So you can’t heat this to boiling, add SMB and transfer to the holding cooler?
There are a few things that I was considering when doing it that led me to the answer I came up with.
- I don’t know that the cooler will take boiling water without deforming a lot, 185F water makes it deform a bit, so 212 probably isn’t great. Also, I don’t know if it would cool to the right sparge temp by the time I wanted to use it.
- The act of transferring would cause some splashing and whatnot due to the mechanisms available. This wouldn’t be an issue at boiling temp (see note above), but at lower temp will consume of the SMB that is available.
- The vessel is a rectangular cooler, which has a very high surface area to volume ratio allowing more oxygen to diffuse into the standing water while the rest of the process is occurring. I don’t have any numbers for how fast oxygen dissolves into standing water, but again it will consume more of the SMB that is in there before the real business part of the deal starts to happen (the sparge).
Since I’m doing a batch sparge, that seems more susceptible to oxygen pickup since you have to “refill” all the air holes in the mash after it has been run off. Looking in the mash after refilling for the sparge, it is visibly bubbling away as the air pushes out of the mash. For that reason, I think that one would want to maximize the amount of oxygen buffer that was available in the tun rather than blowing some of it in the transfer/storage process.
I’m sure I’m wrong…my wife lets me know all the time.
This keg carbonating is taking longer than I expected.
I sealed it up at 6 psi which then dropped to 1.5 psi as the CO2 in the headspace was absorbed. It stayed there for three days and then began creeping up about 1 psi per day. Today is the morning of day 11 and it’s just shy of 10 psi.
At 70f, it needs to reach 30 psi to achieve my target of 2.5 volumes.
Maybe you didn’t keg it with enough residuals left to reach that psi? Or its just slowly finishing the fermenting…
I am not sure what kind of beer it is, but it certainly seems like you transferred to late. Any more details?
It’s a Belgian Pale fermented with 3787.
I fermented to completion and then primed in the serving keg with 4 oz. of cane sugar on day 14.
It probably takes longer to carb this way than it would if transferring actively fermenting beer, but it’s still slower than I would have expected (though this is the first time I’ve naturally carbonated anything in a while).
4 oz. of priming sugar should have been enough; I’ll guess I’ll see what happens.
Low oxygen batch #2 is planned for Saturday morning (APA with 1272).
Was it a high OG beer? I hope it takes off. I’ve never tried priming in a keg but could you add in a little dry yeast without compromising the LODO technique? Maybe 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of T-58? Denny posted some info a few years ago on using this yeast for carbing.
Yeah, more than a few breweries use it for conditioning because of the compact yeast cake it forms.
He really shouldn’t need any additional dry yeast if he is keg conditioning a moderate gravity belgian pale, especially with 3787. That yeast does not floc out that well there should be more than enough in suspension to easily tackle the 4 oz of priming sugar.
I completely agree but it doesn’t always work. If it was a high OG an first pitch or removed from cake too early then it may need some help.
I will always advocate for a spund and not a complete ferment. This is one of the reasons. I am sure thenlage in the pressure build up robbed you of some tastes goodness. It’s not always the easiest I understand.
Spunding is done in the FV and not the bright tank correct?
It wasn’t a high gravity beer (1.058); I’m not particularly concerned about it.
Worse case scenario, I put it in the kegerator and have a couple of pints as is. I can always hook it up to the gas and force carb it the rest of the way.
What is it about the lag in pressure build up that would cause an issue in the low oxygen context - potential oxygen pickup during transfer that the yeast would take up more quickly if the beer was still actively fermenting?
I use the same fermentors that you do, what is your method for taking gravity samples during fermentation without sucking air in through the lock?
Sorry for the error laden post, apparently my phone decided to go bonkers.
Thats exactly right, active yeast are essential here for that very reason.
I use a refractometer and using our low oxygen brewing sheet, can do the alcohol calcs. This means I only have to pull a few ml, which does not disturb the airlock.
Well not for me, as I don’t have a pressure capable fermenter. So I spund in the serving vessel.
Bryan,
When performing the spunding process, have you noticed any issues with off-flavors (diacetyl, acetaldehyde) or lower attenuation issues due to pulling the beer off the yeast cake in such an early fashion? I understand it is still done during the later phase of active fermentation, but was curious if you ever noticed any problems arise from this?
I know this process is done effectively, but new brewers are always “taught” not to separate beer from yeast too soon for fear of leaving behind fermentation byproducts that may/may not get cleaned up enough from an earlier separation?
I am guessing that an adequate, healthy, viable pitch of yeast has a lot to do with this NOT happening…
Thanks…
I wouldn’t call it an early fashion its only ~4-6 points away from final attenuation. But yea, healthy yeast and ferments are paramount. I have never had any issues, but I always pitch to the upper end of the pitch rates.
And do you finish up the spund at d-rest temps I assume, or go full cold throughout?
No I spund at fermentation temps.
Cool, thanks.