Just sayin'.
Makes me start worrying about leaky seals, expired yeast, etc.
Makes me start worrying about leaky seals, expired yeast, etc.
I don't like "lag phase"
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pvtpublic
Whale Oil Beef Hooked
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I'm on the C-Pap train- RDWHAHB. Don't forget those yeastie boys need to reproduce, regenerate their glycogen reserves, and boost the structure of their cell walls to give you a healthy fermentation. You're dealing with a living creature. Think of it as your pet (I had to stop and laugh at that one as I'm typing, even though there's some truth to that). Proper oxygenation will help, so will a proper pitch. Don't rush that lag. Remember, Luke tried rushing the X-Wing out of the bog ( Episode 5, if you're uncultured). Zen, my brother, I'm not even from Cali or Fort Collins.
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
Plenty of ways to reduce "lag phase" for yeast going apeshit...
Proper oxygenation of wort/must.
Pitching proper healthy yeast cell count (even with 'old' yeast to start with).
Getting the wort/must to the optimal temperature range for the yeast to get going.
Making sure the yeast also has enough 'food' to replicate faster/easier before fermentation really gets going.
Many years back I removed airlock sign as a way to tell what's going on inside a fermenter. Using temperature is a solid way to know (without using something like a Tilt hydrometer). I would run a temperature sensor into the middle of the fermenting vessel (via a thermowell) to get a solid reading. Later on I moved to completely sealed fermenters (fermenting under pressure) with spunding valves. I still used temperature as a solid measure until getting a couple of Tilt units.
That being said, depending on what you're fermenting vessel happens to be, you could have leaks that prevent the airlock from showing any sign. Either move to a vessel that DOES fully seal, with the only exit being the airlock. Or just ignore the airlock completely.
Proper oxygenation of wort/must.
Pitching proper healthy yeast cell count (even with 'old' yeast to start with).
Getting the wort/must to the optimal temperature range for the yeast to get going.
Making sure the yeast also has enough 'food' to replicate faster/easier before fermentation really gets going.
Many years back I removed airlock sign as a way to tell what's going on inside a fermenter. Using temperature is a solid way to know (without using something like a Tilt hydrometer). I would run a temperature sensor into the middle of the fermenting vessel (via a thermowell) to get a solid reading. Later on I moved to completely sealed fermenters (fermenting under pressure) with spunding valves. I still used temperature as a solid measure until getting a couple of Tilt units.
That being said, depending on what you're fermenting vessel happens to be, you could have leaks that prevent the airlock from showing any sign. Either move to a vessel that DOES fully seal, with the only exit being the airlock. Or just ignore the airlock completely.
The lag phase also brings some anxiety for me. With strong beers (and weak pitches) it has occasionally taken over 24 hours to show visible signs. I try to remind myself that, in my many years of brewing, fermentation has always started.
The best way to alleviate anxiety is to change behavior. If you want consistent quick starts update your yeast handling procedure to grow more, very fresh yeast. Yeast is arguably the most important part of brewing, so it is worth the effort. I have gone to yeast freezing which is great and forces me to grow up a fresh pitch for every batch.
I'll argue that you are only moving the lag phase from the fermenter to the flask you are growing the yeast in. There will always be a growth time to make more yeast. If you buy more yeast, you just move it from your location to the yeast manufacture's facility.
This is true, but... starters start fast in my experience. Maybe the total time (short starter lag plus shortened fermenter lag) is about the same as the (anxiety producing) longer lag. Tradeoffs between money, effort, time, and emotional health can get complicated
Beer can help!I would agree. It is a balance though. Imho, a 5 gallon batch with a long lag time (24+ hours) represents too few active/healthy yeast cells to begin with. An instant start would possibly rob the batch of some flavor that comes from yeast growth. Nothing good is happening to your wort as it sits there before the yeast take over.
My preferred approach is ~2 liter starter for a 5 gallon ale which shows airlock activity in around 6-12 hours.
Brewed a tripel yesterday. Got a very late start because I was waiting on a delivery and didn't want to get interrupted and screw up my schedule. Pitched dry yeast at around 8 PM. It was bubbling away by early this morning.
So my advice is to sleep during the lag phase.
So my advice is to sleep during the lag phase.
OP
OP
Very interesting. If at all concerned, I can re-check my SG (now underway) to confirm that it is, in fact, underway.
I love my refractometer.
am i the only one that is more worried about making sure my blow off tube is in a big enough container?
I wondered about that when I splurged on a Flex+ But somehow, kraüsen (sp?) hardly ever even hits the lid! Weird in a good way. What about in the milk jug?
The change is so subtle that I doubt you can measure it.
I had my iSpindel report in 1 point precision and had to wait for 12 hours for the first sign.
Changing to 0.1 point precision, and I found the gravity changes in a few hours, sometimes just one or two.
Try Verdant IPA if your are missing that
.
I put a blow off tube in my blow off container.
the milk jugs are 15 gallons, and i only brew 10 gallon batches, so no blow off 'yet'...(at least as far as i can remember, i haven't been brewing as much as i should this year
a lot of people do, but you still have to clean up a lot of crap!
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
Not needed blowoff tubes (at all) once I moved to pressure fermentations. Plus NOT going too close to max capacity of the fermenter used.
I would make starters that got me as close as possible to the 'ideal' yeast pitch levels per recipe. Yes I've used liquid yeast (from the start) and have used some aged packs with multiple starter steps in the past. First step would typically be the longest to complete (sometimes 2-3 days). After that, <24 hours to finish each step.
Once you go to more reliable fermentation activity measures, airlocks don't matter. Even though I would see gas being released via the spunding valves, that was less of a concern/interest. There are MORE important things to track IMO/IME.
Back to lag time (not related much to blow off AFIK), can anyone say whether short/long lag-time brews have corresponded with better/worse beer quality? ... assuming that quality judgment can be separated from the joy/anxiety of the lag phase itself
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