Barrel Project - Summary Thread

[mcgrath]

Was going to stick a red ale on the slurry. Will have to rethink now. Cheers...

[Will_D]

Sorry guys, but a bit of science:

Yeast cells are either viable or not ( just like old farts like me - they can either reproduce or not )!!

So consider a HA yeast strain that has been stressed by doing the RIS, some cells are dying but natural selection has endowed a few cells with supper powers! ( This is how Darwinian Selection Works )

So grow up a new starter from your cells and you may well have a new strain of super yeast?

After all where have the Turbo yeast strains come from?

How did some house strains of yeast achieve 6 or 7% alcohol when the norm was 3.5%?

[mcgrath]

Sorry guys, but a bit of science:

Yeast cells are either viable or not ( just like old farts like me - they can either reproduce or not )!!

So consider a HA yeast strain that has been stressed by doing the RIS, some cells are dying but natural selection has endowed a few cells with supper powers! ( This is how Darwinian Selection Works )

So grow up a new starter from your cells and you may well have a new strain of super yeast?

After all where have the Turbo yeast strains come from?

How did some house strains of yeast achieve 6 or 7% alcohol when the norm was 3.5%?

I'll throw the ale on it and see what happens...

[Bubbles]

You'll probably be grand but I wouldn't use the whole yeast cake as you'll be dumping a lot of dead yeast cells into your red ale.


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[Ciderhead]

Am curious how this turns out as everything I've read says it should go tits up or will have no bearing to the original yeast profile.


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[mcgrath]

Am curious how this turns out as everything I've read says it should go tits up or will have no bearing to the original yeast profile.


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I'll be putting  a porter which i used notty and the barrell brew both into secondary tomorrow. I will do the red ale the same eve. I think i will split the ale into two batches and use the two diff yeasts to see what difference they make on the ale. I wont use the full yeast cake tho, just a scoop from each. Might help me decide which yeast I prefer for future brews.. 

[Ciderhead]

Pushing the frontiers of Yeast research in SCD

[Ciderhead]

Bless me father for I have created a monster, just measured tonight at 1010, so according to Beersmith 11.81...gulp.
Tastes bloody good too!

[Shanna]

Just took a gravity reading and its showing 1.020 approx 9.5%. I reckon if I transfer to a secondary it will drop even further.  Anyway happy to report a coffee taste and aroma with strong alcohol after taste but not over powering. Going to do another 20 litre batch this weekend.

Shanna

[Bubbles]

Bless me father for I have created a monster, just measured tonight at 1010, so according to Beersmith 11.81...gulp.
Tastes bloody good too!

Wow! How did you manage to get it down to 1.010? I'd be expecting something more like Shanna's FG of 1.020.

Must take a reading myself this week. Both of my fermenters are now quiet, kreusen completely dropped out. Smells absolutely fantastic.

I guess we should start discussing suitable dates for barrel transfer etc.?

[Shanna]

Guys several posts (on other sites) I have read suggests that transferring to a secondary is unnecessary and increases the risk of infection so I am a bit unsure of this.  I have used a secondary only once before and it was similar to the the fg I have for the Russian imperial stout e.g. 1.020 that dropped down to 1.010 after a week in the secondary. Only reason I am thinking of doing it is to reduce the yeast load in the barrel.

Speaking of which was thinking when loading up the barrel would it be better to get all the beer in my garage and leave for a few days before transferring to the barrel to give any remaining yeast time to settle.

Shanna

[Ciderhead]

Bless me father for I have created a monster, just measured tonight at 1010, so according to Beersmith 11.81...gulp.
Tastes bloody good too!

Wow! How did you manage to get it down to 1.010? I'd be expecting something more like Shanna's FG of 1.020.

Must take a reading myself this week. Both of my fermenters are now quiet, kreusen completely dropped out. Smells absolutely fantastic.

I guess we should start discussing suitable dates for barrel transfer etc.?

I cheated, I have never hydrated US05 before just sprinkled, 2 packets and I got 75% of the slurry of it, I was reading about what our US colleagues do for RIS and adding more yeast 2-3 days into fermentation is popular to give it an extra shot in the arm, so in I sprinkled in a 3rd packet.
I have to note it is important to maintain sweetness to offset the bitterness but had a proper taste tonight and its lovely.
Thats the only reason I can think of, its pretty much finished now as I measured again tonight and it hasn't budged, same again tomorrow night.

[Bubbles]

Guys several posts (on other sites) I have read suggests that transferring to a secondary is unnecessary and increases the risk of infection so I am a bit unsure of this.  I have used a secondary only once before and it was similar to the the fg I have for the Russian imperial stout e.g. 1.020 that dropped down to 1.010 after a week in the secondary. Only reason I am thinking of doing it is to reduce the yeast load in the barrel.

Speaking of which was thinking when loading up the barrel would it be better to get all the beer in my garage and leave for a few days before transferring to the barrel to give any remaining yeast time to settle.

Shanna

Racking to secondary shoudn't be any cause for concern. It doesn't increase the risk of infection as long as you are at all scrupulous about your santisation processes. In many cases, it can serve a purpose - it can help yeasty beers clear quicker (yes, even useful in dark beers like stouts) and is good practice when you want to do some extended aging. In our case, it will help to ensure we have a minimum of trub going into the barrel. I hardly ever bother doing it these days, but for this beer I don't particularly want it sitting on a huge cake of shagged-out yeast that have just fermented a 10% monster. I'll definitely be racking as I currently have two batches and it doesn't make sense to transport both batches and as they are, and risk stirring up the huge yeast cakes in both fermenters.

[Bubbles]

Great stuff, Ciderhead. All of the batches were bound to taste slightly different anyway. It'll all taste great in 6 months time!!

[Ciderhead]

Guys several posts (on other sites) I have read suggests that transferring to a secondary is unnecessary and increases the risk of infection so I am a bit unsure of this.  I have used a secondary only once before and it was similar to the the fg I have for the Russian imperial stout e.g. 1.020 that dropped down to 1.010 after a week in the secondary. Only reason I am thinking of doing it is to reduce the yeast load in the barrel.

Speaking of which was thinking when loading up the barrel would it be better to get all the beer in my garage and leave for a few days before transferring to the barrel to give any remaining yeast time to settle.

Shanna

Increasing the risk of infection in a 9-10% beer, I doubt it. The guys that suggest secondary introduces infection operate pretty shitty sanitation regimes imo.
I am used to cleaning like a ... because I brew a lot of pilsners/lagers and I have never ever had an infection in secondary even with 6 weeks in the bucket/carboy.
Secondary for us should be compulsory a)Transport to your gaf and all the disturbance that will cause b) You want to see how much falls out of secondary. the least amount of crap we have falling to the bottom the better. I am putting 24L in, I only expect to get 20 out, have we factored a proportional share for 6-12 months time?
I think the thing to do is show up with buckets and measure out then split that way. 
Could I suggest we leave them to you 4-7 days before insertion day, rock up on the day, taste and insert.