Recent content by serum

WLP011 is good, also what about an Alt yeast?

French saison and Belle saison don't need to be really hot. Thr strains you get now probably aren't representative of what people used on farms back in the day. They'd probably just use whatever they could get their hands on. Biere de garde is generally fermented at the colder end of what the...

It's not too long but not entirely necessary either. I try to get mine out after two weeks but there have been times when I haven't which is because I couldn't be bothered or didn't have the time. There were also a few times when I knew the yeast wasn't done as I'd fermented low on purpose and...

I think a single infusion at 148 will get it pretty low. That's what gave me high attenuation with yeasts that were meant to leave a bit more behind.

I'd agree with that. Too much yeast gives a cleaner beer

Yep totally normal. I bought a 3L flask to do starters because it took off so much. The Westmalle one is the same if you ever use that. I can't remember which number it is though.

I've had loads of beers go way beyond the attenuation levels the manufacturers put on the specs. I think it's something to do with how I mash.

The suspended yeast can give that taste. I find the same with saison yeasts sometimes. They taste quite full for the first month or so and then when the sediment all falls they're cleaner and more dry. 550 at low temps is quite clean

Some people seem to pitch fairly hot but when I've done that I've had fusels. I start low (17-20) and try to prevent it from getting too high in the first 3 days but then let it get hot after that.

When I've used 550 I get a bit of a confused hop flavour until it's conditioned. it takes a while for everything to blend together.

A combination of things affect the flavour. The starting gravity, aeration, temperature and yeast cell count will all change the flavours the yeast produces. I ferment for 2 weeks and then bottle and carbonate for another 2 weeks before bottle conditioning for as long as I can. If you...

Boiling off a portion of malt gives a very nice flavour. I do this instead of a 3 hour boil when I make Biere de garde because I don't have time for the long boil. It seems to work well. From what I understand it's all about melanoidins and decoction is another way to get those. Farmhouse ales...

A few of my beers had this last year which I think was due to me being a bit sloppy when recovering yeast from bottle dregs. Some of them never really got an assertive lacto character even after aging and actually ended up quite good.

I got on really well with WLP011 but was using it with a single temperature infusion for Biere de Garde and it got down to 1.010 even when mashing at 66C so it can finish dry if you treat it a certain way. I was expecting it to leave more behind but I reckon if you did a step or decoction it'd...