Fusel oils and closed fermentation question.

[ronjer]

I read in Papazian's book that the best way to remove fusel oils in the krausen is to use a blow off tube and let it purge itself out. I use closed buckets and airlocks. Will the blowoff tube and carboy method improve my beers by expelling these oils?, or is the closed method I'm employing now be o.k.? BTW, I have noticed a little something (can't quite define, the 'twang' perhaps) in my beers sometimes, but nobody else seems to notice. I also do not have a tight control of ferm temps, but fairly controlled. Until reading this I was blaming temp flucuations.

Thanks and a good weekend to all!

 

[chrisknight]

Dont worry if you dont have blow-off. I have used a closed blowoff/airlock rig for more than 10 years. Concern yourself with primary fermentation temps and pitching temp/pitching rate. Temp fluctuations IS probably your problem. Most people that use extract suffer from "twang" at some point. AG brewers can experience it too but not usually.

 

[david_42]

High fermentation temperatures produce fusel alcohols. The only way to deal with them is to control the temperatures. If your fermentation is producing them, only a tiny percentage would be in the krausen.

 

[Revvy]

High fermentation temperatures produce fusel alcohols. The only way to deal with them is to control the temperatures. If your fermentation is producing them, only a tiny percentage would be in the krausen.

What he said!

One of the cheapest easiest temp control is to do the t-shirt/icebath/fan method...I use a simple rubbermade bin....you can get fancier, and modifiy an ice cube, or get into temp control through refrigerators, but if you are just starting out this works fine. I can get down to the high 50's for the first 12-24 hours of fermentation using frozen water in various sizes including 2 liter soada bottles.

Having a fan blowing on it adds a few more degrees.