Senior moment yeast disaster

[bobtheUKbrewer2]

I added the yeast BEFORE cooling the wort - it was 40 deg C - I cooled to 21 deg C then added another sachet - fingers crossed..........

 

[hotbeer]

Probably be okay if the second pack is a proper pitch amount by itself. If you were supposed to pitch two and caught it before the second then you will probably be what ever happens when you pitch 50% of what you should. Which many times isn't a big deal.

 

[bobtheUKbrewer2]

thanks hotbeer - the dead yeasties will feed the live yeasties I am hoping.........

 

[RM-MN]

40 degrees C is the temp that the yeast prefer for their propagation. We don't want to continue the fermentation at that temp because the yeast will create esters that we don't want and possibly fusel alcohols too. If you chilled the beer to 21C in a reasonable amount of time you should have made more than the necessary amount of yeast and still have good beer.

 

[bobtheUKbrewer2]

thanks RM - I chilled in about 20 minutes and pitched the same amount of yeast then. After 18 hours it is a powerful fermentation, will skim it in a few hours as lots of brown sludge on top.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

40 degrees C is the temp that the yeast prefer for their propagation.

Not quite - it's 30°C that's around the best growing temperature. The temperatures classically quoted are that lager strains die at 37°C and ale strains die at 42°C but there's a lot of strain-to-strain variation. So the first pack might have died, maybe not, depends on the strain.

 

[bobtheUKbrewer2]

It was Proper Job yeast, harvested from a commercial bottle.

 

[lumpher]

You'll be fine. I know plenty of people that add an extra pack of yeast on purpose to get it started fermenting quicker.

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]

thanks RM - I chilled in about 20 minutes and pitched the same amount of yeast then. After 18 hours it is a powerful fermentation, will skim it in a few hours as lots of brown sludge on top.

Sounds like you're opening the fermeter too much mate. You should just pitch the yeast and come back to it when its done. That 'brown sludge' is yeast rafts. Unless you're planning to skim it to save then just leave it alone.

 

[bobtheUKbrewer2]

Gilbert - thanks - I tasted some of the brown sludge years ago, it was extremely bitter, so I always remove it. My beers are too bitter with too little aroma anyway so I don't want more bitterness. Always experimenting. My last brew was boiled without hops for 13 minutes, then I added 100 gm citra (leaf) for 7 minutes.

 

[RM-MN]

Gilbert - thanks - I tasted some of the brown sludge years ago, it was extremely bitter, so I always remove it. My beers are too bitter with too little aroma anyway so I don't want more bitterness. Always experimenting. My last brew was boiled without hops for 13 minutes, then I added 100 gm citra (leaf) for 7 minutes.

As the head brewer for you home brewery, you get to choose the bitterness and the amount of aroma by the amount of hops, their alpha acid (ability to bitter) and the timing of the hop additions. If you want less bitterness, choose a hop variety with low alpha acid for your bittering addition. If you want more hop aroma, do a dry hop which does not drive off the volatile oils. It's all under your control.

 

[bobtheUKbrewer2]

RM - I get enough bittering from citra whole hops boiled for 10 minutes - that is why current brew was just 7 minutes.

 

[hotbeer]

Gilbert - thanks - I tasted some of the brown sludge years ago, it was extremely bitter, so I always remove it. My beers are too bitter with too little aroma anyway so I don't want more bitterness. Always experimenting. My last brew was boiled without hops for 13 minutes, then I added 100 gm citra (leaf) for 7 minutes.

All grain or did you steep grains?

If so, have you considered the bitterness of your beer might be tannins from your mash ph being off or the mash temps too high. I suppose it would be the same for steeping grains with an extract brew.

And no aroma might be oxidation of your hops. Also, some people just don't like the bitterness hops brings to the party so if you are brewing hoppy beers, then don't.

 

[monkeymath]

Sounds like you're opening the fermeter too much mate. You should just pitch the yeast and come back to it when its done. That 'brown sludge' is yeast rafts. Unless you're planning to skim it to save then just leave it alone.

It is admittedly a bit of an esoteric practice, but many brewers, both home- and pro, skim the kräusen. You don't actually skim off the yeast (unless you are top-cropping, of course, which is an entirely different thing), but the hop resin etc which drop out of solution as the pH drops.

Evidence in favour of the practice seems mostly anecdotal, but it is not entirely uncommon.

 

[bobtheUKbrewer2]

full mash every brew 68 -69 deg C pale bitter - I use variously citra, mosaic, pacific jade, summit, eldorado......

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]

Bob, do you dry hop your beers? If you want hop flavor then that's they way forward. Citra is around 12% alpha acid so look for a hop that's lower to reduce your bittering. You could try East Kent Golding, which are about 4%AA. Save the Citra for the dry hop mate. Another tip to get a control of the bittering is to put your bittering hops in a hop sock during the boil so you can fish it out when you turn off the heat and stop any further bittering from the hops.

 

[bobtheUKbrewer2]

Gilbert - thank you. I do not dry hop as when I tried I got a cloudy brew - I want a clear beer....

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]

Gilbert - thank you. I do not dry hop as when I tried I got a cloudy brew - I want a clear beer....

You're gonna struggle to get much hop flavour without dry hopping Bob. As for clear beer, whirlfloc is the boil and cold crashing with gelatine will sort that out.