Pressure fermented Czech Pilsner wyeast 2278

[Meyerssawa]

Hey all,

I have brewed several pressure fermented batches in the past year and spund To naturally carbonate. This most recent was double decocted Czech pilsner oxygenated for 2 mins with pure o2, sealed the corny with gas and set the spunding valve to 15psi ambient temp at 68F. I used wyeast 2278 made a starter with dme and crashed it once gravity showed it had dropped.

the beer fermented quickly as most pressure fermented beers do. Gravity was hit in 4 days and stable for the next 3. Spunding valve was set to 30psi with a couple gravity points left. Cold crashed for 2 days and close looped pressure transferred to a purged keg. The beer is fully carbed and I usually let it sit in the keg a week or so before judging it. Samples it 2 days in and getting some fruity esters. I know it’s early on but my previous batches have never had any fruity eaters.

grainfather 220v is what I use


Grain bill:
7 lbs Weyerman floor malted pilsner
1lb Munich light
.25lb carapils
Hops saaz, first wort, 80, 20, flameout 1 oz each

mash: 122, decocted and held at 156 then boiled for 15. Added back to the main mash and held at 142. Second decoction boiled for 15 mins and added back to the mash kept at 158. Mash out at 168 and sparged. Boiled 90 mins and used the hops schedule above. Counter flow chiller got the wort to 65F.

My friend runs a brewery and he advised to transfer it again after a couple weeks to another keg. I have a floating dip tube but I added to much weight to it to keep it submerged so it is currently drawing from the bottom.

any info or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Meyerssawa]

Sorry I meant to add these numbers

mash PH of 5.3 15 mins into the mash cooled to room Temp.

OG 1.056
FG 1.015 held steady with my tilt pro and validated with my hydrometer at room temp

 

[DJL531]

I'm looking to get into pressure fermenting. What I am wondering about is racking over. I have kegs, I plan to use them to ferment, but what happens to all the trub in the primary? I've heard of people cutting off the dip tube by a few inches, others saying the first push of beer clears out the trub...

What's your experience?

 

[Meyerssawa]

You can cut the dip tube but a floating dip tube is what inside weighed down with a stainless steel bolt. I had issue before with the tip tube floating above the liquid and it just blew co2 during the transfer. Was a pain because I would have to stop the transfer, depressurize the FV , resubmerge the tube and start again.

I have had no issues since weighing down the dip tube. I close transfer from my fermenting corny keg to a sanitized and purged serving keg. The transfer takes 10 minutes and I have a spunding valve on the receiving keg set a couple psi lower as a counter pressure. I do this because I am transferring naturally carbonated beer and don’t want it to foam up.

 

[DJL531]

Perfect, thanks! Same here. Looking to preserve the carbonation that is in the fermentor.

 

[Near-Beer-Engineer]

I just recently tried my hand at pressure fermentation on a Blonde ale (at room temp and 15psi). Shortly after fermentation was done (~6 days) I tasted the sample and noticed a slight butterscotch flavor no doubt from some diacetyl, first time I've ever really noticed that flavour in years of homebrewing. It also had a very subtle lemony citrus flavour to it, perhaps from some esters. Otherwise the beer was clean.

I transferred that beer to a serving keg the next day and popped it in the fridge under pressure. A week later the diacetyl was totally gone and the beer is the cleanest I've made. So, you may find that the same thing happens to you - give it some time and it may clean itself up.

I can't really explain why pressure fermentation was so effective (which is embarrassing given I'm a chemical engineer) but I was very impressed.

I'm just realizing now that this post is a couple months old... my bad. Please let me know what happened to this beer!

 

[moreb33rplz]

I'm a firm believer that no matter if you pressure ferment, ferment warm, or whatever, a lager is going to taste incorrect or not its best unless it's actually been lagered. Preferably 2-3+ months.

 

[uSlackr]

I'm a firm believer that no matter if you pressure ferment, ferment warm, or whatever, a lager is going to taste incorrect or not its best unless it's actually been lagered. Preferably 2-3+ months.

blind taste test time

 

[kwmystra98]

I'm looking to get into pressure fermenting. What I am wondering about is racking over. I have kegs, I plan to use them to ferment, but what happens to all the trub in the primary? I've heard of people cutting off the dip tube by a few inches, others saying the first push of beer clears out the trub...

What's your experience?

If you get the fermzilla all rounder, it has the capacity to get rid of trub on bottom as well as a floater so the beer transfers from the top. It has a screen to keep out any leftover hops, etc. You can pressure ferment in just a few days.