:o Ok.
Sorry. I am one of those lager novice’s that drive you crazy. This isn’t a German lager and the FG fits within the style guidelines for what I was going for. It is not ideal but I am good with it :o
Are you willing to give me some helpful advice on how to get my lager down below 3.8p or provide input on the possible problem?
Without FFT’s you don’t know what kind of wort your are making. So FFT’s, along with plenty of healthy oxygenated yeast. That should get you on the map.
Great thanks.
Hmmmm…if oxygen is used to synthesize sterols needed for yeast reproduction, but you already have a heavy population of yeast cells, do you really need aeration?
Why would a slurry from an initial pitch of dry yeast be any different from a slurry from a Wyeast pitch?
If you believe in the gospel according to S. Cerevisiae: (i) yeast cells harvested at the end of fermentation have reached quiescence and have low ergosterol and UFA reserves, (ii) ergosterol and UFA reserves help keep cell walls pliable, (iii) low pliability negatively affects the ability of yeast to attenuate extract as it makes it more difficult for nutrients and waste to pass in and out of cells, (iv) since yeast use O2 to synthesize ergosterol and UFA, cells with low ergosterol and UFA reserves have higher O2 demands and benefit from proper aeration/oxygenation.
Not my own knowledge, just paraphrasing…
I don’t believe it is. Both are oxygen deprived and in need of a good healthy dose of aeration.
OK. Agreed. I seemed odd to me that a number of posts kept referencing dry yeast.
I thought the OP stated that he had re-pitched a slurry from a dry yeast packet so I was just referencing that.
This particular instance is related to repitching W34/70 slurry. I recently had a similar issue with K97 slurry.
I think the dry lager yeasts really hit their stride in the 3rd, 4th and 5th use (the most I have taken one out is about 8 uses, IIRC - compared to 24+ pitches on a liquid lager yeast a while back). I religiously feed yeast nutrient to all yeasts that are re-pitched.
The first re-pitching of 34/70 can be a bit of a crap shoot, it seems, but I aerate the heck out of it (favoring O2 by stone with that situation) and give it a healthy dose of Wyeast nutrient in the last 10 minutes of the boil to give it the best chance to finish off well. I will overshoot Mr. Malty’s suggested volume of yeast, as well on the second pitch of 34/70.
No science to back this, just anecdotal experience on this one.
Wow! 24 pitches with no issues? That is crazy on the home-brew level or is this commercial?
+1 to yeast nutrient on repitches.
Homebrew and all kinds of colors and strengths, but with greater strength it required greater pitches. If your sanitation is good, then you should not have problems. I finally gave up because I wanted to switch to a different yeast. I think it was WLP 830 or 800.
Good to know and better to try out! Thanks!
The two things that occurred to me are: beer 2 hasn’t finished yet; did you aerate the wort sufficiently for beer 2?
As mentioned, the most likely culprit appears to be that beer 2 was not aerated sufficiently in accordance with repitching dry yeast slurry. I used my normal aeration practice which works fine with initial pitches.
The Beerery was right. The beer is unfortunately sweet after further tastings. I wouldn’t go with ‘syrupy sweet’ but definitely not what I was hoping for.
I am considering adding some gypsum to the keg. Is that even a worthwhile thought?
Adding Gypsum won’t fix sweetness. If it was me, I’d consider the following options:
- De-gas and repitch another new active starter
or - Blend it with a new batch that is over-bittered and has attenuated completely
or - De-gas, throw in some fruit and re-pitch
or - Add a hop-shot to increase perceived bitterness
Ok thanks. If it wasn’t aerated enough to begin with, will pitching more yeast help?
Maybe. But without doing an FFT (did I miss that you did?) you don’t know if the issue is the wort or the yeast.