Ringwood yeast help

This yeast came in my Porter kit from NB. It's been a week and let's just say it's going slow and steady. Normally, I rack to my secondary when there's a bubble every 15-20 seconds. After reading about the massive amount of diacetyl which is produced by Ringwood, I would like to make sure I time this right. What I've read talks about letting it rest for 48 hours after primary fermentation for the yeast to reabsorb the diacetyl. Is there anyone who is familiar with this strain who can give me advice? Should I go 2 stage at all, when to rack ext.

Thanks,

Josh

Josh,

I have probably brewed with 1187 over 1000 times both commercially and at home. I had one batch that was a diacetyl bomb. That one was severely underpitched.

1187 is a very forgiving strain. You can ferment at high temps or low temps and it doesn't really care. IT DOES care about cell count. You should build up a starter culture and use oxygen to get it going. If you do that, it can ferment out in 3-4 days VERY cleanly.

I have ALWAYS racked the beer off the yeast into secondary. If you do that, the beer will clear up very quickly. 1187 is also very flocculent.

Good luck with your brew.

Thanks for the info Wayne! It's the Wyeast as you assumed. Let me elaborate a little more. I didn't do too much in regard to aeration; it was poured from the pot into a strainer and shaken slightly. It produced a good deal of krausen in day 2 and 3, settled off slowly, and now, 5 days later it's at about 10 seconds a bubble. How long should I wait until I rack it into the secondary, or should I bottle strait from the primary? Thanks for the help!

Josh,

Airlock activity doesn't mean very much. The only way to know for certain if your beer is ready is to measure it. Pull a sample and check what the gravity is. If it is the same two days in a row, it is done fermenting and should be transferred off the yeast into a secondary fermenter.

I would then suggest letting it stay in secondary for 1-2 weeks. That should be enough time for most suspended yeast to drop. That is when I would bottle it.

If you need more specific instructions, please feel free to let me and the rest of the community know.