:o :o :o Hurricane Imperial Stout… OG 1080… A starter with two smackpacks of Irish Ale in 4 liters of 1035 DME, 24 hours. Pitched at 76º in a 70 degree fermenter…12 hours later:
Do you normally pitch that warm? Or was the power out?
It took me a long time to get it down that far. The water coming out of the tap just isn’t cool enough… Didn’t want to wait any longer. See my “Chilling the Wort” thread in equipment.
Next time try a few drops of FermCap S. The stuff works wonders. I use it to both prevent boilovers and control fermentations. I was hesitant to use it at first because I assumed it did something to the surface tension of the beer that would have a negative impact on the head and head retention of the final product, but I have seen no such issue.
You can leave them bunged and in the freezer without the yeast overnight and let it pull them temp down to pitching temps. I do it all of the time.
Having just gotten a chest freezer and temp controller this is what I plan to do. Don’t have a good enough chiller to get it down to lager ferm temps. 76F is pretty high…might be fuselly.
I also use Fermcap, but mostly to prevent boil-overs. A few drops indeed. 30 grams will work on 10 bbls.
OK, a few drops of Fermcap-s down the hole and the monster has retreated… Bubblers on, staying clean and doing their best impression of a 50 cal… ;D
I am looking forward to trying this beer!