Last weekend I brewed a 5.5 gallon batch of CA Common for my 2nd all grain batch ( 6th overall). I used WLP810 for my yeast, but I didn't make a starter and I only pitched one vial ( hey, i'm new at this). Pitching temp was 70 degrees, but I brought it down to 61 about 12 hours later. Since then the temp has been stable and the carboy looks pretty active, but I am wondering when/if I should pitch more yeast. I was thinking about waiting for the carboy to calm down to take a gravity reading. Thoughts?
Underpitched CA Common
- Thread starter iagainsti
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Yep. You under-pitched by quite a lot since lagers need twice the cell count vs. ales. At least you've now become aware of that.
At this point, pitching more yeast won't really help. It's fermenting. Let it ride. Check the gravity this weekend to see if you're far enough along to take it up to around 68*F for a diacetyl rest. When it's 75-80% of the way from OG to expected FG is the time to raise the temp.
At this point, pitching more yeast won't really help. It's fermenting. Let it ride. Check the gravity this weekend to see if you're far enough along to take it up to around 68*F for a diacetyl rest. When it's 75-80% of the way from OG to expected FG is the time to raise the temp.
What BigFloyd said; you underpitched. This particular yeast is a hybrid, so it's not as bad an underpitch as a pure lager yeast, but still, definitely too few yeast cells. Also, while opinions vary on this, I would wait until you hit your fermentation temp before pitching yeast, especially for hybrid/lager yeast. This style is allowed to have some light fruitiness to it, but not much. Pitching warm increases the probability that the yeast will produce esters during the early part of the fermentation process. Next time you may want to bring it down to your ferm temp (which for the style/yeast selection you have, I would probably suggest 56-58 F), then pitch a proper amount of yeast.
All that being said, you'll still have beer on your hands, and very likely drinkable. Enjoy.
All that being said, you'll still have beer on your hands, and very likely drinkable. Enjoy.
capt82
Well-Known Member
How did your beer turn out?
I under pitched my CA Common with the same yeast and fermented at 72-74*. This was an Anchor Steam clone and my beer came out great. I put it next to a real Anchor Steam and had several do the taste test. They all said it was the same beer, (only SRM and clarity made the obvious difference).
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I under pitched my CA Common with the same yeast and fermented at 72-74*. This was an Anchor Steam clone and my beer came out great. I put it next to a real Anchor Steam and had several do the taste test. They all said it was the same beer, (only SRM and clarity made the obvious difference).
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So far so good. I haven't had a good time to bottle until this thursday, so we will see how the final product tastes then. Took my final gravity reading the other day and it was sitting at 1.012. The sample tasted great. I got the fermentation temp down to 61 in a homemade swamp cooler.
Cracked the first beer open last night, and its damn tasty. No major fruitiness from esters. I think getting down to a low and stable temp within the first 12 hours really helped. I also think it really benefited from the 6 weeks it spent in the primary. The one thing I would change (aside from the underpitching) would be my mash temp. I mashed at 153, and the beer has slightly more body to it than I'd prefer. I also might play around with the hop schedule too. All in all its turning out to be a really good batch. I'm actually kicking myself because I can't find where I wrote the recipe that I put together for this brew. It was something like this:
8 lbs two row
1.5lbs Munich 10l
.75 Crystal 60L
.5 Victory Malt
1 oz N Brewer 10.9% at 60
.5oz N Brewer 10.9 at 15
.5oz N Brewer 10.9% at flame out
White Labs San Fran Lager yeast
8 lbs two row
1.5lbs Munich 10l
.75 Crystal 60L
.5 Victory Malt
1 oz N Brewer 10.9% at 60
.5oz N Brewer 10.9 at 15
.5oz N Brewer 10.9% at flame out
White Labs San Fran Lager yeast
capt82
Well-Known Member
Congrats,
Seems WLP810 is a pretty forgiving yeast. So far, the CA Common is my favorite beer to make. I now have a fermentation chamber I can ferment at cooler temps and know I under pitched my last batch, but I might just purposefully make these "mistakes" again next time.
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Seems WLP810 is a pretty forgiving yeast. So far, the CA Common is my favorite beer to make. I now have a fermentation chamber I can ferment at cooler temps and know I under pitched my last batch, but I might just purposefully make these "mistakes" again next time.
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