I/PA Inquiry - Fork in the Road

[saintdog327]

Hello to everyone,

About a week ago I started fermenting my Imperial Pale Ale (8%abv). After much reading of the forum and "How To Brew" I realized there were a lot of things I didn't do right, naturally. The first was my lack of aeration during the transferring, which I know is crucial for such dense/high abv beers. The second was not re-hydrating the dry yeast before pitching it. Those two things alone I know will affect my beer. So my question to the forum is: how bad is it for the beer if I pass it on to a secondary fermenter, re-hydrate some yeast to throw in and aerate a bit more? Will it hold very negative effects on the outcome of the beer; oxidization, off-flavors, etc.?

 

[unionrdr]

I'd just let it ride at this point. Pitching dry yeast as is is fine to many folks on here. I prefer to re-hydrate. And always oxigenate the wort before pitching. And def not after it's started fermenting,unless you like wet cardboard beer.
I pour my chilled wort & top off water through a fine mesh strainer into the FV to get some air into it. It gets 3-5" of foam on it this way. Then stir roughly for 5 minutes straight to be sure the wort/water mixes well so as to get an accurate OG reading. Not to mention,getting it decently oxygenated.

 

[saintdog327]

Thank you Uniondr. I'll let it ride out and hope for the best. For next time

 

[BrewerinBR]

Aeration is critical but the yeast will do their work only a little slower, I have had beers ferment out very well with very little aeration. Just takes a little longer to start. Adding dry yeast directly to cooled wort will work, a lot of guys do it. Re-hydrating speeds up the process. Do not aerate the beer after fermentation has begun, that will cause off flavors and oxidation. I do not use secondary unless I am aging a beer more than 90 days and many others here don't and others do, personal preference. IMO let it set for 30 days and test it, see how far it fermented, if the final gravity is reached... bottle it.. or if the gravity stays the same over a 3 or 4 day period... but pretty much 30 days it will ferment as much as it is going to

 

[saintdog327]

BrewerinBR - Thank you for your response. I think 30 days would be a good point to get another reading.

 

[Brewnoob1]

From experience, bigger beers, the longer you can hold off on doing anything with, the better and better it will become. I did an 8.5% that was just okay about a month after brewing....but after another month in the keg.....WOW...freaking amazeballs is all I can say lol. You didn't really do anything too terrible. As mentioned, pitching dry is fine and aeration...well, it will work. Just remember to do better next time. RDWHAHB...it's FRIDAY!

 

[unionrdr]

I never test any of my beers till the 2 week mark,just to get an idea of how much longer it'll need to get down to a stable FG. Then give it 3-7 days to clean up & settle out more. The beer should be clear or just slighly hazy on bottling day.

 

[dcp27]

So my question to the forum is: how bad is it for the beer if I pass it on to a secondary fermenter, re-hydrate some yeast to throw in and aerate a bit more?

don't do that. just make sure to keep your ferment temps down (<70F) and you'll be fine. I wouldnt bother with a secondary, its useless unless you need the primary for something else. just leave it in the primary for 3+ weeks.

 

[daksin]

Actually, if you used dry yeast, you can skip the aeration step. Yeast use oxygen to produce sterols and other unsaturated fatty acids. Before yeast is dried, the manufacturer goes through a lot of trouble to make sure they have made all that they need, so extra aeration is unnecessary. Some people say it may even contribute to staling, but I don't think that's the case. In any event, you really only need to aerate beers you've made a starter from, from liquid yeast (don't make starters from dry yeast- you're undoing all that work!).

 

[unionrdr]

Being a dry yeast doesn't negate the need for o2 in the reproducrive phase. I can't imagine who would purvey such info. My ales have gotten better since I started aerating more. Yeast need o2,regarless of being dry or wet when stored. When in the wort,they need it regardless.