Homebrewers - Whats in the fermenter?

[mmblz]

I think it was something like 2 weeks in primary, 4 weeks in secondary. ABV calculation came in around 9%

[Salvelinus]

That isn't too long, but given the ABV the yeast might be a little slow to work on new sugar. I wouldn't worry about it. That said I get super impatient waiting for beer and wind up drinking most of mine before I should. I don't practice what I preach.

[kaisersozei]

Yea, 13 days isn't really all that long. 5oz dextrose seems like a lot, so you should have no problems with getting it carbonated but give it a few more weeks at room temp.

[mmblz]

awesome - i can wait.

[kaisersozei]

Question for the enlightened lager-ers:

How long will a lager yeast cake last in my primary fermenter, until I can pitch a new batch of wort on top of it?

I just racked a maibock into the secondary last night, and plan to brew up an Imperial Oktoberfest (or something) next weekend. Hate to waste all that great yeast slurry (WLP 833,) so I sealed up the primary and put her back in the fermentation chamber--currently at 52dg but will be dropping slowly as I bring the maibock down. It should sit pretty well for a week or so, right?

[Salvelinus]

Originally Posted by kaisersozei

Question for the enlightened lager-ers:

How long will a lager yeast cake last in my primary fermenter, until I can pitch a new batch of wort on top of it?

I just racked a maibock into the secondary last night, and plan to brew up an Imperial Oktoberfest (or something) next weekend. Hate to waste all that great yeast slurry (WLP 833,) so I sealed up the primary and put her back in the fermentation chamber--currently at 52dg but will be dropping slowly as I bring the maibock down. It should sit pretty well for a week or so, right?

I wouldn't hesitate to put beer on that yeast. They're resilient little buggers.

[BeerAdvocate]

http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com

[Mikey202]

Goin' to see how our Belgian Dubble did in the first contest.

[Mikey202]

Originally Posted by Mikey202

Goin' to see how our Belgian Dubble did in the first contest.

Didn't win any awards. Interested to see the scoring.

[Mikey202]

Originally Posted by Mikey202

Didn't win any awards. Interested to see the scoring.

Overall score was a 28. That is the top of the good range. I think the brew needs to bottle condition for a few more months. The reciepe says that it peaks between 3-9 months. It only has 2 on it. It was a good learning experiance.

[Mikey202]

Originally Posted by Mikey202

Overall score was a 28. That is the top of the good range. I think the brew needs to bottle condition for a few more months. The reciepe says that it peaks between 3-9 months. It only has 2 on it. It was a good learning experiance.

2nd contest it scored a 33 1/2. That is in the very good range. Between the 2 contests, 3 out of the 4 judges said it was "hot". Which meant that it had, to much alcohol bite/ medicinal. I think that should mellow, with bottle aging.
Also, it had to much spice profile. Both of these are "out of style" for a Belgian Dubble.

I enjoyed it . Was cool to get feedback.

[Salvelinus]

Originally Posted by Mikey202

2nd contest it scored a 33 1/2. That is in the very good range. Between the 2 contests, 3 out of the 4 judges said it was "hot". Which meant that it had, to much alcohol bite/ medicinal. I think that should mellow, with bottle aging.
Also, it had to much spice profile. Both of these are "out of style" for a Belgian Dubble.

I enjoyed it . Was cool to get feedback.

I'm surprised the scores differed by that much. I'm psyched to get some beers into competition next month after reading your comments. Be good to get some feedback.

Hot alcohols (fusels generally) can be formed from fermenting too warm and not pitching enough yeast. Reading up on Belgian brewing it seems like a lot of the breweries start fermentation cool to keep fusels down and then let the temps ramp up later in the process.

[SteelCityBoy]

Bottled up my Maibock a week ago, Baltic Porter is resting nicely in secondary fermenter, and just racked my Belgian Tripel. Last year my maibock came out amazing. I am really hoping that it is as good this year. Waiting is always so hard!!!

[mmblz]

black ipa to secondary. tastes pretty good! color could be a little bit blacker but it's pretty dark.
anyone else have a septic system and get paranoid about dumping trub in it?
i've been throwing it outside before washing in the sink.

[kaisersozei]

Originally Posted by mmblz

black ipa to secondary. tastes pretty good! color could be a little bit blacker but it's pretty dark.
anyone else have a septic system and get paranoid about dumping trub in it?
i've been throwing it outside before washing in the sink.

No septic here, but I've read some folks use it in their compost or dump it around evergreens or other acidic-soil plants as fertilizer.

[Mikes]

I do all of my washing out in the yard....Grass is always greener there ;o)

[Salvelinus]

Brewing the sour half of a Berliner Weiss this evening. 2 gallons of wort going onto a cup or two of pilsner malt for to get the lacto culture going. Also going to pitch some jolly pumpkin dregs into it.

Friday I'll brew 3 gallons of the same wort and pitch a kolsch yeast into it. When they both finish up I'll blend them over raspberries or something. Should be a killer lawnmower beer come end of July and August.

[ktblunden]

I've got a blonde (AG) and an amber (extract) in primary right now. Probably bottle the blonde this weekend and I've got plans to brew a big IIPA on April 13th so I'll probably reuse the yeast cake on the amber for that one.

[JohnnyKay5]

Starting my first home brew today. A little anxious with all this sanitization, hope i dont miss a little microbe

[Salvelinus]

Originally Posted by JohnnyKay5

Starting my first home brew today. A little anxious with all this sanitization, hope i dont miss a little microbe

Don't be. Do the best you can and pitch healthy yeast. You won't have any issues.