre-heating the mash tun leading to a slight overshot of my mash temp), but realized too late that my smack pack was a bit old, and probably warranted a starter. OG was 1.042
I pitched at 63 F, and put the better bottle in a water bath that got no higher than 68Fk. 4 days later it had only dropped to 1.016, but tasted good, and had a decent mouth feel. 3 days after that it was still at 1.016, starting to clear, tasted even better and still had a full bodied mouth feel. I got everything set to bottle in the following day or two when the krausen re-formed, and even though the beer still seems to be clearing, there is a slight amount of circulation visible in better bottle.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with this yeast? Is this just do to underpitching and thus a temperamental fermentation? The ferment was ticking along nicely at 67-69F the entire time while in the water bath, is it as simple as the beer heating to 72F once out of the water bath?