First Brew - FastFerment - Imperial IPA

[Resonator]

So this was my first time brewing, and using my FastFerment conical. I chose an imperial IPA from Jasper's/boomchugalug. I probably was a bit overly ambitious to choose such a strong beer for my first brew, but I love IPAs and high ABV haha.

Here's the details and ingredients from the recipe:

OG: 1.091-1.095
FG: 1.013-1.017
IBU: 101

Ingredients:
9.9 lbs light malt extract syrup
1.1 lbs wheat malt extract syrup
1 lb corn sugar

8oz 10L crystal malt
8oz Amber malt

1oz nugget hops 65 min
1oz galena hops 65 min
1oz Columbus hops 65 min
1oz williamette hops 10 min steep after boil
1oz cascade hops dry hop
1oz centennial hops dry hop
1oz zythos hops dry hop

Safale US-05 Yeast

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Grains and hops

Unfortunately I'm in a city apartment, where I have an electric stove and can't really use propane. Needless to say boiling took forever, and my cheap pot doesn't sit flat. So I had to wedge my stirring spoon in between the microwave and stove to make contact.

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MacGyver moment

After boiling, adding hops, and chilling to around 85, I added the wort to the other 2 gallons of water in the fast ferment. At this point I had drank most of a 12 pack, -- mostly to create empty bottles for bottling -- and I forgot to close the ball valve to the collection ball. So since it was open the last 3/4 - 1 gallon of water I added, I tried to adjust for the water in the collection ball and under filled it a bit above the 4.5 gallon mark.

I think that this might have raised my OG by a few points, but in the drunken anxiety of keeping the dirty city air out of my beer, -- and not having a beer thief -- I pitched my yeast at 75F and forgot to take an OG reading.

Anyways here's some shots as its progressed

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Around 12 hours after pitching yeast

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Krausen forming day 1 or 2

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Fermenting well around day 4

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Krausen starting to fall day 7

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Day 8 7/24 yeast settled

Today I noticed my airlock slowing down, and was thinking about dry hopping, but I didn't want to get a stuck fermentation by removing the ball for secondary fermentation early if it hadn't finished.

So I took a sample using my auto siphon, and stirred the yeast back into suspension. In hopes of speeding things up and making the yeast work harder.

I measured the gravity to be 1.022 @ 78F, so 1.024 @60, which would make it somewhere around 9.5% ABV right now if I assume the OG was 1.095 or higher -- from having less water and being the upper limit for recipe.

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Gravity sample

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Yeast settling

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Yeast settled

After tasting it and smelling it, it seems well on its way to being a great beer, but it's just missing that hop smell from dry hopping. Which is another reason why I wanted to make sure my primary finished, so my hop aroma doesn't get pushed out from the CO2.

Since stirring the yeast, the airlock bubbling has increased back to normal rate of a bubble every 3-10 seconds, and will probably wait until it bubbles once every 60-90 seconds before dry hopping -- since I don't want to keep opening the lid for gravity samples with my auto siphon. (Might install a T junction in the thermowell to fit a spigot and longer thermowell soon for easier access.)

Anyways, that's where I'm at right now. Thinking about getting the "Ace of Spades Black IPA" from NB next.

Side note: thankfully there's a draft auto-save for the app. I just almost lost everything swiping the app up and closing it on my phone. Just had to upload the pics haha.

 

[hottpeper13]

Aren't you suppose to ferment with the bottom valve closed and only open for yeast and sediment removal?

 

[Resonator]

Aren't you suppose to ferment with the bottom valve closed and only open for yeast and sediment removal?

Yea probably, but I forgot to close the valve when I poured in the wort. The ball is full of kettle trub for the most part, so it might have even been beneficial this time.

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Day 1

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Day 4

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Day 9

Next time I'm going to leave it closed until I think my primary is almost done before opening it.

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Yeast is starting to settle more and looks like beer is starting to clear

Starting to wonder if I should split up my dry hopping, and have 1.5oz for 14 days and then the other 1.5oz for 7 days.

Also thinking about using gelatin to clear my beer, but since I have no way to cold crash it, I'm wondering if I should add the gelatin at 14 days or 7 days to bottling time.

Only thing I'm concerned about is people saying you lose hop flavor from using gelatin. I'm just wondering what the best schedule for adding hops and the gelatin would be to maximize flavor/aroma while clearing the beer

 

[pshankstar]

Looks good!! Keep us posted as to how it turns out!! Can you share a link to the kit? I too love IPAs!

