Finally got my hands on the stout. It's really nice! I think that it's the same yeast though. The dark malts turn the pear into Cola, imo. Coca Cola is primarily fruit flavors and caramel, which makes sense
Spencer Brewery Trappist yeast
- Thread starter djbradle
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djbradle
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So the golden ale bottled on 12/15 is so very tasty. I still have another case of it in bottles and I'm happy I do!
troglodytes
Well-Known Member
Hey dj, I noticed you mentioned that this yeast produces a strong sulfur smell earlier in the thread. This is the first time I've had a yeast that smells this bad. Its permeating the whole kitchen and that's just from a starter. Now I'm not worried and I'm not planning on dumping anything, but is there a conditioning regiment needed to clear that small when it comes time for the actual brew I'm doing tonight. My plan was to pitch at 66F; free rise to whatever (but most likely maxed at 75), hold until complete, transfer to secondary and store at about 55-60 (basement temps for a month). That should be fine right?
It does that - just like 3787 and likely a bunch of belgian and trappist yeast strains.
The sulphur notes arise two to three days into fermentation, but they fade rapidly.
By the time I keg a batch after a couple of weeks in the fermentor, it's gone...
Cheers!
The sulphur notes arise two to three days into fermentation, but they fade rapidly.
By the time I keg a batch after a couple of weeks in the fermentor, it's gone...
Cheers!
troglodytes
Well-Known Member
Man this thing is ripping. Pitched about 200B cells from a vitality starter at 62F and started to let ramp to room temp. Once stabilized at 66F I stuck it in my 55F basement and just let it free rise. It's already up to 77F, 22 over ambient temp, in 24 hours. Blow off is going nuts. Basement smells like farts. I like this stuff.
Should I just let it free rise to where ever it wants to stop then hold it there? Or should I curb the temp so it doesn't get too high?
Should I just let it free rise to where ever it wants to stop then hold it there? Or should I curb the temp so it doesn't get too high?
troglodytes
Well-Known Member
Just took a gravity reading after Week 1. I'm ramping temp artificially by .5F (from 77F) a day until I hits 80F just to make sure this thing finishes dry, but it shouldn't have a problem as it's already down to 1.014 from 1.066.
I tasted the hydrometer sample, though, and I'm not sure I liked what I tasted. For ramping up to a main fermentation in the 70's I tasted no banana, clove, bubblegum, or any other belgiany esters. It was simply a bland base beer with a hearty yeast bite (which is understandable because nearly all the yeast appears to still be in suspension). Here's hoping it ages well.
One question for those that have used this yeast in the past; at what point do you bring the temp down to earth (for me basement temp at 55F) to cool condition? As I want a dry finished product, I'm assuming drop it down and age once fermentation is 100% complete. Bringing the temp down at say week 2 once fermentation is 90% complete will just stall it, correct?
I tasted the hydrometer sample, though, and I'm not sure I liked what I tasted. For ramping up to a main fermentation in the 70's I tasted no banana, clove, bubblegum, or any other belgiany esters. It was simply a bland base beer with a hearty yeast bite (which is understandable because nearly all the yeast appears to still be in suspension). Here's hoping it ages well.
One question for those that have used this yeast in the past; at what point do you bring the temp down to earth (for me basement temp at 55F) to cool condition? As I want a dry finished product, I'm assuming drop it down and age once fermentation is 100% complete. Bringing the temp down at say week 2 once fermentation is 90% complete will just stall it, correct?
troglodytes
Well-Known Member
It seems I'm stalled out completely. there ha been no activity for over a week with 3 gravity readings. My current batch went from 1.064 to 1.016 (I forgot to do a temp correction in my previous thread) with no krausen, yeast rafts, nothing. It was ramped up using the previous posts temp schedule and has been sitting at 80F for the past week and a half. This should have finished at around 1.007 so its currently 10 pts too high with my mash temp of 148 and 2 lbs of sugar in a 5 gallon batch.
I'm now worried, because I've just had someone tell me that Spencer filters and bottle conditions with a different strain, which is the only thing that makes sense. I've had a tasting of my hydrometer samples and there is no flavor whatsoever. No bubblegum, clove, spice. At the temps I fermented at it should be an ester bomb. I was going to harvest the yeast from this batch for a quad I was doing next, but now I'm worried about yeast health and strain.
Has anyone had this yeast quit on them? An can anyone verify that this is or isn't the house strain from Spencer or have I just brewed a beer with bottling yeast?
I'm now worried, because I've just had someone tell me that Spencer filters and bottle conditions with a different strain, which is the only thing that makes sense. I've had a tasting of my hydrometer samples and there is no flavor whatsoever. No bubblegum, clove, spice. At the temps I fermented at it should be an ester bomb. I was going to harvest the yeast from this batch for a quad I was doing next, but now I'm worried about yeast health and strain.
Has anyone had this yeast quit on them? An can anyone verify that this is or isn't the house strain from Spencer or have I just brewed a beer with bottling yeast?
