Uninspiring IPAs

[Robert65]

Note that the dissolved oxygen resulting from any single element of the described process would be measured on the order of percentages or fractions thereof. Meanwhile, the amount of post fermentation dissolved oxygen which will inevitably lead to oxidative damage and staling is measured in parts per BILLION. You will be rewarded for anything and everything you can do to avoid introducing oxygen.

 

[Steven Barrett]

Related cross post of experimentation with CO2 purging before bottling:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...dspace-o2-in-a-bottle-conditioned-ipa.653798/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...dspace-o2-in-a-bottle-conditioned-ipa.653798/

 

[Mer-man]

If your PH is too high, you will not get good hop utilization. Target PH is 5.2 in the mash. Don't buy the 5.2 PH Stabilizer like I did. If you read the reviews, it doesn't work and adds salt to your beer. Get your water professionally tested.

You’re right to avoid 5.2 stabilizer — it buffers upward, not downward like people want. For that, just reduce residual alkalinity.

Hop utilization as a function of pH is a measure of isomerization. Nothing to do with aroma compounds.

 

[mattdee1]

I use a carboy for fermentation and 3 gallon pin-lock kegs.
How much oxidation is occurring in this process:

After fermentation, cold crashing done allowing air to suck back in.
Transfer to keg with standard siphon.
Seal keg
Attach CO2 to liquid-out post and push CO2 up through the beer.
Purge whatever comes out of the gas-in post.
Repeat gas/purge 2 more times.
Attach C02 to gas-in post and pressurize for carbonation and later serving.

I didn't think too much air would go in during cold crash, nor would it replace all the CO2 from fermentation.
Transfer does swirl a bit, but is pretty slow...how much damage is being done here?
I thought my purging process was pretty good, but hard to tell I guess.

Of these I think the easiest to fix without more equipment is the cold crash suck-back with a well-timed balloon attachment.

Using non-purged kegs and having everything just out in the open air while you transfer from carboy to keg is something you really should look at if you want to make the best IPA possible. Anecdotally, I started seeing amazing improvements on hoppy beers once I started purging kegs and doing closed transfers. There are lots of things in home brewing that are more dogma than proven beneficial, but oxygen avoidance on hoppy beers is definitely not one of those things.

As for cold crashing and dealing with suck-back, I'll take a probably controversial position here and ask, why bother with cold crashing at all? I don't understand everybody's insistence on this step. It's certainly not needed for clear beer, as the beer will "cold crash" in the serving keg over time (see photo of a recent non-cold-crashed pale ale I made). I guess with hoppy beers cold crashing helps address the problem of dry-hop matter clogging up your racking cane when you're transferring to kegs, but there are other ways of protecting against that.

 

[WestMichBrewer]

Thanks for the advice...that's a nice looking beer right there...making me thirsty.

 

[Jag75]

Nice looking beer ^^^^ I cold crash I'm my kegs lol

 

[Cavpilot2000]

Agreed - cold crashing is not necessary.
But, if you spund THEN cold crash for a few weeks once it has finished carbonating in the keg, you get the best of all worlds.
Oh wait...that's called lagering...

 

[Steven Barrett]

Oh wait...that's called lagering...

Sure you can lager your ales... but can you ale your lagers?

I appreciate all the feedback. Are you guys doing closed transfers fermenting in glass carboys and closed transferring to kegs? Or fermenting in a keg and transferring to another? Since I only have one keg, the simplest solution seems to be fermenting in the serving keg. I have a floating top draw for my liquid line, so the only drawback I see is yeast autolysis. Should I be concerned about that?

Edit: Typo

 

[VirginiaHops1]

Sure you can lager your ales... but can you ale your lagers?

I appreciate all the feedback. Are you guys doing closed transfers fermenting in glass carboys and closed transferring to kegs? Or fermenting in a keg and transferring to another? Since I only have one keg, the simplest solution seems to be fermenting in the serving keg. I have a floating top draw for my liquid line, so the only drawback I see is yeast autolysis. Should I be concerned about that?

Edit: Typo

I do keg to keg closed transfers but I began the closed transfer journey when I was using Better Bottle plastic carboys. You can use one of those orange caps with the 2 openings, and have a siphon in one(pulling the beer out) and CO2 gas pushing into the other. This didn't always go as smoothly as it does now for me but it certainly was better than an open transfer. It can be done with glass too but you obviously have to be very careful of how much pressure you push in so it doesn't explode on you.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

Sure you can lager your ales... but can you ale your lagers?

I appreciate all the feedback. Are you guys doing closed transfers fermenting in glass carboys and closed transferring to kegs? Or fermenting in a keg and transferring to another? Since I only have one keg, the simplest solution seems to be fermenting in the serving keg. I have a floating top draw for my liquid line, so the only drawback I see is yeast autolysis. Should I be concerned about that?

Edit: Typo

Yeah, I'd be leery of pressurized transfer with a carboy.
I started out with pressurized transfers using keg to keg, but didn't like that I could only put 5 gallons in the primary keg and end up with like 4.5-4.75 gal in serving, so I looked for an alternative that wasn't crazy expensive and settled on the SS Brewtech Brewbucket, of which I now have two and I love them. There is a less expensive/less features version out there but I can't remember who makes it - Stout?

I think yeast autolysis is overstated as a worry, because once you drop the whole affair down to serving temp, the yeast are pretty dormant anyway and not cannibalizing their fallen comrades. Those of us who spund end up with yeast in the serving keg for months on end with no detrimental effect. In fact, they can actually help clean up fermentation byproducts (diacetyl, etc). It definitely helps using a floating dip tube if you are spunding though (I use Clearbeer draft systems).

 

[day_trippr]

"SS Brewtech Brewbucket" is made by...[wait for it]...SS Brewtech.

Cheers!

 

[Steven Barrett]

Does the Brewbucket form a tight seal to keep air out? Doesn’t appear gasketed so I wonder how well the metal on metal forms a seal?

 

[Cavpilot2000]

Does the Brewbucket form a tight seal to keep air out? Doesn’t appear gasketed so I wonder how well the metal on metal forms a seal?

It IS gasketed and makes a great seal. I transfer under pressure with 1-2 PSI no problem.