Spencer Brewery Trappist yeast

Worcester here. Always wanted to drop by the Spencer brewery since it is rather close to me.....tastings? I know they dropped the price of their 4 pk from $17 to $13 and some change but still no other option than the pale ale. Maybe they should hire me for their stronger offerings [emoji16]

Bolton here. I read they are committed to brewing only the refectory ale for the first five years. After that we should expect some different offerings.

I brewed a BPA from bottled cultured yeast from the first offering but had no luck. I wonder if they used a champagne yeast to carb the first batch. I know they were under the gun to get product tip market.

Would love to try to culture this yeast again.

Haven't seen much press on this yet, but there's a new Spencer brew coming soon.



"After talking to retailers, Spencer has decided to expand its product line. In addition to the abbey ale, the brewery will release Spencer Trappist Holiday Ale in November. Trappist Russian Imperial Stout will follow early next year."

Happy Happy about all that!

Cheers!

[edit] I'm a Globe subscriber so I don't know if this article is visible to non-subscribers. If y'all can't get to it I'll pull it in here.
It has some interesting insight into the brewery operation...

[edit2] Another tidbit here, showing the Holiday Ale bottle labels...

psubrewer said:

Bolton here.

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Oh wow. We have people from Bolton, Stow and Lancaster in one thread.

Anyway. I'm excited for the new beers and definitely that lower price

Small world: I went to college in Colorado - mostly because of the skiing

I'm going to make sure the local packy has an order in for the Holiday Ale.
They were on top of the first release and always have the Pale on the shelf, but one can't leave these things to faith.
While it's not one of my favorite beer styles, I almost feel an obligation to help out the abbey in some miniscule manner.
I mean, how cool is it to have the only Trappist community in the States this close?

Aaaand I had to buy a pair of the abbey's stemware, just on GPs - even with the punitive shipping charge.
Although they're only a half hour or so away it would feel unethical to visit an abbey just to score some glasses - especially considering my total lack of religiosity.
Gotta manage one's karma when one can (wait - is that irony? I'm not sure )

Anyway, I don't know that they even sell them there.

obligatory on-topic paragraph: The Spencer batch is still churning along. This is gonna be the most interesting brew I've done in a long time.
I'll confess that brews have been pretty formulaic here for some time - I have a dozen beers I brew regularly - and this is actually a much needed excursion into The Unknown.

Cheers!

Are they doing tours and tasting now at the brewery? Last time I inquired when they first opened there was nothing happening at the brewery.

Gee whiz. And I have 20 lbs of grains for a RIS that I will be brewing in about two weeks. I was aiming to use 1056 and S-04 mixed but now that this news has popped up I think I may make my ghetto Spencer RIS!

Funny thing happened day_trippr in that the Spencer dubbel (aptly named "Blackstone dubbel") stopped off gassing altogether and I decided to take a refractometer measurement. Assuming some error it was at about 1.017 and 8%abv. The bucket top was removed to find a pretty clear surface with some small bubble groups about 4 days ago.

Just went down there to the brew room tonight to find the airlock popping every 5-8 seconds now so methinks it just started up again. Weird.

That kind of thing would make me nervous and wondering what was going on.

Then again, I'm sitting here watching what must've been an epic under-pitch slowly chomping its way through 5.5 gallons of wort, wondering what the end game is going to look like

Got my pair of Spencer glasses. I like 'em a lot - my new favorite stemware...

Cheers!

djbradle said:

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Ehhh not my best brew day. Second time trying an 8 gallon batch since a month ago and before that it was with different equipment about 2 years prior so I'm still honing the changes. I tried to pour from the 9 gallon kettle which had 8 gallons in it and spilled a bit( a few ounces only) plus had to add about a half gallon of top up water since I was shy that much in the fermenters. The kettle reading before that was Brix 23.5/Hydro 1.098.

