Increasing pipeline output

[Crafty_Brewer]

Hi everyone, I’m mulling over some ideas on how to increase the output of my beer pipeline.

I have a chest freezer that holds one fermentor, and I don’t have room for another one.

I’d like to not rush my beer off the yeast either, although I’ll definitely be rotating in some Hefeweizens both because they have a quick turnaround, and they are tasty.

What are your experiences with moving a beer from the temp controller chamber after fermentation starts slowing down to room temp: 68F in the winter and 75F in the summer?

It seems logical that the flavors yeast produce would be fixed in the first part of fermentation, and letting it sit at room temp would let the yeast finish hitting FG and clean up after itself.

How about lagers though? Would that 75F in the summer be too warm for a diacetyl rest?

I’m thinking about a week in the chamber ought to do it, maybe 2 weeks for big beers, then they can take as long as they want to finish/condition outside the chamber.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I believe that once fermentation is mostly done, you can take it out of the temp controlled environment without issues. Lagers may be the exception, but if you're doing diacetyl rest, 75 isn't a deal breaker. I'd keep it cold a week or so after that though.

 

[Tony B]

I have thought about this a lot as well. I would love to get ahead of the game if I actually had time to brew more often.
I ferment in a Fermzilla with a cooling coil in it and a DIY cooling system akin to a glycol chiller.
The options would be to rack a batch to keg after primary fermentation is complete. Usually 3-4 days and let it finish up at room temp so I could run a second batch in the Fermzilla. Or what I would really like to do is run one batch with temp control and another in a bucket at room temp. The room temp beer would have to be done with a kveik or maybe a Belgian yeast that plays well at higher temps. Problem for me has been having enough time to brew two batches close together. Maybe if one of them were a short and shoddy?

 

[Deadalus]

If you have an unheated room anywhere such that its room temperature is <65F, you can ferment ales outside a ferm chamber. What is needed is a seedling heating mat and a temp controller. Now if that room is <<65F (much less) you may be back to needing insulation of some kind. As an example, in my house, I have an unheated basement storage room. It's only in the summer that I need to put ales in a ferm chamber. Depends on your climate.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Yes. IMHO the basic "off flavors" from high temperature ferment come in the early active portion of fermentation. It's why I always cool my wort to BELOW my initial target ferment temp, pitch my yeast, let it rise a little, and then after the first few days start allowing it to rise more to finish.

I.e. for a typical yeast like US-05, I'll chill the wort to 60 to pitch, let it come up to 62-64 to ferment, and after about 3 days of that, I'll add about 2 degrees per day. Helps the yeast finish up but no issues with temp. By the time you're a week in, you could put it in a 75 deg room and it'll be just fine.

You could do this for lagers as well, at least for your D-rest. But obviously then you want to get them somewhere cold for the lagering phase.

 

[BrewZer]

Now if that room is <<65F (much less) you may be back to needing insulation of some kind.

Two wraps of Reflectix will go a long way to hold in heat.

 

[redrocker652002]

This is a great post as I am thinking of adding another faucet and have two taps running at the same time. I, like some of you, don't have a huge amount of time to spend brewing, but I am sure I can figure out a way to brew say two weeks in a row. My other thought is to have a filled keg at the ready when the other keg kicks. I know I have posted many times about this, but I am going to pay close attention on the posts here. Great info so far as my closet usually does not get much above 65 most of the year (yes, living in San Francisco area does have it's advantages). LOL

 

[Crafty_Brewer]

Yes. IMHO the basic "off flavors" from high temperature ferment come in the early active portion of fermentation. It's why I always cool my wort to BELOW my initial target ferment temp, pitch my yeast, let it rise a little, and then after the first few days start allowing it to rise more to finish.

I.e. for a typical yeast like US-05, I'll chill the wort to 60 to pitch, let it come up to 62-64 to ferment, and after about 3 days of that, I'll add about 2 degrees per day. Helps the yeast finish up but no issues with temp. By the time you're a week in, you could put it in a 75 deg room and it'll be just fine.

