Yeast flavor

[day_trippr]

Around 150°F would be the middle of the ballpark...

Cheers!

 

[Scottyvance49]

Around 150°F would be the middle of the ballpark...

Cheers!

150 for an hour and a half? I usually do 75 minutes.

 

[day_trippr]

Didn't say anything about time.
But, fwiw, I mash for an hour before ramping to mashout...

Cheers!

 

[mac_1103]

Also what is the best way to avoid sucking up settlement in the siphon? The yeast is still floating around in clumps but I think my problem is since I’m not letting it fully ferment I’m sucking up a lot of it.

Yeah, you have to wait for the yeast to drop. Then start siphoning with the racking cane in the middle of the bucket and lower it gradually. it shouldn't go all the way to the bottom if you want clear beer.

 

[worlddivides]

What temperature do I mash at then? And yes I am actually hitting it. It’s a sous vide dude and I have verified with an instant read thermometer.

The typical temperature ranges for mashing range from 148F to 158F. You technically can go under 148F, but it's not usually a good idea (I can think of a few times where you might make an exception). Going over 158F is likely to result in very little fermentability since alpha amylase is denatured more quickly at that high of a temperature.

 

[Scottyvance49]

Yeah, you have to wait for the yeast to drop. Then start siphoning with the racking cane in the middle of the bucket and lower it gradually. it shouldn't go all the way to the bottom if you want clear beer.

Thank you

 

[Scottyvance49]

Didn't say anything about time.
But, fwiw, I mash for an hour before ramping to mashout...

Cheers!

Thanks

 

[Bobby_M]

Active fermentation 5-7 days
Fermentation byproduct cleanup phase +2-3 days after final gravity reached
Yeast flocculation +7 to 10 days post ferment.

When you ferment in a leak prone bucket (leaky lid seal), there's definitely a compromise between giving it enough time on the yeast and enough time to clear against potential oxygen exposure. Moving it to a more oxygen stable vessel like a carboy is an attempt to fix that problem, but in the moving of the beer itself you expose it to more oxygen.

Best possible scenario is to get yourself some 7 gallon Fermonster PET fermenters. They can definitely stand up to the 2 to 3 weeks required to let the beer clear up, especially that super light style you're making. If that's your consistent beer recipe, I highly recommend getting a few ounces of acidulated malt into your recipe.

Lastly, do NOT cold crash a fermenter that can't handle pressure. It will suck room air in.

 

[marc1]

So I do an all grain every week and I can’t afford a grain father so I just use my wife’s sous vide and mash at 160 degrees. I then mash out at 180 for ten minutes and rinse grain sacks. Then I add hops boil 45 minutes, add wirfloc boil 5 more minutes, add immersion chiller the last 10 minutes.

I use just 6 row, 2 row and rice. This time I added oranges. I just get all yeast flavor though. I have tried liquid packets and dry packets but I only ferment 7 days and then keg. It sounds like I have to wait three weeks and then cold crash and that should be clean beer I hope.

I’m trying to get it right. I’ve done multiple kits with malt extract in the past but still have had a yeast flavor problem so I think it is just time from what you guys are telling me.

What's your starting gravity?

You certainly don't need a grainfather. You are mentioning grain sacks, though, which sounds like an amalgamation of BIAB and the little mesh bags used for steeping grains. If you are mashing grain to convert it to sugars, you want a big bag to loosely line your mash container, with the grain and water moving freely inside it. If you are using tiny, compact bags you may not even be extracting much sugar from the grain.

I agree with the other comments to reduce the mash temp to 150. The mash out probably isn't necessary.

Ferment cooler, and after fermentation gets going don't open it for a couple weeks. Then keg, chill, carb it up for a week or so and I would think you'll see an improvement.

There are lots of incremental things you can do to improve beer, if you stick with it and want to learn more, you can! But there's so much that you MIGHT do (but don't have to, and everyone has opinions about the best ways) you probably don't need to get overwhelmed now. Fix this low hanging fruit and see what you think.

