The Boat as a Giant Stir Plate...

I was just reading about stir plates and yeast starters. I just stopped reading, as it appears this doesn't apply to dry yeast, which I plan to use semi-exclusively.

The premise of the stirrer, keeping yeast in suspension and thus in greater contact with the wort, got me thinking.... Not that my boat is always a' rockin':rockin: but it is from time to time. In fact even stepping onboard does induce some momentary roll.

Here's the question: If I brew up a batch at the dock, or in a quiet anchorage, then go sailing for a week, will my boat act as a giant stir plate for my entire batch of wort? Will my beer ferment faster, more cleanly, and be better looking?

I know it's more theoretical than practical, but I've always figured that stirring up the wort would be generally bad or indifferent as wart is usually a stationary animal as far as I've observed. What do y'all think?

BrewOnBoard

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-zsV-wGeIA]YouTube - BrewDog Video Blog 13: Atlantic IPA Conclusion[/ame]

That's mad cool....

"Force 10 Fierce Ale" here I come!

BrewOnBoard

Iz u a pierat?

Thauts u only did grogg



Sorry, I don't really have anything to contribute here. Just want to live on a boat.

The only recipe to make my drop down was an IPA that spent about 8 months on a friend's party boat while he was sailing back and forth to, and wintering in, the Bahamas. Sailed out of Wilmington, NC. Awesome with curries, my hop head friends kicked that thing in about two weeks.

As far as fermenting under way, I dunno. I would think it would be best to brew and rack and bottle an so on in a quiet anchorage somewhere and stick to fermenting and aging on the big waters.

I think the rocking of the boat would have to help but the yeast might get sea sick. No seriously it would help but I don't think as much as a stir plate which is causing massive amounts of agitation and gas diffusion in comparison to the boat rocking.

That video was awesome but I had a hard time figuring out what the frick was going on. Do you think they had a temperature controller on the those things.

I just finished Hops & Glory (BUY THAT BOOK) and I want to brew an IPA that way; in it Pete Brown says a guy in the UK just stuck it on his boat in the harbor for a few months, but it wouldn't have the same temperature fluctuations as an actual trip to India.

mnm129 said:

I think the rocking of the boat would have to help but the yeast might get sea sick. No seriously it would help but I don't think as much as a stir plate which is causing massive amounts of agitation and gas diffusion in comparison to the boat rocking.

That video was awesome but I had a hard time figuring out what the frick was going on. Do you think they had a temperature controller on the those things.

Click to expand...

One of the barrels in the video was lashed to the mast. You could see it taking a pounding in some of the massive waves. Look for it in the middle of the screen in the shots looking forward from the bridge. I'm pretty sure they weren't fermenting at sea, I think they were just aging. So those big barrels were their secondaries I guess.

BrewOnBoard

So if yeast get sea-sick, what happens?

Do they vomit more yeast?

McKBrew said:

So if yeast get sea-sick, what happens?

Do they vomit more yeast?

Click to expand...

Like a good sorority girl, they vomit alcohol!

BoB