You could do this for lagers as well, at least for your D-rest. But obviously then you want to get them somewhere cold for the lagering phase.

I had thought that if 75F was okay for the diacetyl rest, and if the fermentation chamber shouldn’t be occupied with another ale for more than a week, I could rotate the lager back in for a cold crash; further lagering would be done in the keg and on the gas in the keezer.

 

[Deadalus]

Another idea is to ferment in kegs, as 2 or more may fit in the chest freezer. In my experience, this required some recipe modification as far as recipe volume, and fermenter considerations such as floating dip tubes and personal fermentation processes. It was something of an experiment to maximize available FC space as I have a glycol chiller now.

Just to note, I used <65F as the room temperature to account for fermentation heat, which is a rise of about 3-4 F. So fermenting around 68-69F. That's on the lower end of many ale yeasts range. I generally use 68F as a starting point when I begin using a new ale yeast but you can go higher if you are familiar with or have information suggesting it's AOK did do so. Or a little lower is usually no problem except for this discussion, it will slow the fermentation down some.

 

[redrocker652002]

Fermenting in kegs has been something I have wanted to try for a while. I need to get a couple that I know will hold some pressure as to keep O2 from getting in and I am guessing drop my volume to about 4.5 gallons in the keg?

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I had thought that if 75F was okay for the diacetyl rest, and if the fermentation chamber shouldn’t be occupied with another ale for more than a week, I could rotate the lager back in for a cold crash; further lagering would be done in the keg and on the gas in the keezer.

Gotcha. I didn't want to assume whether you were bottling or kegging. Lagering can definitely be done in the keg.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

This is a great post as I am thinking of adding another faucet and have two taps running at the same time. I, like some of you, don't have a huge amount of time to spend brewing, but I am sure I can figure out a way to brew say two weeks in a row. My other thought is to have a filled keg at the ready when the other keg kicks. I know I have posted many times about this, but I am going to pay close attention on the posts here. Great info so far as my closet usually does not get much above 65 most of the year (yes, living in San Francisco area does have it's advantages). LOL

Moving up to 2? That's cute. Good for you!

 

[Deadalus]

Fermenting in kegs has been something I have wanted to try for a while. I need to get a couple that I know will hold some pressure as to keep O2 from getting in and I am guessing drop my volume to about 4.5 gallons in the keg?

Some people cut it a little closer but that's where I'd recommend at least to start. You wouldn't necessarily have to rescale, you could take a loss or ferment in a growler or gallon jug with the extra. Some fermcap to keep the krausen down. I took the poppet out when I was doing it to avoid clogging the post so that makes it harder to avoid O2. Dry hopping also will present challenges. You could get a TC keg lid, but there you are now building upwards. There's also a tabbed keg lid, I think you somehow tie a hop bag up and release, not exactly sure how it's done. There are some more extensive threads on it.

 

[redrocker652002]

Moving up to 2? That's cute. Good for you!

View attachment 882166

Since I am the only one in the house that drinks beer I think that might signal an intervention. LOL. Love it though, rock on!!!!!!

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Since I am the only one in the house that drinks beer I think that might signal an intervention. LOL. Love it though, rock on!!!!!!

I'm the only one drinking beer at my house, three taps is sometimes not enough.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

I'm the only one drinking here, too.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Im not the only one drinking beer in my house, 4 taps in the kitchen plus a beer engine and 3 taps in the basement... I think I might need to step up my game.

Ot I do agree, yeast style dependant, after a week of controlled temp, I think you're OK to move to room temp, if in a keg just use a spunding valve as to not overcarb. If that wasnt already mentioned or obvious.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

The best part of my keezer is it only holds 9 kegs and there are 10 taps .

Like I always say, "There are three kind of people in the world, those who are good at math and those who are not."

That being said the side pull, is not compatible with US shanks, so it can't be taken one or off as necessary, like my stout handle. Also, as kegs get low, and i need the space, I'll transfer the small remaining balances to mini-kegs (1-gal) and I can fit two of those in with 9 cornies.