 

[Scottyvance49]

Active fermentation 5-7 days
Fermentation byproduct cleanup phase +2-3 days after final gravity reached
Yeast flocculation +7 to 10 days post ferment.

When you ferment in a leak prone bucket (leaky lid seal), there's definitely a compromise between giving it enough time on the yeast and enough time to clear against potential oxygen exposure. Moving it to a more oxygen stable vessel like a carboy is an attempt to fix that problem, but in the moving of the beer itself you expose it to more oxygen.

Best possible scenario is to get yourself some 7 gallon Fermonster PET fermenters. They can definitely stand up to the 2 to 3 weeks required to let the beer clear up, especially that super light style you're making. If that's your consistent beer recipe, I highly recommend getting a few ounces of acidulated malt into your recipe.

Lastly, do NOT cold crash a fermenter that can't handle pressure. It will suck room air in.

So what about just fermenting in the carboy and not touching for a few weeks?

 

[Scottyvance49]

You could brew 3 batches in a weekend and then give them 3 weeks. Or look into Kveik. Or buy some beer now and then.
With a batch a week, looks like you'd have overlap. Are these 1 gallon batches? Did you lose a bet or something?

lol no I just drink a lot of beer and the wife gets mad about the money. I’ve had all the stuff to brew for years and when I first got I brewed quite a few times just with kits and a couple grain with liquid malt recipes. I make 5 gallon batches as that’s the size of my keg but I also have enough room to bottle two batches just don’t like the extra work. I’d rather bottle from the keg with counter pressure filler. Now since our grocery bill is so high I’m getting back into brewing for economical reasons but I also enjoy it.

 

[Scottyvance49]

This makes me wonder if the off flavor is actually yeast, since you are also wondering about it being oxidation. Can you describe the off flavor?

No it’s definitely yeast. It tastes like the way bread smells when it is rising.

 

[bestcoast]

So what about just fermenting in the carboy and not touching for a few weeks?

That's probably a better bet than your bucket for the purposes of reducing oxygen exposure. The problem with a carboy is the safety issues with moving a heavy one around and the potential for breakage. But they are definitely better for letting beer sit.

I'll second the recommendation for getting a Fermonster. They are only slightly more expensive than standard buckets, and they have an o-ring sealing lid. You can also modify the solid lid pretty easily to add keg quick-release hookups. That let's you transfer directly to a purged keg and avoid all oxygen exposure entirely.

Lastly, you could also just let the beer clear in the keg itself for a few weeks. That's the same thing as a cold crash, you'll just have more yeast sediment in the keg than you would if you cold crashed in your fermenter. But doing it in the keg avoid oxygen exposure from suck back. After you pull a beer or two, you should clear out the yeast sediment from around the keg's dip tube. All that said, letting your beer sit on the yeast for at least two weeks has a lot of other flavor benefits beyond just settling the yeast out. So I would definitely start waiting at least two weeks before you keg.

 

[Scottyvance49]

That's probably a better bet than your bucket for the purposes of reducing oxygen exposure. The problem with a carboy is the safety issues with moving a heavy one around and the potential for breakage. But they are definitely better for letting beer sit.

I'll second the recommendation for getting a Fermonster. They are only slightly more expensive than standard buckets, and they have an o-ring sealing lid. You can also modify the solid lid pretty easily to add keg quick-release hookups. That let's you transfer directly to a purged keg and avoid all oxygen exposure entirely.

Lastly, you could also just let the beer clear in the keg itself for a few weeks. That's the same thing as a cold crash, you'll just have more yeast sediment in the keg than you would if you cold crashed in your fermenter. But doing it in the keg avoid oxygen exposure from suck back. After you pull a beer or two, you should clear out the yeast sediment from around the keg's dip tube. All that said, letting your beer sit on the yeast for at least two weeks has a lot of other flavor benefits beyond just settling the yeast out. So I would definitely start waiting at least two weeks before you keg.

