The lager I brewed on Monday, which I thought was not fermenting, is now at 1.013, one point above the predicted FG. This is down from what, according to my questionable best efforts to measure, was 1.053. No off flavors. Has some yeast bite, I think. It had a ton of krausen yesterday. I have no way of knowing whether it fell. I may have sucked yeast off the top. I have a floating dip tube.
The speed of this fermentation has surprised me. I know pressure fermenting is supposed to be fast, but this stuff is either finished or close to it after about 60 hours.
I figured I would leave it in the fermenter for a few more days, but then I realized I was just planning to do that out of habit. I started thinking about it.
If I do an oxygen-free transfer right now and chill this to serving temperature, I'm pretty sure it will continue fermenting slowly, if there is any sugar left in it. Seems like my stout always gets drier after kegging, which suggests to me that the yeast is working fine at 35°, even if it's not its favorite temperature. Not sure about other beers because my memory is not perfect. It's obvious with stout. On the other hand, maybe I should give it one or two more days, add gelatin without O2 exposure, and keg it the next day.
What I wonder: if beer keeps fermenting after kegging, does that mean gelatin, which precipitates the yeast out, won't stop it, either? I don't clarify stout, so I would expect the yeast to stand up to kegging well, but what about lagers and clear ales?
This thing was at atmospheric pressure for a day and a half. Then I set it to 15 last night. Today I found it somewhere off the dial's graduations, so I adjusted it again and took it down to 15. The high pressure did absolutely nothing to slow the fermentation. I had read that high pressure would turn yeast off.
I brewed the last batch in February in an All-Rounder at 75°, because I wanted to try pressure fermentation at a high temperature. This one is in a Torpedo keg at 60°. The last one had a flavor that reminded me of freshly mown grass, and I thought it was ruined, but a month later, it was fine. I lowered the temperature this time to see if it prevented that flavor from developing, and I don't taste it now.
It seems to me there is no conceivable reason to ferment a lager at 75° if you can get it done in around 4 days at 60°.
White Labs has a page for its high pressure lager yeast. They say 7 days in the can at 62-68°, followed by 3-5 days at 35°. They recommend 14.7 psi, which is an odd figure. Why not 15? I know 14.7 is what most people think of as air pressure at sea level. Who has a spunding valve with a meter that reads in tenths of a pound?
The speed of this fermentation has surprised me. I know pressure fermenting is supposed to be fast, but this stuff is either finished or close to it after about 60 hours.
I figured I would leave it in the fermenter for a few more days, but then I realized I was just planning to do that out of habit. I started thinking about it.
If I do an oxygen-free transfer right now and chill this to serving temperature, I'm pretty sure it will continue fermenting slowly, if there is any sugar left in it. Seems like my stout always gets drier after kegging, which suggests to me that the yeast is working fine at 35°, even if it's not its favorite temperature. Not sure about other beers because my memory is not perfect. It's obvious with stout. On the other hand, maybe I should give it one or two more days, add gelatin without O2 exposure, and keg it the next day.
What I wonder: if beer keeps fermenting after kegging, does that mean gelatin, which precipitates the yeast out, won't stop it, either? I don't clarify stout, so I would expect the yeast to stand up to kegging well, but what about lagers and clear ales?
This thing was at atmospheric pressure for a day and a half. Then I set it to 15 last night. Today I found it somewhere off the dial's graduations, so I adjusted it again and took it down to 15. The high pressure did absolutely nothing to slow the fermentation. I had read that high pressure would turn yeast off.
I brewed the last batch in February in an All-Rounder at 75°, because I wanted to try pressure fermentation at a high temperature. This one is in a Torpedo keg at 60°. The last one had a flavor that reminded me of freshly mown grass, and I thought it was ruined, but a month later, it was fine. I lowered the temperature this time to see if it prevented that flavor from developing, and I don't taste it now.
It seems to me there is no conceivable reason to ferment a lager at 75° if you can get it done in around 4 days at 60°.
White Labs has a page for its high pressure lager yeast. They say 7 days in the can at 62-68°, followed by 3-5 days at 35°. They recommend 14.7 psi, which is an odd figure. Why not 15? I know 14.7 is what most people think of as air pressure at sea level. Who has a spunding valve with a meter that reads in tenths of a pound?