The one on the left got 500mls of Spencer slurry to make 4.75 gallons, the one on the left got 300mls of Spencer slurry and 150mls of WLP540 slurry for 3.5 gallons. I pitched it at 76F by mistake but it will sit here in the basement at the low 60's so that by active fermentation I expect it to normalize. It's moving down about 1C per hour at this rate.

First high gravity Spencer pitch here we go!

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So at about just under 6 months from brew day I have a problem. The WLP540/Spencer mix is down nicely from Brix 21 to Brix 9 making a nicely attenuated brew. The Spencer only brew is still at 12 Brix?!? Kinda perturbed at this as I gave it a very large healthy starter and worked it to the secondary phase after a long primary.

Wondering know whether my process was off but being that I experienced some weirdness with the dubbel not long ago with restarting it's fermentation ( It is now at 8.5 Brix after the the slowdown at 10.6) I don't know what to make of it. All of my Spencer brews have finished nice and low with attenuation in the 80th percentile. Should I throw some more various yeast at this 3 gallon carboy? Say some 3522? Or some slurry from the dubbel?

I just bottled up the dubbel and siphoned a good amount of slurry into the quad carboy so we'll see what happens.

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Ah yes all is well now! Finishing up on those sugars. I wonder why it pooped out? 76F right now. It was brewed on 4/28.

Sanitation aside, trying to determine pitch size has always been the big issue for me with using harvested yeast. Most of that is a side-effect of less than compulsive break removal during the brewing process. Which means there's a lot of trub to go along with the post-fermentation yeast collection.

So then I try to relate what I have on hand with various calculators, with pretty much no confidence that there's a correlation

And then there's the whole bottle-dregs resurrection thing. I have this lovely Spencer yeast that I'm now quite certain I had not propagated up to an appropriate pitch size, hence its batch is still puttering along, having finally reached 1.025 - a solid ten points high.

I'm probably going to have to rack this batch off its yeast cake on top of the 3787 cake from the other batch, so I'll still have the Spencer yeast to build up for another try.

Stumbled on this article from a year ago. Another interesting take on Spencer...

Cheers!

djbradle said:

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Ah yes all is well now! Finishing up on those sugars. I wonder why it popped out? 76F right now. It was brewed on 4/28.

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Living on the edge eh? Or is that secondary?

TheHairyHop said:

Living on the edge eh? Or is that secondary?

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Secondary indeed. Something strange with this generation number 6...

I know yeast will change over time but this one didn't finish the job. Throwing the healthy dubbel yeast slurry into it worked well; strangely enough considering I threw a proper yeast starter that was not a yeast cake or a washed cake slurry. Being that Daytrippr's yeast is slow at 1.025 is not according to my experience as the first 5 gens were spot one and at around the mid 80's efficiency. Love this yeast profile though!

day_trippr said:

Sanitation aside, trying to determine pitch size has always been the big issue for me with using harvested yeast. Most of that is a side-effect of less than compulsive break removal during the brewing process. Which means there's a lot of trub to go along with the post-fermentation yeast collection.

So then I try to relate what I have on hand with various calculators, with pretty much no confidence that there's a correlation

And then there's the whole bottle-dregs resurrection thing. I have this lovely Spencer yeast that I'm now quite certain I had not propagated up to an appropriate pitch size, hence its batch is still puttering along, having finally reached 1.025 - a solid ten points high.

I'm probably going to have to rack this batch off its yeast cake on top of the 3787 cake from the other batch, so I'll still have the Spencer yeast to build up for another try.

Stumbled on this article from a year ago. Another interesting take on Spencer...

Cheers!

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Came across that article from BYO a few months ago. Good read!

I don't know if my O2 supply was high enough. I sense that when I opened the bucket top the fermentation restarted so maybe it needs some more O2 supply than I gave it? I really don't know as my process has not changed from previous gens.

Hope yours dries out more though! Maybe to keep it straight Spencer you should add a little O2?

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Enjoying my first lambic as I enjoy this thread!

So should I or shouldn't I pitch the RIS wort right on top of the dubbel Spencer cake? It was 1.076..... I'm torn between a Belgian RIS or a standard English RIS.

