helmingstay
Active Member
I'm trying to up my experimenter chops. So after some searching that didn't turn up much, I'm trying this myself.
Problem statement:
I'm using Wyeast 3725 to do a warm (and very dry) farmhouse ale in my very warm apartment. This yeast is fun -- 1.045 to 1.007 and still bubbling with a clean effervescent taste, but it *really* doesn't flocculate. A 1qt sample in the fridge took >1week to fully clear. I'm looking for something cheap, simple, and vegetarian to speed the process along.
Proposal:
Bentonite is very cheap, and I have some, and I'm lazy. Some background -- bentonite is like really tiny slate. It's made of lots of wide, thin sheets. The surface of its plates have the same charge as yeast, so it isn't usually used for yeast flocculation. But the edges of those plates have the opposite charge of yeast (since the plates must be electrically neutral). I'm thinking that the edges of the plates might bind to multiple yeast cells and help form larger aggregates that fall out.
The set-up:
I just racked from a ~10 day, 75-80 degF primary fermentation. I racked one gallon onto 1/2 tsp of bentonite boiled in 4oz water. The rest of the batch was racked into a large carboy. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but...
Status so far:
The bentonite settled into a distinct, darker layer within 24 hours. A significant layer of lighter colored yeast deposited on top. The test beer is still pretty cloudy. It's hard to tell if the control beer has significantly less yeast deposited so far, or if there's any difference in clarity between the two. I'll pulled my first sample of test beer earlier today and stuck it in the fridge to settle. I'll have initial flavor tests and pics up soon.
Here's a pic of the control batch. If anyone has anything they'd like me to test/check, I'm open to suggestions...
Problem statement:
I'm using Wyeast 3725 to do a warm (and very dry) farmhouse ale in my very warm apartment. This yeast is fun -- 1.045 to 1.007 and still bubbling with a clean effervescent taste, but it *really* doesn't flocculate. A 1qt sample in the fridge took >1week to fully clear. I'm looking for something cheap, simple, and vegetarian to speed the process along.
Proposal:
Bentonite is very cheap, and I have some, and I'm lazy. Some background -- bentonite is like really tiny slate. It's made of lots of wide, thin sheets. The surface of its plates have the same charge as yeast, so it isn't usually used for yeast flocculation. But the edges of those plates have the opposite charge of yeast (since the plates must be electrically neutral). I'm thinking that the edges of the plates might bind to multiple yeast cells and help form larger aggregates that fall out.
The set-up:
I just racked from a ~10 day, 75-80 degF primary fermentation. I racked one gallon onto 1/2 tsp of bentonite boiled in 4oz water. The rest of the batch was racked into a large carboy. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but...
Status so far:
The bentonite settled into a distinct, darker layer within 24 hours. A significant layer of lighter colored yeast deposited on top. The test beer is still pretty cloudy. It's hard to tell if the control beer has significantly less yeast deposited so far, or if there's any difference in clarity between the two. I'll pulled my first sample of test beer earlier today and stuck it in the fridge to settle. I'll have initial flavor tests and pics up soon.
Here's a pic of the control batch. If anyone has anything they'd like me to test/check, I'm open to suggestions...