Angus MacDonald
Well-Known Member
Good Afternoon folkies.
Been a while since I posted on here but I've come across an issue in my fermentation process and I'm seeking comfort and assurance that my fix wont destroy the brew. I'm making a lemon and lime beer that has a light crystal malt base with the OG registering at 1.048. It's been fermenting for a week and I've not seen the usual tell tale signs that the yeast is happy.
So today, I did what I normally would never do. I opened her up early. There was little sign of yeast activity. A few tiny blobs of foam floating on the surface but nowhere near what I'd expect to see. Disaster had struck and it was looking like the pH of the fresh lemon and lime juice, though heavily diluted, had destroyed this brew. Now this yeast I had prepped in a solution of warm water, sugar and some of the lemon/lime mix to get them used to acid and the yeast was foaming healthily when pitched 24 hours later but it is yeast that I haven't used in a long time. I took a measurement of the gravity and there has been some action from the yeast but nowhere near what I'd expect as the gravity was now registering as 1.038. The yeast is not yet dead but it's slipping away into the night.
So here's where I look for the comfort and judgement on whether I've saved this batch or not. I happened to have a sachet of Saflager-s23 dry lager yeast to hand and desperate to try and save the brew, I pitched it in to the brew. 2 -3 minutes later and I could see that the yeast was happily foaming as I'd expect so I sealed it up properly and now I hope.
My worry is that I'm now using two different strains of yeast here and it might cause issues, what do you guys reckon? I'll post the recipe if needed for further judgement if required.
Been a while since I posted on here but I've come across an issue in my fermentation process and I'm seeking comfort and assurance that my fix wont destroy the brew. I'm making a lemon and lime beer that has a light crystal malt base with the OG registering at 1.048. It's been fermenting for a week and I've not seen the usual tell tale signs that the yeast is happy.
So today, I did what I normally would never do. I opened her up early. There was little sign of yeast activity. A few tiny blobs of foam floating on the surface but nowhere near what I'd expect to see. Disaster had struck and it was looking like the pH of the fresh lemon and lime juice, though heavily diluted, had destroyed this brew. Now this yeast I had prepped in a solution of warm water, sugar and some of the lemon/lime mix to get them used to acid and the yeast was foaming healthily when pitched 24 hours later but it is yeast that I haven't used in a long time. I took a measurement of the gravity and there has been some action from the yeast but nowhere near what I'd expect as the gravity was now registering as 1.038. The yeast is not yet dead but it's slipping away into the night.
So here's where I look for the comfort and judgement on whether I've saved this batch or not. I happened to have a sachet of Saflager-s23 dry lager yeast to hand and desperate to try and save the brew, I pitched it in to the brew. 2 -3 minutes later and I could see that the yeast was happily foaming as I'd expect so I sealed it up properly and now I hope.
My worry is that I'm now using two different strains of yeast here and it might cause issues, what do you guys reckon? I'll post the recipe if needed for further judgement if required.
Last edited:
