HUGE yeast cake. Should I make up the lost volume with water?

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allroadCole

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Hello everyone, I brewed up a partial mash Oatmeal stout. I'm not sure why, but it fermented violently for 3.5 days and produced a HUGE yeast cake after it all settled down:

IMG_1293SM.jpg

[oatmeal stout on right]

Looks like I lost about a gallon of brew (the airlock is still bulbing couple times a minute). Does anyone know why this happened? or what I should/can do about it?

Thanks!
 
Let is sit awhile longer. More of the trub will settle out. You can chill it to speed it up a bit. I wouldn't add any water post-fermentation.
 
+1 to reel let the cake compact you wont loose much volume and don't add post fermentation it will f with the brew Ju ju
 
Reelale said:
Let is sit awhile longer. More of the trub will settle out. You can chill it to speed it up a bit. I wouldn't add any water post-fermentation.
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jppostKW said:
+1 to reel let the cake compact you wont loose much volume and don't add post fermentation it will f with the brew Ju ju
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Cool, I will let is chill for a few more days and then just rack it to secondary. Hopefully it will compact more. Thanks guys...
 
allroadCole said:
Cool, I will let is chill for a few more days and then just rack it to secondary. Hopefully it will compact more. Thanks guys...
Click to expand...

Without opening a can of worms, why not just keep it in the primary for 3-4 weeks or for however long you choose prior to kegging/bottling? You will lose less beer. And the beer will be fine (maybe better).
 
johnnybrew said:
Without opening a can of worms, why not just keep it in the primary for 3-4 weeks or for however long you choose prior to kegging/bottling? You will lose less beer. And the beer will be fine (maybe better).
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No can of worms. That beer needs to sit on that cake until it has made it its *****. The trub will decrease by about 50% saving a ton of beer. If you aren't going to drop hop (not to style) there isn't any reason to wake the beast.
 
I had a very similar result in my breakfast stout. That thread is here.

I left mine in primary for 4 weeks, and it did not compact. I ended up just getting just 3-3.5 gallons out of it, but it tastes good.
 
northernlad said:
No can of worms. That beer needs to sit on that cake until it has made it its *****. The trub will decrease by about 50% saving a ton of beer. If you aren't going to drop hop (not to style) there isn't any reason to wake the beast.
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that actually sounds like a good idea to me. give it more time to settle too...
 
senorswiss said:
I had a very similar result in my breakfast stout. That thread is here.

I left mine in primary for 4 weeks, and it did not compact. I ended up just getting just 3-3.5 gallons out of it, but it tastes good.
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interesting, that is very similar to how mine looks (my pictures are not as good!). I guess it is good news that it still taste good, but bad news that you only got 3-3.5 gallons...
 
I actually live in Burlington and as far as North Corner, was not impressed when I went there. I might give them another chance at some point but NW Brewers Supply in Anacortes takes good care of me.
 
It was a little divey to me. I like a quality dive bar mind you, but I like my shops to be in better condition. Also didn't care for the guy that was running the front. Could have been an isolated incident, but definately not worth a trip so far out of my way to confirm. Perhaps next time I am at Chuckanut Brewery i will stop by and give it another go.
 
It doesnt look very compact, even if its huge, +1 on leave it.

Also, clear carboys sitting out in the open there? cover em ;) sunlight eeewww
 
northernlad said:
It was a little divey to me. I like a quality dive bar mind you, but I like my shops to be in better condition. Also didn't care for the guy that was running the front. Could have been an isolated incident, but definately not worth a trip so far out of my way to confirm. Perhaps next time I am at Chuckanut Brewery i will stop by and give it another go.
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Yeah, it is a small, old building with a lot of stuff packed in. And the grain mill keeps everything pretty dusty. And the owner can seem pretty unenthusiastic (he just seems that way, but is really a nice guy)... But they do have a pretty good supply of quality ingredients and equipment and I have really been enjoying the inhouse recipes so far :) I will check out NW Brewers Supply next time im down there!
 
Priemus said:
It doesnt look very compact, even if its huge, +1 on leave it.

Also, clear carboys sitting out in the open there? cover em ;) sunlight eeewww
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I will wait and see, although a day later it looks the exact same. We will see. I put the carboy boxes over the carboys during the day ;)
 
HokieBrewer said:
What? Color of beer has nothing to do it. Sunlight on beer = skunky beer, whether it's red yellow black or white.
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I do try to keep the covered, but sometimes I leave the boxes off (when we have company over or something, the boxes dont look as cool as the carboys). However the beer never gets any DIRECT sunlight in that location. Is a little ambient light ok?
 
Yes color does have something to do with it.
If light doesn't penetrate far, far less of the beer is contacted. And far less of the hops oils (and many dark beers have less hops but not all) are contacted and therefore affected.

Regardless, best to cover it, I just wanted to reassure him so he wouldn't freak out about it.
 
allroadCole said:
I do try to keep the covered, but sometimes I leave the boxes off (when we have company over or something, the boxes dont look as cool as the carboys). However the beer never gets any DIRECT sunlight in that location. Is a little ambient light ok?
Click to expand...

I have read that any sunlight and fluorescent light will do damage and cause skunky (think Heineken). I keep my carboys covered with an old dark blanket.

Skunky
Skunky or cat-musk aromas in beer are caused by photochemical reactions of the isomerized hop compounds. The wavelengths of light that cause the skunky smell are the blue wavelengths and the ultraviolet. Brown glass bottles effectively screen out these wavelengths, but green bottles do not. Skunkiness will result in beers if the beer is left in direct sunlight or stored under fluorescent lights as in supermarkets. In beers which use pre-isomerized hop extract and very little flavoring hop additions, the beer will be fairly immune to damage from ultraviolet light.
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From: http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html
 

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