Accidental Biofine experiment

[Cgeern]

I brewed a 2.5 gal batch of pumpkin ale this last weekend. Mashed at 154, boiled, chilled, pitched a whole packet of S-04, and put in temp controlled fridge at 66 degrees. I was on autopilot when pitching, and like a moron I also added 10 ml of biofine clear right after the yeast. Honestly don’t know what I was thinking, I always add it to the bottling bucket. Airlock was bubbling furiously after 16 hours. I take a peek at 48 hours and no activity ( I know it doesn’t necessarily mean anything) but since my other batches were always bubbling along at this point, I couldn’t help but be suspicious that I had ruined it. I took a reading from the spigot and it was at 1.020, down from 1.054 (and it was tasty!). Brewfather says it’s supposed get down to 1.013 or so. So now I’m wondering if the biofine dropped the yeast and ended fermentation. Time will tell, will take a reading in a few days. Has anybody done this? What’s your prediction?

 

[cfrazier77]

What was your grainbill and mash temp? 1.020 may be correct for your recipe. And, S-04 can go very fast.

 

[Cgeern]

Yeah I was wondering anout that. Mashed at 154. Maris 80%. Victory 8%. Crystal 607% and pumpkin puree in mash.

 

[cfrazier77]

You may be at the right final gravity. If you have some more s-04 you can pull some beer, put it in a flask and put on a stir plate with the new yeast. If you don't have new yeast you could try to get some from the bottom of the vessel. This is basically a forced fermentation test. Let it got for a couple of days and see if the gravity lowers. If it does you can add more yeast to the fermentor.

 

[Cgeern]

Great advice, thanks. Will try that!

 

[GoodTruble]

Damn. This post reminded me that I forgot to add biofine to my last lager. Can I just add it to keg after it is already carbed/sealed?

 

[Cgeern]

I don't see why not, as long as you're quick about it.

 

[Cgeern]

So an update. Two days after testing a sample, gravity has fallen from 1.020 to 1.017. Not terribly far from where it was expected to finish. Confirms what we are always told, that just because there's no bubbling, there can still be fetmentation going on. Didn't try a forced fermentation on a sample because I didn't have any more s-04.

The good news is that adding biofine when pitching yeast does not necessarily kill fermentation. It may slightly reduce attenuation, but clearly not too bad. Not sure if that says anything bad about biofine, or if there are other effects I haven't noticed yet.

 

[GoodTruble]

Is the beer very clear?

 

[Cgeern]

It's a bit cloudy, although I pull samples from a spigot and there was a good deal of pumpkin particulate that made it into the fermentor. I'll add some more biofine in the bottling bucket. But dang it tastes good.