What are you drinking now?

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Joshua Hughes said:
Makes for a cool journey!
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I always have an Irish Stout on tap... some better than others. My most recent attempt used cold steeped roasted added late in the boil but it has a slight ashy/ charcoal flavor.
Coffee right now while I wait for a delivery to pump off.
CA751485-1995-4204-B469-54E9838586AB.jpeg
 
camonick said:
What aren't you liking about it? I've used it as a replacement for 34/70 in my pilsners and can't tell a difference. I haven't done a side by side, but there was certainly nothing bad about it.
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It doesn't seem to perform like 34/70. I've used it in two recipes that I've developed over the years, both have established records for producing highly fermentable worts that ferment to dryness with 34/70. I've run Diamond through the same fermentation program that I use for 34/70 and Diamond really isn't happy about it.

First, Diamond is quite sluggish below 55F. My standard practice is to pitch at 50F, bump to 52 once the yeast go active, then bump to 54 at half gravity, 56 once it hits the final quarter of gravity points, then up to 60 once the yeast show signs of slowing. On the first pitch, Diamond established itself, but didn't accelerate into high krausen. I started bumping the temperature and nothing seemed to perk up Diamond until it got north of 55F. At that point, its fermentation plot started to converge with a normal 34/70 plot. Okay, the first generation of a yeast isn't always a good representation of its performance, the second pitch is sure to be better. This was harvested and pitched on the same day and, to make certain Diamond got off to the strongest start possible, I pitched really big, then waited for the fireworks to begin.....nothing. Again, Diamond was completely indifferent until it got above 55F. Under the same conditions, 34/70 would've staged a reenactment of the sack of Carthage.

Next, although Diamond is marketed as having high attenuation, I can't seem to get it to break 75% on two worts that have an established record of fermenting out to dryness with 34/70. Once it decides it's done, Diamond flocs hard. Which is great, it produces beautifully clear beer out of the fermentor. Unfortunately, it seems to like to leave several points behind that 34/70 will nibble at for a few days. There's no bumping Diamond up into the mid-60s to try to coax it to finish up a few more points, when it's done, it's done.

I'll readily admit that I'm making conclusions based upon a very small sample size. Nevertheless, I can't help but think about Diamond in the same way that I think about WY1968. I'm not saying that they're in anyway related. but they do have similar tendencies and while I was thinking about ways to coax some performance out of Diamond, I kept finding myself coming back to 1968 as a reference point. I write that as a big fan of 1968, but just as I wouldn't use '68 in dry stout or West Coast IPA, I'm thinking Diamond is the wrong tool for work I'm trying to do. I think I would like it a lot more if I had used it in a dunkel. For the time being, I'm done with Diamond. I don't see the point in learning a new yeast when 34/70 performs well and delivers an excellent result. This will also give me the opportunity to do some side-by-side comparisons between the two.

I hope this was in some way useful.
 
Anyone want to hit up the river next week to do some floating, cliff jumping, and drinking? Greenfield / King City area (Cali.)...going to be roasting, so thinking of burning up a sick day.
IMG_20200813_151503.jpg


OT: Water
This isn't that bad - a little malty, grainy flavor to it. It does the job on a day like today!! It is hot for the central coast; the beaches are going to be an absolute nightmare this weekend...will stay at home dying instead.
IMG_20200814_144649.jpg

Screenshot_20200814-132916.png
 
TwistedGray said:
Anyone want to hit up the river next week to do some floating, cliff jumping, and drinking? Greenfield / King City area (Cali.)...going to be roasting, so thinking of burning up a sick day.
View attachment 693928

OT: Water
This isn't that bad - a little malty, grainy flavor to it. It does the job on a day like today!! It is hot for the central coast; the beaches are going to be an absolute nightmare this weekend...will stay at home dying instead.
View attachment 693929
View attachment 693930
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Sounds tempting. If it were any other time of year I would definitely consider it. With schools opening (remote anyway), we're super busy. I heard today King City may approach 110 degrees the next few days.
 
BongoYodeler said:
Sounds tempting. If it were any other time of year I would definitely consider it. With schools opening (remote anyway), we're super busy. I heard today King City may approach 110 degrees the next few days.
Click to expand...

It nearly got 100 in Salinas today, but yah it'll be high 100s all week down there. If my wife can swing it, we'll go down on Friday when it cools down (99).
 
Bramling Cross said:
It doesn't seem to perform like 34/70. I've used it in two recipes that I've developed over the years, both have established records for producing highly fermentable worts that ferment to dryness with 34/70. I've run Diamond through the same fermentation program that I use for 34/70 and Diamond really isn't happy about it.

First, Diamond is quite sluggish below 55F. My standard practice is to pitch at 50F, bump to 52 once the yeast go active, then bump to 54 at half gravity, 56 once it hits the final quarter of gravity points, then up to 60 once the yeast show signs of slowing. On the first pitch, Diamond established itself, but didn't accelerate into high krausen. I started bumping the temperature and nothing seemed to perk up Diamond until it got north of 55F. At that point, its fermentation plot started to converge with a normal 34/70 plot. Okay, the first generation of a yeast isn't always a good representation of its performance, the second pitch is sure to be better. This was harvested and pitched on the same day and, to make certain Diamond got off to the strongest start possible, I pitched really big, then waited for the fireworks to begin.....nothing. Again, Diamond was completely indifferent until it got above 55F. Under the same conditions, 34/70 would've staged a reenactment of the sack of Carthage.

Next, although Diamond is marketed as having high attenuation, I can't seem to get it to break 75% on two worts that have an established record of fermenting out to dryness with 34/70. Once it decides it's done, Diamond flocs hard. Which is great, it produces beautifully clear beer out of the fermentor. Unfortunately, it seems to like to leave several points behind that 34/70 will nibble at for a few days. There's no bumping Diamond up into the mid-60s to try to coax it to finish up a few more points, when it's done, it's done.

I'll readily admit that I'm making conclusions based upon a very small sample size. Nevertheless, I can't help but think about Diamond in the same way that I think about WY1968. I'm not saying that they're in anyway related. but they do have similar tendencies and while I was thinking about ways to coax some performance out of Diamond, I kept finding myself coming back to 1968 as a reference point. I write that as a big fan of 1968, but just as I wouldn't use '68 in dry stout or West Coast IPA, I'm thinking Diamond is the wrong tool for work I'm trying to do. I think I would like it a lot more if I had used it in a dunkel. For the time being, I'm done with Diamond. I don't see the point in learning a new yeast when 34/70 performs well and delivers an excellent result. This will also give me the opportunity to do some side-by-side comparisons between the two.

I hope this was in some way useful.
Click to expand...
As o said earlier only used 2 times so grains of salt abound. Both times it took off well for me, dry and the repitch. Dropped fast dry. This time I went colder inadvertently (used a different way of tracking temp) Still got a good Krausen. Problem is I have a bunch sitting on top and a bunch on the bottom. Middle is clear as a bell. This is day 13 and it just got up to 60 degrees yesterday so I’m hoping to bottle it tomorrow evening or Sunday. Here is a pic from last evening
68DA6A76-97C0-4687-8F13-C00D041C5A94.jpeg
2554E259-870A-407E-8973-1A30B205D6B1.jpeg
 

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