While other breweries often do use conditioning strains, the refectory ales I've brewed using cultured Spencer bottle dregs taste so similar to their Trappist ale there's zero doubt in my mind it's the family strain.
Cheers!
Cheers!
troglodytes
Well-Known Member
Ok, good to know. Now I have to figure out how to dry this out. Maybe some aging will bring the yeast flavors out.
I've done four brews (same recipe) in succession from the first dregs. I start the yeast at 67°F and ramp 1 degree per day 'til topping out at 75°F and let it run from there for a few more days before kegging.
The one thing I've always noted is my ferm fridge gets truly odious around the third day from pitching, Gag Factor 8 (wlp3787 is my benchmark 10).
I expect that's the start of the yeast cleaning up after their first pass through the easy-to-digest stuff. I also expect if you don't get that, you're not going to get the full ester complement out of this strain and it may tend towards neutral...
The one thing I've always noted is my ferm fridge gets truly odious around the third day from pitching, Gag Factor 8 (wlp3787 is my benchmark 10).
I expect that's the start of the yeast cleaning up after their first pass through the easy-to-digest stuff. I also expect if you don't get that, you're not going to get the full ester complement out of this strain and it may tend towards neutral...
troglodytes
Well-Known Member
Oh, I got the odious smell. It permeated the entire house on day 3. That's why I'm really surprised by the lack of ester flavor. Like all good Belgians it'll get better when it's not green. I just don't want to drink a beer that's at FG of 1.016. If there was uncertainty around the actual strain I was thinking about finishing with brett which I have right now at my disposal, but since you've cleared that up, I think I'll try some temp fluctuations and/or rousing to see if I can get it down over the course of the next couple weeks. IF that doesn't work, then it'll get some 3711. I'm just saddened since everyone talks about this yeast finishing in a week, and I'm going on two with a healthy pitch, 60 seconds of pure O2, and 2# of sugar.
But then again, this is not the first under attenuated beer I've had recently. Maybe there is an issue elsewhere that I need to address.
So last question, would it be safe to attempt to brew a 1.095 quad with yeast harvested from this batch? I'll obviously have a huge cell count to work with, but my fear is a mutation (which cause the underattenuation) that will continue with every generation I use.
Edit: I'm just now going through and readng this thread in its entirety. I see that there have been some very long fermentations on both daytripper and dj's beers, so I won't worry so much. I think I will go with a new package of WLP530 for a 1.095 quad, though, as space in my ferm chamber is limited and I can't risk a quad taking up 4 months in the primary.
But then again, this is not the first under attenuated beer I've had recently. Maybe there is an issue elsewhere that I need to address.
So last question, would it be safe to attempt to brew a 1.095 quad with yeast harvested from this batch? I'll obviously have a huge cell count to work with, but my fear is a mutation (which cause the underattenuation) that will continue with every generation I use.
Edit: I'm just now going through and readng this thread in its entirety. I see that there have been some very long fermentations on both daytripper and dj's beers, so I won't worry so much. I think I will go with a new package of WLP530 for a 1.095 quad, though, as space in my ferm chamber is limited and I can't risk a quad taking up 4 months in the primary.
My first batch did take a looong time because I seriously underpitched it.
It was my first brew with bottle-dregs cultured yeast, and at the end I was pretty sure the yield from the initial step was much lower than calculated.
Given the stepping progression from that point a big error at the beginning translates into huge error at the end
I had likely pitched about a third of the cells needed to hit around .75M/ml. Maybe less, who knows? There's not much precision when you're starting with an unknown cell count.
I didn't even try to maintain that batch, figuring what I had was stressed to heck. I started a fresh set of dregs and over-built the starter for each brew to set some aside for the next. I have a good half-pint of clean yeast in one of the fridges for another go when it comes up in rotation.
Aside from the first batch, the other three ran much more quickly, and I've been able to keg them in under two weeks.
[edit] I'll add that all four batches were 60 point OGs. I haven't run this yeast on anything huge...
Cheers!
It was my first brew with bottle-dregs cultured yeast, and at the end I was pretty sure the yield from the initial step was much lower than calculated.
Given the stepping progression from that point a big error at the beginning translates into huge error at the end
I had likely pitched about a third of the cells needed to hit around .75M/ml. Maybe less, who knows? There's not much precision when you're starting with an unknown cell count.I didn't even try to maintain that batch, figuring what I had was stressed to heck. I started a fresh set of dregs and over-built the starter for each brew to set some aside for the next. I have a good half-pint of clean yeast in one of the fridges for another go when it comes up in rotation.
Aside from the first batch, the other three ran much more quickly, and I've been able to keg them in under two weeks.
[edit] I'll add that all four batches were 60 point OGs. I haven't run this yeast on anything huge...
Cheers!
Attempting Spencer yeast harvest. Two bottles down tonight and one to go. It's a hard job, but somebody's gotta do it.
Four days in and no signs of life so far. Wondering if the yeast is dead.
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