This next batch has been fermenting a week. I’m going to wait two weeks to keg and see if I have a flavor change. If I still have a flavor problem I will know it is from oxidation and upgrade my equipment.

I’m an ironworker so moving the carboy is not a big deal I think I will try one like that tomorrow and then I can also pin point the yeast or oxidation off flavor.

 

[tracer bullet]

I’m an ironworker so moving the carboy is not a big deal

FYI it's other things like how you set it down, if you carry it by the neck, and so on - beyond just the weight. They're more fragile than they look.

 

[worlddivides]

FYI it's other things like how you set it down, if you carry it by the neck, and so on - beyond just the weight. They're more fragile than they look.

The thing that essentially made me stop using carboys altogether (well, not technically true, since I did keep using the multiple carboys I still had at the time for secondary, but I just never used them for primary ever again) was when I lifted a carboy by its neck and the carboy just splintered along the neck, causing the bottom 80% of the carboy to fall to the ground and shatter, leaving me with just the neck in my hand and a full 5+ gallons of partially fermented mead in my CoolBrewing fermentation bag. I didn't do anything wrong. I can only guess that somewhere along the line the glass in the neck had gotten an imperceivable tiny fracture and it was incapable of withstanding the weight of 5 gallons of liquid.

 

[day_trippr]

I didn't do anything wrong.

Picking a full carboy up by its neck is a solid no no...

 

[worlddivides]

Picking a full carboy up by its neck is a solid no no...

I was going to put my left hand under it once it had reached waist level, but the neck fractured well before that.

 

[IslandLizard]

I was going to put my left hand under it once it had reached waist level, but the neck fractured well before that.

Glad you didn't get injured!

Use a Brew Hauler type of carrying harness. Or a crate. And even then, be aware that glass is fragile, and the risk of cracking goes up due to added weight when filled.
And slippery when cold/damp, or wet.

For those reasons, many of us homebrewers do not use glass anymore for routine fermentations.

 

[worlddivides]

Glad you didn't get injured!

Use a Brew Hauler type of carrying harness. Or a crate. And even then, be aware that glass is fragile, and the risk of cracking goes up due to added weight when filled.
And slippery when cold/damp, or wet.

For those reasons, many of us homebrewers do not use glass anymore for routine fermentations.

Oh, I never bought another glass carboy after that experience. I did use the other glass carboys I still had for secondaries (for lambic-style sours and so on), but I eventually gave away my glass carboys since I just didn't feel safe using them. That experience was probably about 10 years ago now.

 

[balrog]

 

[Snuffy]

lol no I just drink a lot of beer and the wife gets mad about the money. I’ve had all the stuff to brew for years and when I first got I brewed quite a few times just with kits and a couple grain with liquid malt recipes. I make 5 gallon batches as that’s the size of my keg but I also have enough room to bottle two batches just don’t like the extra work. I’d rather bottle from the keg with counter pressure filler. Now since our grocery bill is so high I’m getting back into brewing for economical reasons but I also enjoy it.

My deal has always been to brew beer that I can't find locally. Or if I can, it's like $1/oz. I can see real savings there.

 

[Scottyvance49]

The thing that essentially made me stop using carboys altogether (well, not technically true, since I did keep using the multiple carboys I still had at the time for secondary, but I just never used them for primary ever again) was when I lifted a carboy by its neck and the carboy just splintered along the neck, causing the bottom 80% of the carboy to fall to the ground and shatter, leaving me with just the neck in my hand and a full 5+ gallons of partially fermented mead in my CoolBrewing fermentation bag. I didn't do anything wrong. I can only guess that somewhere along the line the glass in the neck had gotten an imperceivable tiny fracture and it was incapable of withstanding the weight of 5 gallons of liquid.

That sucks dude. I’ve moved it quite a few times and haven’t had any issues. Ives always picked it up from the bottom though. Glad you were alright.