What the heck, go for it. Could be epic!

I missed your O2 question from last week - I swear the HBT app does a horrible job showing "Unseen" posts. Anyway, I'm pretty much down on adding O2 once the yeast have started doing their thing - even if they wimp out. Too concerned that they won't scrub the O2 out before it oxidizes the beer, and I'm wicked sensitive to oxidized beer character.

I pitched a healthy dose of 3787 in full krausen straight off the stir plate and it took off again in short order. I need to do another SG check to see where it's at...

Cheers!

I plan on buying a few stouts including a Belgian stout to get an idea of what might be the best choice. Tossing it on the cake would be quite easy though and there would be more than enough healthy yeast!

I never experienced an oxidized beer before except for an old ale that was like 8 years old with a cork. Cardboard flavor aside it was more of a sherry wine note. Maybe my palette doesn't discriminate.

So what did you throw the 3787 at? The Spencer batch or something else?

The Spencer batch (go back about a dozen-odd posts).
I'm convinced I didn't grow up a big enough pitch and it stalled out around 10 points high, so I grew up some pretty old wlp099 and dumped that in...

Cheers!

Gotcha. Here's my second dubbel brewed on 9/15. Just popped a bottle to check that was the dregs of the bucket. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1446689223.609323.jpg

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Snagged one for $12 🙂

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Here it is (Spencer Holiday ale). Very clear served at the low 40's. Rushing bubbles from etched glass work in the bottom of this chimay glass. Spiced herbal tea with hints of Coca Cola on the nose. Medium carbonation probably around 2.5 volumes. Good lacing on the sides of the glass. Quite interesting with the spice addition very much in the fore. Cinnamon stick, clove, maybe some cardamom? Hard to get the yeast profile in this one. Man, that Coca Cola on the nose is stunning! I like my first dubbel batch more! Haha! I would buy again though.

Pretty beer.
My local hadn't gotten their allotment as of Saturday, I need to check with them mid-week - or swing by Bishops over near you tomorrow...

Cheers!

I'm excited to go home for Thanksgiving and toss one or two of those back. The closest packy to me is in Leominster, and I think they'll have it

That is purty. In general I'm not too crazy about spice-forward beers, unless you're talking spicy yeast character. Coca-cola, huh? Wonder if we'll get it on the left coast.

It's got that Shasta coca cola flavor. Not like Coke or Pepsi but the cheap versions. It's really interesting. I can't pick up the yeast at all and I've pushed that profile to the limit with my Spencer brews. The spice is gentle and we all know it's difficult to get it right in a brew while using them as additions. I think they did a good job with it for a holiday ale.

djbradle said:

It's got that Shasta coca cola flavor. Not like Coke or Pepsi but the cheap versions. It's really interesting. I can't pick up the yeast at all and I've pushed that profile to the limit with my Spencer brews. The spice is gentle and we all know it's difficult to get it right in a brew while using them as additions. I think they did a good job with it for a holiday ale.

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I know you've been experimenting a lot with this yeast. Do you mind posting your favorite recipe and fermentation schedule?

I'd be happy to although I'd be hard pressed to rate my best recipe but outlining my fermentation schedule would be fairly standardized. I do have another triple that is finishing up primary and a quad that as you might remember restarted fermentation after almost 6 months of stalling. Still looking for the one....I believe any recipe befitting a Belgian ale would do well and if you have experience with a personal favorite this yeast would do it justice.

Here it goes:

For an all grain dubbel-

Belgian Pale malt - 76%
Belgian Caramunich - 4%
Special B - 4%
Flaked oats - 2.6%
Carafoam - 2.6%
Light muscovado sugar - 8%

Northern Brewer 14AAU at 60 mins
Hallertau 4AAU at 20 mins


This one was my favorite so far. Scale accordingly and for the sugar any high quality unrefined sugar should do added after primary fermentation slows down a bit. Color should wind up to a dark garnet. It was a 4 gallon recipe.

