yeast

[Sleepy T]

You're going to impart some apple/pear esters, and I think they clash with what you're trying to achieve, but again, that's just my preference. American East Coast IPA's are not British IPA's, though they do share some commonalities. But yeast typically isn't one of them.

Now, for the guts of your question. Shoot for 64 degrees. A temp-controlled fridge isn't as effective as a glycol-jacketed fermenter. That's not a problem, you just need to go lower than higher. With the lower end of the spectrum, it's gonna be a bit more sluggish than you're typically used to (especially if this is your first cold fermentation). I'd say check it at 11/12 days and if your gravity is the same, bump the temp up to 72 for two days. This is your diacetyl rest. At the end of this period you should be ready to bottle/keg.

UPDATE: I am definitely getting something apple cidery type smells from the primary buckets. Don't know if this is partly because of the yeast strain I used or if it is because of acetaldehyde in the beer. I barely had any krausen and when checking the hydrometer after just a few days the FG was around 1.010-1.012 which should be close to finishing (if not finished). I think it fermented a little faster than I was shooting for. The airlock is still bubbling once every 45-60 sec.I had some issues getting the temp. right and probably had it a little to warm when pitching. This evening will make Day 6 in the primary. Hopefully this isn't too much to worry about. Just gonna let it ride a another 5-6 days and bump it up to 70ish as warty said. It has been at 62-64 for the last several days. Read that the apple cidery smells aren't that abnormal. Anyone encounter these smells before when fermenting?

 

[thecrow124]

I am going to be brewing an Imperial IPA kit for Northern. The recommended dry yeast is Danstar West Coast Ale Yeast. I bought 2 kits at the time and the other uses US-05. The salesman told me I would need 2 packets for the IIPA, so I went back and hurredly grabbed another US-05. So now I have 2 of the packets that I need one of and one of the packets I need two of.

So can I use the US-05 in the IIPA? Reading the profile sheets they are pretty similar, but the one site said the Danstar clears out better than the US-05. The other kit is a partial mash strong porter, so I think either would work well in there.

 

[Sleepy T]

I am going to be brewing an Imperial IPA kit for Northern. The recommended dry yeast is Danstar West Coast Ale Yeast. I bought 2 kits at the time and the other uses US-05. The salesman told me I would need 2 packets for the IIPA, so I went back and hurredly grabbed another US-05. So now I have 2 of the packets that I need one of and one of the packets I need two of.

So can I use the US-05 in the IIPA? Reading the profile sheets they are pretty similar, but the one site said the Danstar clears out better than the US-05. The other kit is a partial mash strong porter, so I think either would work well in there.

I would think the S-05 would clear out just as well if you left it a bit longer or cold crashed (I think you said your garage was kinda cool?). I prefer the liquid yeast (White Labs is what I have available at the LHBS) but the several times I have used dry yeast it has been S-23 or S-05, the 05 works great for PA and IPA IMHO. I wasn't a huge fan of the S-23 but it did well enough for a lager yeast that you can ferment at a higher temp. I think you would be very happy with the results of your IIPA with Safale-5.

What does the grain and hop bill look like?? Just curious..

 

[wartyOne]

I recently heard this for the first time after that one batch got contaminated over the summer...pretty much heard that the only times you should really use a secondary is if you are doing a fruit beer, transfer to secondary and leave the fruit in the primary, or if you are dry hopping, to dry hop in the secondary. What do you think about that?

Holy Christ. Sorry for the delay here. Totally missed this post. For fruit beers, I ferment in a primary, then rack on top of the fruit in a secondary (I prefer plastic buckets for this application because they're just easier to deal with).

For anything else, I just leave in the primary. For dry-hopping/dry-spicing, allow your beer to get mostly complete, then with 2-3 days to go, pitch your dry hops directly to the primary.

 

[Gatorchip]

Holy Christ. Sorry for the delay here. Totally missed this post. For fruit beers, I ferment in a primary, then rack on top of the fruit in a secondary (I prefer plastic buckets for this application because they're just easier to deal with).

For anything else, I just leave in the primary. For dry-hopping/dry-spicing, allow your beer to get mostly complete, then with 2-3 days to go, pitch your dry hops directly to the primary.

I tried that along with dryhopping in secondary and found that the secondary gave me better results. But of course everything I do isn't tightly controlled, so it's possible it could have been something else.

Nevertheless, I prefer going to a secondary always for a few reasons.
1. It makes room in my primary for another batch
2. My primary is larger than my secondary. I want it to condition with less head space.
3. I want clearer beer. When I rack from my primary I tend to get greedy and suck up some trub... I have no filter. When I make that process two stage, It's less particulate in my final product.

 

[wartyOne]

I tried that along with dryhopping in secondary and found that the secondary gave me better results. But of course everything I do isn't tightly controlled, so it's possible it could have been something else.

Nevertheless, I prefer going to a secondary always for a few reasons.
1. It makes room in my primary for another batch
2. My primary is larger than my secondary. I want it to condition with less head space.
3. I want clearer beer. When I rack from my primary I tend to get greedy and suck up some trub... I have no filter. When I make that process two stage, It's less particulate in my final product.

The best thing you can do for your beer, is leave that 6 ounces that you gain while pulling garbage into your secondary (again, this is an unnecessary step; if you're bottle conditioning, you can only get so clear by gravity).

 

[757Hokie83]

I tried that along with dryhopping in secondary and found that the secondary gave me better results. But of course everything I do isn't tightly controlled, so it's possible it could have been something else.

Nevertheless, I prefer going to a secondary always for a few reasons.
1. It makes room in my primary for another batch
2. My primary is larger than my secondary. I want it to condition with less head space.
3. I want clearer beer. When I rack from my primary I tend to get greedy and suck up some trub... I have no filter. When I make that process two stage, It's less particulate in my final product.

those are my reasons. I wasnt going to be able to brew this weekend anyways, so i just left this last one in the primary, and will just let it finish out in there too.

i guess i'll find out soon enough how much of a difference in clarity i will have by just using 1 fermenter

 

[wartyOne]

those are my reasons. I wasnt going to be able to brew this weekend anyways, so i just left this last one in the primary, and will just let it finish out in there too.

i guess i'll find out soon enough how much of a difference in clarity i will have by just using 1 fermenter

You use kegs, yes?

If so, use biofine when transferring into your kegs. Make sure you blow off a pint or two of the first pull, and dump it down the drain. That will be all the stuff that falls out of suspension.

Keep in mind, you can still have haziness from your mash/boil processes that aren't going to be removed by finings agents, or transferring from primary to secondary.

I used to care a lot about beer clarity. As a German Pilsner fan, it seemed to be an absolute that clarity was necessary. Then I tried Polestar by Left Hand. This is easily in my top-5 for German Pilsners, and it's unfiltered. Once I got past the haziness, it changed my whole perspective on the clarity of a beer.

Sam Adams' Alpine Spring is another unfiltered Pils, and it is excellent as well. I'm not of the opinion that all beers can resemble milk shakes (the way the Pacific Northwest seems to view beer), but a little haziness is fine by me.