Scottish Wee Heavy - 4 day fermentation

[srkaeppler]

Hey All-

I bought a Northern Brewer Scottish Wee Heavy Extract kit. I made a 40 or so ounce yeast starter, with 2 packs of dry Danistar Nottingham yeast. Yeast starter was strong. The Wee Heavy before pitching had a gravity of 1.090. Now the instructions for the Wee Heavy say that it is suppose to be in active fermentation for 2-4 weeks.

The large yeast start caused very vigorous fermentation. As of today, four days later, the gravity is 1.020.

So two questions, one of which I may need to ask the northern brewer guys, should I keep it in active any longer to pick up any flavors? (not really sure why I'd do that...)

And my more general question - is there any advantage to having a 'slower' primary fermentation? I don't envision having this happen again, but it was a neat experience.

I'd really appreciate any advice.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[rocketman768]

And my more general question - is there any advantage to having a 'slower' primary fermentation?

Yeah. Fast fermentations (and overpitching) tend to throw out a lot of fusels. However, slow and underpitched results in lots of esters, so there is a tradeoff.

 

[indigi]

How warm was it where it fermented? Notty's pretty aggressive, but I can't see 70 points of attenuation in 4 days if you held it in the low-mid 60s.

Leave it in primary for another 10 days to let the yeast clean up what they can.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

Let it go at least 2 weeks in primary. Just because it hit final gravity doesnt mean the yeast have finished cleaning up all their by-products.

 

[Golddiggie]

Taste test it after 2 weeks... If you think it's ready for bottles, have someone else try it too.

Personally, I would wait the full 4 weeks (now) for a heavy brew, before bottling/kegging it...

With the fast fermentation you saw, you might need to let it age before it actually gets really good... The old taste test will reveal all...

 

[jfr1111]

Leave it in the primary. You don't rush big beers like that and I very much doubt a 1.090 beer on yeast that fermented in a healthy manner could pick up significant off flavours from the cake in less than a few months. Plus, Nottingham flocculates easily, but you still have to wait for it to actually do so. I'd take another taste at 3 weeks and bottle if ready, tasting every other week.

 

[srkaeppler]

Hi All-

Thank you all for the responses! Fermentation temperature was mid-upper 60s, but NOT greater than 70 degrees. I live in Iowa and the temperature has been a balmy 10 degrees outside lately, the fermenter is in my bedroom which is the coldest room.

I did taste the beer and there were not significant off flavors that my semi-untrained tongue could detect, but there was a stiff alcohol taste.

As for leaving it in primary for a few more days, that was the recommendation of many people. I was planning on transferring it over to secondary and letting it sit for a long time. Should I still let it sit a bit longer in primary then rack over to secondary?

Thanks again!

Steve

 

[srkaeppler]

I also wanted to mention that I am planning on putting this beer into secondary, and have it age on some oak for a while. I could see that enhancing some of the complexity. It may not be in the strict guidelines of the style, but I wanted to experiment with using oak and this brew seems like a complimentary one to do that with.

 

[rocketman768]

there was a stiff alcohol taste.

Fusels.

Should I still let it sit a bit longer in primary then rack over to secondary?

No. You should just let it sit several weeks on the primary. Only living yeast can clean up fusels and esters. You will not achieve this if you rack to secondary.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

Fusels.



No. You should just let it sit several weeks on the primary. Only living yeast can clean up fusels and esters. You will not achieve this if you rack to secondary.

He's right. Even though your ambient temp in your closet was in the 60's, the temperature inside the carboy was probably a bit higher. Fermentation is an exothermic reaction, the yeast create heat as they go and I have seen carboys be as much as 10 degrees above ambient during the height of fermentation. This could have lead to some fusel alcohols.

Also, yes on the second point. The yeast make the beer, no reason to take them out of the equation so soon. The beer doesnt just condition and improve by itself, it's the yeast in there cleaning up.

 

[srkaeppler]

Thanks again guys. Maybe I missed something then. I thought that aging in the bottles tended to take care of most of the fusels? Am I wrong about that? Or is this situational? In addition, I thought it was pretty standard to rack out of a primary generally within 1 weeks or so after the kreusen has fallen in the fermenter.

My plan(which I will wait now) was to rack into secondary, let it clear out for a month or two if needed. I was then going to bottle it and let it sit for at least a month, probably longer like 2-3 months. I have had good results in the past with letting beer sit in bottles for a while.

Thanks again, I look forward to more responses, I am just trying to learn what I can.

Steve

 

[jfr1111]

I would just leave it in the primary for a few more weeks. 1.090 probably produced a lot of yeast, so it might take some time for it to flocc out and form a nice tight cake. Racking now would only make you lose more beer than necessary.

Secondary for as long needed for the beer to pick up the wood flavours.

 

[El_Exorcisto]

Yeast does the cleaning, and there is a much higher percentage of yeast when in primary. Bottle conditioning does some cleanup as well, but nothing like leaving it on the whole cake. Secondary has been proven unnecessary, so let it do everything it needs to in primary. Once that is done, toss it on the oak and see what shakes loose.