Once I poured the wort into my fastferment system and topped it off with water I then opened the ball right away before I pitched the yeast. I had a lot of sediment from the wort fill it up pretty quickly. I waited only a couple of days to dump the ball the first time since fermentation seemed to be very quick and aggressive. Plus I was leaving for vacation and a business trip for almost two weeks. Also in that first couple of days a lot of the yeast started to settle too. Here's a pic of what it looked like within 3-4 days before I dumped the first ball.
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Here is a picture of what it looked like after I returned. It had some more yeast but not a lot. The beer looked like it would be pretty clear too.
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I will have to say there was still some sediment from dumping two balls worth of sediment & yeast. I only did one bottle and kegged the rest. I like to bottle at least one in a clear bottle to see the color. Here is the pic of the beer bottled in a Corona bottle (which was used to make margaritas)! It doesn't show the sediment too well here but I could take another pic to show it now that it has settled.
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Congrats on your brew!! It's good to see another person using the fastferment too!!! I figured I would chime in with my experience too since I had so many questions myself the first time through.

 

[pshankstar]

Oh I forgot to mention. Someone told me to fill slowly to help prevent the krausen and other sediment that may be sticking to the sides from going into your bottles or keg. [emoji106]

 

[Resonator]

Thanks for the tip pshankstar, I've heard to only partially open the valve to slowly fill the beer, since it's a 1/2" filler and goes quick.

I might experiment using gelatin to clear the beer, and expect to fill at least 2 sediment balls from the secondary.

Here's the link to the beer. The descriptions on the site crack me up.
https://www.boomchugalug.com/product/roid-rage-imperial-ipa/

Also, what kind of beer was that in the pics?

 

[Resonator]

Whoops double post

 

[pshankstar]

Thanks Resonator!!! I brewed a recipe I found called the "Hoppin' IPA" but the LHBS didn't have the crystal I needed. So I used a half & half mix of Crystal 60L & 150L. They didn't have anything closer to the 90L which is called for. I figured part of homebrewing is experimenting!!! ;-)

I probably should have waited and cleaned the ball out twice from the secondary but I wanted to have it ready for family when they arrive tomorrow.

http://beerrecipes.org/showrecipe.php?recipeid=1261#sthash.gWlw9iJn.dpbs

 

[Yooper]

Not a bad first batch, I'd say!

Next time, you'll remember to close the valve and dump when needed. Also, next time, don't stir the beer once fermentation has slowed. You don't need to stir up the yeast- the stuff on the bottom is the stuff that is done and that's the stuff you dump when you dump the trub. Stirring it with your autosiphon will increase the likelihood of premature oxidation, and serves no beneficial purpose.

Thanks for the photos- I love big hoppy beers!

 

[Resonator]

Thanks Yooper! Yea, I definitely will close the valve next time, or leave it open and let the kettle trub settle and remove the ball before I pitch the yeast.

The only reason I stirred it was because it was such a high gravity beer and I've read how monks would take kegs on walks to get yeast back in suspension after about a week. As well as other discussions about high gravity beer said bringing the yeast back in suspension will help it from slowing down or stalling.

I made sure not to splash around, and only gave it a few stirs to get the top layer of yeast mixed around.

 

[Resonator]

Airlock seems to have stopped this morning. So I took off the collection ball, then cleaned and sanitized it with pdw and star san. Used star San in a spray bottle to clean some sediment out of the ball valve.

The collection ball and ball valve were pretty clogged with sediment. Seems like it's mostly hops clogging it.

Attached the new ball and opened the valve. A tiny bit of trub dropped down in the ball, but it seems like it will be a bit before it settles down.

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New ball attached

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Trub layers

Probably will wait until the trub settles in the ball again before adding the hops for dry hopping -- to make sure primary has really finished.

Just wondering how long it's going to take for the clog to clear on its own.

 

[Baron ken]

Aren't you suppose to ferment with the bottom valve closed and only open for yeast and sediment removal?

Yea probably, but I forgot to close the valve when I poured in the wort. The ball is full of kettle trub for the most part, so it might have even been beneficial this time.
...
Next time I'm going to leave it closed until I think my primary is almost done before opening it.

I was thinking about trying this product and was looking at the descriptions/how to use instructions online.
The descriptions indicated leaving the valve open during fermentation and I found this which also shows it:

 

[Resonator]

I was thinking about trying this product and was looking at the descriptions/how to use instructions online.

The descriptions indicated leaving the valve open during fermentation and I found this which also shows it:

http://newschoolbeer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/FastFerment_Process.jpg[IMG][/quote]


Yea, it is supposed to be open, but I forgot to close it the first time before I could measure the volume.

Now I usually keep it closed for a week and then open it once things settle down, then again after adding my dry hops, and finally once more before bottling.

 

[yeastylad]

If you have the valve closed when fermenting, when you open it to remove yeast/trub, it will glug a huge air bubble up through your beer, which you probably want to avoid, right? Im guessing that's why your supposed to have it open from the get go.

 

[Resonator]

It's only 2 seconds of contact.

You can fill it with beer, water, or purge with co2 if you're that scared about oxidation.

Besides it mostly goes through trub and settled yeast which might wake them up with some O2