under pressure.

[fluketamer]

started my first pressure ferment yesterday. i made 4.5 gallons of 1.045 wort from 8 lbs of pilsen and a pound of munich light.
hallertau at 60 and 5.

i pitched 1 pack of 34/70 at 68 degrees.

i put a blow off on the gas out casue i was to afraid of clogging the prv with kreusen.
after 12 hours thers was a thick kreusen and a bubble every 2-3 seconds so i switched the blowoff to a spundy set at 12 psi.

i spindel says 1.031 in less then 24 hours. WOW.

i have tried 34/70 warm and although good, its not as good as cold fermented IMO.

i hope under pressure this tastes good. its a little easier then setting up the chiller and coil.

 

[wdavis2003]

It should turn out well but don't rush it. I'd let it sit for 4 or 5 days after it reaches FG to finish up. Maybe even longer. Then cold crash. Since you're spunding, it will be nearly carbonated to the desired level before kegging.

 

[fluketamer]

it was going well at 12 psi for 48 hours but this morning i woke and it was zero? i put 10 lbs of co2 on it but why the drop is it a leak?

the ambient temp dropped 2 degrees is that enough to make it read zero?

is the pressure supposed to drop to zero when you pressure ferment . was i supposed to bung it with some gravity points left? i didnt see that reccomended excpet if you are trying to carbonate the beer prior to transfer.

if it goes back to zero am i supposed to just add a little co2 pressure for the transfer.
sorry very new to this

 

[wdavis2003]

Sorry I'm responding late. Hope you got it figured it.

You should have been able to leave the spunding valve on it at 12 psi and it should have stayed there. That means you have a leak somewhere. Tighten up the liquid and gas posts first and put a few psi of pressure back on it and see if it holds. If not, the leak is somewhere else.

The temperature drop is likely due to fermentation being finished.

 

[fluketamer]

yeah it was a leak at the carb cap on the gas post .

its holding now at 10 psi.

thanks for the response.

this was wild 35 points in 24 hours then nothing. 78 percent att. 5.4 percent abv .

in your experience does pressure really make cleaner beer than the same temps at atmosphere ?

this never got above 70 degrees but i am a little leary that it wont have off flavors at that temp .

we will see soon



.

 

[wdavis2003]

Pressure fermented lagers are really crisp and clean in my experience and don't worry about the temp getting to high. I think my best lager to date got up to the mid 70's. It was done fermenting in 18 hours! That was with S-23 though. I've had really good lagers using 34/70 under pressure as well.

I've never done a lager that high without pressure so I can't answer the question on how they compare. If I don't use pressure, I do the traditional lager method of starting out in the low to mid 50's.

 

[fluketamer]

kegged this today. this 100 PERCENT worked.

i fermented a lager between 68- 70 degrees. it reached 71.4 for a few hours at the peak of fermentation. it was kegged in 5 days!!!!

absolutely no off flavors whatsoever.

like zero. its a perfect clean lager in 5 days with just a swamp cooler at ambient temps without ice addition. it may even be cleaner than my cold fermented lagers. at least my palette has a hard time distinguishing.

this was too easy.

i have tried 34/70 at 68 degrees at atmospheric pressure and it was drinkable but it took weeks to clean up and still wasn't as good as my cold fermented lagers or this one right out of the gate.

i thought i would detect something like at least a little meat or sulfur or tartness, or something but all i taste is crackers bread beer and a touch o' the hops. This will be my method going forward. much easier than the chiller and coil or ice baths.

love pressure fermentation.


a little upset that my fermzilla with temp twister coil which already has been collecting dust for the last few weeks will be neglected from now on.

five days for beer is crazy. gelatin in the keg and force carb could get me grain to glass in prolly a week. it actually finished in 2 and i prolly could have kegged it then. this is different that what i am used to in homebrewing.

onwards , upwards - beer !

 

[wdavis2003]

Pressure fermentation is a game changer.

What you can do moving forward if you have a style where you want the yeast to produce a little ester note is start the fermentation without pressure for about 24-36 hours and then pop the spunding valve on after that and dial it in to your target psi.

Post a pic when it's ready to drink!

 

[fluketamer]

anxiously awaiting for it to lager/ clear . ill give it about a week , i cant wait.

ambient temp fermenting like in the old days is so nice. no ferm fridge / temp controller. no ice baths, no coils. so much easier . only now it makes good beer. lol