ayrton
Well-Known Member
Recipe:
-1 lb. chocolate malt
-1/2 lb. roasted barley
-1/2 lb. carapils
-5.5 lbs. dark DME
-WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast in a 1-pint starter
-3 oz. unknown hops that I picked from my aunt-in-law's place in September and froze (half for boiling, half for finishing)
O.G. was 1.062
Info from White Labs on my yeast:
WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast
Clean, highly flocculent, and highly attenuative yeast. This yeast is similar to WLP002 in flavor profile, but is 10% more attenuative. This eliminates the residual sweetness, and makes the yeast well suited for high gravity ales. It is also reaches terminal gravity quickly. 80% attenuation will be reached even with 10% ABV beers.
Attenuation: 70-80%
Flocculation: Medium to High
Optimum fermentation temperature: 65-70°F
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium-High
Anyway, to my problem: I pitched on Sunday evening around 5:00, and had ~1 bubble/sec on yesterday morning. It slowed considerably by last evening, and now I have ~1 bubble/3-4 seconds. I'm going to wait for it to stop completely and then take a gravity reading and go from there, but in the meantime, I want to know a couple of things.
1) This yeast was very clumpy when I bought it, and was still in my starter. I guess the flocculation tends toward the high side. Do I need to stir up the beer with a long spoon to get my yeasty friends active again? I hate the thought of opening the carboy for anything, especially if it will involve stirring. I *did* take a slight peek at it yesterday, and there wasn't krausen, but a very thin layer of bubbles on the top. Not sure if it fell already or what.
2) Is it possible that it finished that quickly? My last couple batches were higher in gravity and had pretty explosive fermentation for the better part of a week. This one is already very slow at 36 hours.
3) Why can't this stuff ever go smoothly from start to finish?
-1 lb. chocolate malt
-1/2 lb. roasted barley
-1/2 lb. carapils
-5.5 lbs. dark DME
-WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast in a 1-pint starter
-3 oz. unknown hops that I picked from my aunt-in-law's place in September and froze (half for boiling, half for finishing)
O.G. was 1.062
Info from White Labs on my yeast:
WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast
Clean, highly flocculent, and highly attenuative yeast. This yeast is similar to WLP002 in flavor profile, but is 10% more attenuative. This eliminates the residual sweetness, and makes the yeast well suited for high gravity ales. It is also reaches terminal gravity quickly. 80% attenuation will be reached even with 10% ABV beers.
Attenuation: 70-80%
Flocculation: Medium to High
Optimum fermentation temperature: 65-70°F
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium-High
Anyway, to my problem: I pitched on Sunday evening around 5:00, and had ~1 bubble/sec on yesterday morning. It slowed considerably by last evening, and now I have ~1 bubble/3-4 seconds. I'm going to wait for it to stop completely and then take a gravity reading and go from there, but in the meantime, I want to know a couple of things.
1) This yeast was very clumpy when I bought it, and was still in my starter. I guess the flocculation tends toward the high side. Do I need to stir up the beer with a long spoon to get my yeasty friends active again? I hate the thought of opening the carboy for anything, especially if it will involve stirring. I *did* take a slight peek at it yesterday, and there wasn't krausen, but a very thin layer of bubbles on the top. Not sure if it fell already or what.
2) Is it possible that it finished that quickly? My last couple batches were higher in gravity and had pretty explosive fermentation for the better part of a week. This one is already very slow at 36 hours.
3) Why can't this stuff ever go smoothly from start to finish?