philipCT
Brewniversity student
- Joined
- May 10, 2013
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I brewed a 10 gallon AG batch on Nov 17th.
At 1.062, the recipe OG is right at that borderline of where you want to make a starter. If I was brewing 5 galls I definitely would have made a 1500ml starter (I use liquid smackpaks). That would have given me a really healthy cell count. Pretty much well over the minimum. By half
As it was, I decided to make a 2200ml starter for the 10 galls but the calcs showed that I was still just at the minimum. I had to go with it. The biggest flask I have is 2L and I didn't really have time to step on it again anyway.
I nailed the preboil gravity and vols and everything was textbook after that, so I was surprised to miss my OG by 4 points at 058. But I've learned not to stress these things (not really, but if I keep saying that...).
I always add fermcap into the fermenters now, for 2 reasons: (1) during aeration the foam in the carboy is controlled and (2) it suppresses blow-off during fermentation, This doesn't mean my fermentations don't blow-off - more do than don't - but they are just a bit better controlled.
Fermentation in 2 separate 6-1/2 gal carboys was, interestingly enough, not exactly the same. One blew out and I had to fit a blowoff tube. The other was very active but better behaved and got by with just an airlock. I figure there was just more/less something in the later part of the beer to drain from the BK. Not sure what.
The active part of the fermentation was short. Like 4 days.
The first finished at 1.0125, the second at 013. Tested after 5 days, and 10 and finally on Dec 10th - bottling day. Same every time. So, brew to bottle, primary only, in 24 days. I usually transfer to secondary and condition for 2-3 weeks, so this was a real quickie.
Taster from hydrometer tube was very nice. Orange is not prominent - in fact it was hard to pick it out, either by aroma or taste. Wonderful full body though. Can't wait to drink it.
I'll let them bottle condition till the 20th (10 days), but I have a feeling they won't peak till mid-Jan, but then they gotta go. We bottled 4-1/2 cases of 12 ouncers (yup, 108 bottles!), of which we reserved 12 for in-house. The rest we're slapping on our 2013 Christmas Card/Bottle Label on them and delivering to friends all over town. Will post a beauty shot of the bottle before they go.
Ho, Ho, Ho!!!
At 1.062, the recipe OG is right at that borderline of where you want to make a starter. If I was brewing 5 galls I definitely would have made a 1500ml starter (I use liquid smackpaks). That would have given me a really healthy cell count. Pretty much well over the minimum. By half
As it was, I decided to make a 2200ml starter for the 10 galls but the calcs showed that I was still just at the minimum. I had to go with it. The biggest flask I have is 2L and I didn't really have time to step on it again anyway.
I nailed the preboil gravity and vols and everything was textbook after that, so I was surprised to miss my OG by 4 points at 058. But I've learned not to stress these things (not really, but if I keep saying that...).
I always add fermcap into the fermenters now, for 2 reasons: (1) during aeration the foam in the carboy is controlled and (2) it suppresses blow-off during fermentation, This doesn't mean my fermentations don't blow-off - more do than don't - but they are just a bit better controlled.
Fermentation in 2 separate 6-1/2 gal carboys was, interestingly enough, not exactly the same. One blew out and I had to fit a blowoff tube. The other was very active but better behaved and got by with just an airlock. I figure there was just more/less something in the later part of the beer to drain from the BK. Not sure what.
The active part of the fermentation was short. Like 4 days.
The first finished at 1.0125, the second at 013. Tested after 5 days, and 10 and finally on Dec 10th - bottling day. Same every time. So, brew to bottle, primary only, in 24 days. I usually transfer to secondary and condition for 2-3 weeks, so this was a real quickie.
Taster from hydrometer tube was very nice. Orange is not prominent - in fact it was hard to pick it out, either by aroma or taste. Wonderful full body though. Can't wait to drink it.
I'll let them bottle condition till the 20th (10 days), but I have a feeling they won't peak till mid-Jan, but then they gotta go. We bottled 4-1/2 cases of 12 ouncers (yup, 108 bottles!), of which we reserved 12 for in-house. The rest we're slapping on our 2013 Christmas Card/Bottle Label on them and delivering to friends all over town. Will post a beauty shot of the bottle before they go.
Ho, Ho, Ho!!!
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