First all grain brew...long ferment

Hi guys

I have two extract/adjunct brews under my belt that turned out good and decided to try an all grain batch. I have a cousin who has brewed for a few years and in recent months has been helping out at the Grimm Brothers Brewhouse in Loveland, CO. I'm grateful for his help.

My first brew was a porter recipe that included maris otter (21lbs.), crystal 40 (2lbs), black patent (2.25lbs), and chocolate (1.10lbs). We did a ten gallon batch with single infusion mash, a 90 minute boil with Goldings and Fuggles hops additions at 75, 20, and 2 minutes in the boil.

Our OG was 1.070 and we pitched White Labs 833 German Bock Lager yeast once the wort was cooled.

it was not my intention to treat this brew as a lager, but my cousin and his brewing friends suggested this yeast would perform well at higher temps and the beer would turn out fine.

We brewed on Nov. 21. The beer has been fermenting at about sixty degrees. it was suggested that I need to do a diacetyl rest of 48 hours after fermentation stops. One carboy is still bubbling every two minutes and the other is about every five. The yeast I used was harvested from the brewery and I found out later is seventh generation yeast which i understand explains the long ferment time (nearing four weeks).

I sampled the beer a couple days ago and the gravity was 1.013 and there was no sign to my untrained pallet of diacetyl. I intend to bottle as soon as fermentation stops (airlock is thru bubbling).

So, this has been a great first ag experience. Does anyone have any advice. I know I left out some details, but i don't have all the notes in front of me. We used a coleman cooler with manifold for mash tun and a converted new belgium keg as a brewpot.

Thanks to the folks on this forum for being a constant source of advice and entertainment. i love this new hobby and plan to continue. Bottoms up!!

Sounds good. There are only 2 things I would suggest is letting the beer sit on the yeast for a little longer to let the yeast clean up after themselves. Don't use the airlock to determine if your beer is done fermenting, but use the hydrometer.

So, if you like the way it tastes now, AND your gravity hasn't changed in a few days, go ahead and bottle.

10-4. How long is too long to let the beer sit on the yeast? Is autolysis a concern?

Thanks for the help.

some guys have let it sit on yeast for 7 months and don't have any ill effects from it at all. In fact they say that it cleans it up and makes it better.

I usually let my ales sit on the yeast for 3 weeks, so it takes a week to ferment and 2 weeks to clean up. For a lager, I'd go 4 weeks, total, on the yeast, and then the recommended lagering length of your recipie.

noodledancer77 said:

I have a cousin who has brewed for a few years and in recent months has been helping out at the Grimm Brothers Brewhouse in Loveland, CO. I'm grateful for his help.

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Haha, small world. That place is like a mile from one of my company's buildings, and I met the brewers at local homebrew club meetings before they decided to go pro. I was actually there tonight! They did a tiny 5 gallon batch of Candy Cane Porter, and it was awesome. Really want to try it next year at Christmas time.