To be honest, this isn’t the first time I’ve been worried about an infection, but this might be the one that actually is.
Saison fermented with WLP565, “open” fermentation with a piece of foil covering the grommet on my bucket lid, as suggested by Drew Beecham for this particular yeast strain to avoid the stall. Left for 3 weeks, ended at 1.007, cold crashed for 24 hours. Used an 8 gallon bucket for a 5 gallon batch because that was all I had on hand at the time. Replaced the foil with an airlock before cold crashing.
I went to keg yesterday and noticed more “stuff” than usual floating on the surface. Typically I’ll see some hop residue, maybe even a thin film that I attribute to hop oils, and a few clear bubbles. This time, there’s a bit more going on. First time using this yeast, and it seems that saisons are maybe more prone to yeast rafts?
However there are one or two spots that have white-ish bubbles, which are my main concern. I kegged anyway, avoiding the white bubbles. Sample tasted tart, but it’s an uncarbed saison at this point so it’s hard to say if it’s normal or not, but it didn’t taste “bad.”
I’m going to drink it but wondering what you guys think, if I should change my process at all next time, ditch the bucket, etc. Thoughts?
Saison fermented with WLP565, “open” fermentation with a piece of foil covering the grommet on my bucket lid, as suggested by Drew Beecham for this particular yeast strain to avoid the stall. Left for 3 weeks, ended at 1.007, cold crashed for 24 hours. Used an 8 gallon bucket for a 5 gallon batch because that was all I had on hand at the time. Replaced the foil with an airlock before cold crashing.
I went to keg yesterday and noticed more “stuff” than usual floating on the surface. Typically I’ll see some hop residue, maybe even a thin film that I attribute to hop oils, and a few clear bubbles. This time, there’s a bit more going on. First time using this yeast, and it seems that saisons are maybe more prone to yeast rafts?
However there are one or two spots that have white-ish bubbles, which are my main concern. I kegged anyway, avoiding the white bubbles. Sample tasted tart, but it’s an uncarbed saison at this point so it’s hard to say if it’s normal or not, but it didn’t taste “bad.”
I’m going to drink it but wondering what you guys think, if I should change my process at all next time, ditch the bucket, etc. Thoughts?