 

[505-Brewer]

This might be contributing. An ambient 70 is more like 75-78 depending on the amount of fermentable sugar. You’ll get a cleaner fermentation if you can drop that about 8-10 degrees.

This plus more time! Your beer will improve considerably!!

 

[IslandLizard]

Us-05 and at 70 degrees in the house.

US-05 is very fine yeast, but 70°F ambient temps may be a bit too high when fermenting.

Reason is, fermentation is exothermic, it creates heat. So that batch may well be 75-80°F inside your fermenter. At those temps it'll be binging away, creating more fusel alcohols (bad tasting, solvent-like off flavors).

65-70F of actual fermentation temps is probably about the maximum you'd want for that yeast. So, try to find a cooler area to ferment in. Or use some form of active cooling, such as a swamp cooler, or a large insulated beverage cooler with cool water and if needed, a few frozen water bottles. Or as many of do, use a spare refrigerator or freezer with an external temperature controller (e.g., Inkbird ITC-308), etc.

 

[PCABrewing]

The thing that essentially made me stop using carboys altogether (well, not technically true, since I did keep using the multiple carboys I still had at the time for secondary, but I just never used them for primary ever again) was when I lifted a carboy by its neck and the carboy just splintered along the neck, causing the bottom 80% of the carboy to fall to the ground and shatter, leaving me with just the neck in my hand and a full 5+ gallons of partially fermented mead in my CoolBrewing fermentation bag. I didn't do anything wrong. I can only guess that somewhere along the line the glass in the neck had gotten an imperceivable tiny fracture and it was incapable of withstanding the weight of 5 gallons of liquid.

A small scratch in the glass could have contributed to the failure if the carboy flexed (not necessarily perceivable) and a stress line intersected that scratch. Just like cutting class for a window replacement.

 

[Scottyvance49]

This next batch has been fermenting a week. I’m going to wait two weeks to keg and see if I have a flavor change. If I still have a flavor problem I will know it is from oxidation and upgrade my equipment.

I’m an ironworker so moving the carboy is not a big deal I think I will try one like that tomorrow and then I can also pin point the yeast or oxidation off flavor.

That's probably a better bet than your bucket for the purposes of reducing oxygen exposure. The problem with a carboy is the safety issues with moving a heavy one around and the potential for breakage. But they are definitely better for letting beer sit.

I'll second the recommendation for getting a Fermonster. They are only slightly more expensive than standard buckets, and they have an o-ring sealing lid. You can also modify the solid lid pretty easily to add keg quick-release hookups. That let's you transfer directly to a purged keg and avoid all oxygen exposure entirely.

Lastly, you could also just let the beer clear in the keg itself for a few weeks. That's the same thing as a cold crash, you'll just have more yeast sediment in the keg than you would if you cold crashed in your fermenter. But doing it in the keg avoid oxygen exposure from suck back. After you pull a beer or two, you should clear out the yeast sediment from around the keg's dip tube. All that said, letting your beer sit on the yeast for at least two weeks has a lot of other flavor benefits beyond just settling the yeast out. So I would definitely start waiting at least two weeks before you keg.

Can I just pitch yeast in the carboy even though I can’t spread over the whole area as I just have the neck of the carboy to work with?

 

[bestcoast]

Can I just pitch yeast in the carboy even though I can’t spread over the whole area as I just have the neck of the carboy to work with?

Yeah, just dump it in the center. It will distribute in the liquid just fine. Try and avoid sending it down the glass sides, if you can, because the yeast cells that stick to the glass won't get to your beer. But honestly, it'll be fine either way.

 

[mac_1103]

Can I just pitch yeast in the carboy even though I can’t spread over the whole area as I just have the neck of the carboy to work with?

If you're really worried about it, you could rehydrate the yeast according to the manufacturer's instructions and pour the slurry in.

 

[Scottyvance49]

If you're really worried about it, you could rehydrate the yeast according to the manufacturer's instructions and pour the slurry in.

Not to worried about it once the yeast starts going it really doesn’t matter how much is in there.