dogbar
Well-Known Member
Brewed a Belgian blond this Saturday. Used the recipe from the May/June 2009 Zymurgy (in which there's a pretty serious typo in the hops schedule, btw). Added 1.5 pounds of sugar to get the gravity up to 1.068 for more of a Leffe experience.
Brew day went well. Forgot my 5.2, but efficiency seemed fine. Pitched a 1L WLP 550 yeast starter that was chilled and decanted.
Woke up Sunday morning and the thing was bubbling like mad. Container temp was pushing 72, so I stuck it outside for a couple hours so it wouldn't overheat. When I got back a few hours later, temp was down around 67 and the bubbles had stopped.
Hmmm ... seemed a little weird. That's really not that low a temp. Brought it back inside to warm it up. Next morning, we're at 70 degrees and still no bubbles.
Time to go Google the yeast. Yep, stuck fermentations seem to be an issue for some people with the 550. I've never, ever had one stick before no matter what yeast I was using, but there's a first time for everything. Moved it into my office where the temps are a little higher. Bucket's at 72 degrees. Still no action.
Dang, must really have ticked those little guys off. Ok, time for the sanitized SS spoon to get things going again. But wait, pop the top and that's one fine looking krausen. This thing doesn't look bad at all.
Oh well, top's off, might as well do a little gentle stirring then get things covered up again to avoid throwing in too much oxygen.
Five hours later, still no bubbles. At this point, I'm thinking this just must be some weird ferment progress I've never seen before. It _was_ going pretty hard after 12 hours. Maybe it's just going to go really, really slowly from here on out. Meh, test it in two weeks and see what's happened.
Then I notice ... that the vodka level ... in the airlock ... is, oh, kinda low. Like maybe even below the level of the vents on the little bobber deal.
Topped it up, bubbles aplenty.
Excuse me while I go mill about the beginner's forum for awhile as penance.
Brew day went well. Forgot my 5.2, but efficiency seemed fine. Pitched a 1L WLP 550 yeast starter that was chilled and decanted.
Woke up Sunday morning and the thing was bubbling like mad. Container temp was pushing 72, so I stuck it outside for a couple hours so it wouldn't overheat. When I got back a few hours later, temp was down around 67 and the bubbles had stopped.
Hmmm ... seemed a little weird. That's really not that low a temp. Brought it back inside to warm it up. Next morning, we're at 70 degrees and still no bubbles.
Time to go Google the yeast. Yep, stuck fermentations seem to be an issue for some people with the 550. I've never, ever had one stick before no matter what yeast I was using, but there's a first time for everything. Moved it into my office where the temps are a little higher. Bucket's at 72 degrees. Still no action.
Dang, must really have ticked those little guys off. Ok, time for the sanitized SS spoon to get things going again. But wait, pop the top and that's one fine looking krausen. This thing doesn't look bad at all.
Oh well, top's off, might as well do a little gentle stirring then get things covered up again to avoid throwing in too much oxygen.
Five hours later, still no bubbles. At this point, I'm thinking this just must be some weird ferment progress I've never seen before. It _was_ going pretty hard after 12 hours. Maybe it's just going to go really, really slowly from here on out. Meh, test it in two weeks and see what's happened.
Then I notice ... that the vodka level ... in the airlock ... is, oh, kinda low. Like maybe even below the level of the vents on the little bobber deal.
Topped it up, bubbles aplenty.
Excuse me while I go mill about the beginner's forum for awhile as penance.
