any advice? New conical and new brew help

Hey,

I am planning to use a new conical fermenter this weekend and a buddy has been beggin me to brew a Kolsch I think mostly because he wants to try one and there are none available commercially.

I read the Kolsch book by Eric Warner, but wanted some more practical advise from the HBT community.

I have two "kits" from NB that I'm making to split with my pal. Grain bill is total of 18lbs german pilsner and hops are added at 60 and 30 minutes. (tradition and hersbrucker respectively). this is a 10 gallon batch.

As far as using the new fermenter, how often should I purge the yeast trub at the bottom?

I was thinking about pitching at 59-62 degrees for a lower estery profile, and conditioning for 5wks after a 1 week fermentation, plus up to 4 weeks lagering.

Any advice appreciated. mostly would like advice on managing the fermentation and dumping protocol for a 10 G batch on the new conical

Thanks!

TD

With my conical I usually have to take a rubber mallet to the cone walls to get the yeast from clinging. (Of course not banging on it to hard!) I let it settle and then drain until I see beer come out. Depends on how much I am getting out but maybe 2-4 times I do it. 1st time is right after I have lowered the temps for secondary, and the rest during the secondary.

I don't try to get it all out in one dump or you will loose to much good beer.I'm using wyeast 1007 for an Altbier right now and I didn't get much yeast draining due to this yeast liking to remain in suspension post fermentation. So my question would be what yeast are you using for the kolsch?

GNBRennes said:

With my conical I usually have to take a rubber mallet to the cone walls to get the yeast from clinging. (Of course not banging on it to hard!) I let it settle and then drain until I see beer come out. Depends on how much I am getting out but maybe 2-4 times I do it. 1st time is right after I have lowered the temps for secondary, and the rest during the secondary.

I don't try to get it all out in one dump or you will loose to much good beer.I'm using wyeast 1007 for an Altbier right now and I didn't get much yeast draining due to this yeast liking to remain in suspension post fermentation. So my question would be what yeast are you using for the kolsch?

Click to expand...

Luckily I just bought a rubber mallet! How fortunate. I am using the wyeast Kolsch liquid strain.
I have 4 of the larger smack packs, and was not planning to make a starter, probably too late to do so at this point with tonight Friday and brewing Saturday.

So the trick in dumping yeast is to wait until 1' fermentation is over, and do it is several gradual steps to avoid excessive beer loss. The Kolsch strain I think is similar to the alt in that it is not very flocculent? Which I think to mean it stays in suspension? Only reason I say that is that I know that commercial kolschs are filtered to remove the yeast. I might just use finings..

Thanks
RH

TrickyDick said:

Luckily I just bought a rubber mallet! How fortunate. I am using the wyeast Kolsch liquid strain.
I have 4 of the larger smack packs, and was not planning to make a starter, probably too late to do so at this point with tonight Friday and brewing Saturday.

So the trick in dumping yeast is to wait until 1' fermentation is over, and do it is several gradual steps to avoid excessive beer loss. The Kolsch strain I think is similar to the alt in that it is not very flocculent? Which I think to mean it stays in suspension? Only reason I say that is that I know that commercial kolschs are filtered to remove the yeast. I might just use finings..

Thanks
RH

Click to expand...

Yep that yeast is going to be somewhat the same as 1007 for staying in suspension so finings or a cold crash to clear it up.

Sometimes the beer will create a hole in the center of the yeast cake at the bottom and then that's why I use the mallet to help it settle again before the next dump. I've let my alt sit for about a month at 35-38F and there is still yeast in suspension and I get very little during the dump. I'm just going to bottle this weekend and let the bottles get the rest of the yeast that's left in suspension.
I kinda wish I had a rotating racking arm now.

THanks again for the tips.
My conical just arrived today, and haven't even seen it yet, but it'll be waiting for me when I get home tonight. Got to unpack and assemble it and then stuff it into the upright freezer I got to hold it in. I think mine will have a rotating racking arm, but not sure..

Thanks

TD

Do a good cleaning inside the conical with PBW or oxyclean, I prefer PBW

Fill up a water spray bottle with diluted starsan, and each time you dump, spray spray away, starsan is your friend!

What company did you go with?

I got the Blichmann 14 gallon so I can make 10 gallons with brew setup..
I went with the TC fittings. So what do you spray with the star San when you dump? The valve and runoff tubing?
Have you had contamination issues when you haven't sprayed after the dumping? I assume one must also crack the airlock when dumping too..

Thanks

RH