For the fermentation with this one I started at 64F on the sticker and after 48 hours worked it up to 68F. At that measurement I went bold and got it to 80F that same night. I added the muscovado sugar at this point as well. After one more week held at 80f it was close to terminal gravity whereby I gradually lowered the temp to 68F. It was bottled at the 4 week mark. Starting Brix was 17.7 and finished at 8.4.

Hopefully I'm not being too general but if you have any other questions just let me know. With all the brews I've done with this strain that special flavor that comes from it is what I strive for. I've never really brewed the same recipe twice as of yet.

That's perfectly descriptive. Do you under or over pitch? It sounds like you go for standard rates

Probably a bit underpitch as my original gravities are from 1.078-1.098.

For my starters in the beginning I used a 1 liter flask of 1.040 wort fermented, decanted, and pitched at ambient temps close to my target temp as possible. I would say a nice yeast layer about a little less than a pinky thick. If I wasn't so careless I would use this method for all my beers.

For washed yeast it was at most a middle finger and a half thick in a pint mason jar each time with no starter. I haven't brewed enough with both methods to tell the difference since all performed the same with regards to fermentation timelines and finishing efficiency albeit the quad that may have been temp shocked. My second dubbel batch did stop and restarted when I opened the bucket top as well. I might chalk it up to no so optimum yeast health. Those practices remain the standard of course. Never used 02 or aeration stones either. Just pour from a height for good suds and pitch.

I rarely buy commercial brews anymore and it's not so much the price as it is more so my tastes in what I brew for Belgian ales.

Whoa.... The golden strong went from 1.076 and is now down to 1.002. I can't believe that attenuation. It is also still fermenting. But all my other measurements have been accurate to a certain degree. The Spencer yeast has not taken any of my brews that low yet. Certainly one would say infection but none is apparent in taste or look.

It has been very finicky as of late. Too much variation such as stopping and starting, one too high and some very low. I think a new culture from some bottles might be necessary as these later generations may have morphed into something different.

They didn't have any of the new brews available when I looked at home. I went to a Kappy's and a Wyman's in Leominster.

Well well, I think we might have gone as far as we can with this strain in terms of generational reliability. I did another golden strong ale and the fermentation went as expected until, as I described, the fermentation stopped and restarted. Before and during that transition I worked the temp up to about 78-80 degrees. The smell was quite pungent and the gravity kept dropping right down to about 94% attenuation! Kinda ridiculous as I was was mainly getting the mid 80's from the start with this strain.

I started fermentation on 10/28. I bottled just the other day on 12/15. When I popped the lid this mild burnt rubber smell permeates my nostrils........uh oh. Here's hoping that flavor gets scrubbed over time in the bottles! I never got that aroma before now and I'm sure there was no infection since the beer was clear with no other signs of strangeness. I think it has mutated somewhat.

Anyone have anymore feedback on their attempts? I'm still waiting for bottle conditioning on the tripel and quadrupel. The dubbel ended up at a bdsa abv level so that's where it stands. Still needs time......Just cracked a Spencer pale ale tonight from a buy 6 get 15% off and it is way different from my attempts! Ha!

I have a 6g batch that was balky through primary but finally hit a reasonable FG of 16 points. I decided to let that cellar for awhile as the downstairs is pretty chilly lately and it might help settle the intense cloud of yeast.

Btw, did I mention this is the least flocculant yeast strain I've ever used?

Cheers!

I find that strange as it was very clear on my first 2-3 generations. The latter ones not so much. As it is in their versions the yeast does not compact at all. I used whirfloc in my batches but that may not have any effect on yeast flocculation; never checked that out. And for a strange reason it loves to cling to the sides of every bottle [emoji205]

Well, the slow fermentation and even slower flocculation behavior could all be the result of a mutation during the bottle-dreg resurrection phase. I'm considering starting a new culture - when I keg this batch I'll pick up a four-pack to compare up close and personal...

Cheers!