sediment in the pour

Brewing processes and methods. How to brew using extract, partial or all-grain. Tips and tricks.

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Popiseed
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sediment in the pour

Post by Popiseed »

Hello, I am new to message boards, but I did post an introduction in the general page. a quick question around sediments. I have not filtered the batch of Amber that I just brewed. I am wondering if there are any steps before botteling that could help with this. I do not have a secondary fermentor (so i need one?). What i did was brewed the wort, pitched the yeast, waited for a week...until airlock and SG was my targe, transfered from primary via syphon into botteling bucket. During this I added my priming sugar, then bottled. The finished result is great on taste, carbonation, , however, clarity is somewhat skewed. Any suggestions? Thanks...
I'll think of one later.
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wottaguy
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Re: Sediment...

Post by wottaguy »

Hi Popi!

A lot of homebrewers are currently doing away with the secondary fermentation step and are instead doing their primary fermentation, then letting it ferment out and stay in the primary vessel for the same durations. It is said that no harm will come to the beer from the spent yeast as long as you have healthy yeast, excellent sanatation habits and you are fermentating under ideal controlled temperatures. For an ale this would be in the 65 - 70 degF range. (personally i never let the fermentation ever get to 70 degF and I pitch at or near 64 degF and let it warm up to 67 degF and i'll hold it there for the duration around 4 to 6 weeks).
I don't know how you are controlling your fermentation temps, but if you are fermentating under the correct temps, try performing the 1 step fermentation, and leave the beer in the primary for around 4 weeks. Check your gravity on the last week and make sure your beer has finished fermentating before bottling. This extra time will allow the yeast to settle to the bottom in their own time and will let the beer be fully fermented, and will also help in making the beer a lot clearer.
Also, after bottling, let the beers sit around 70 degF for around 5-6 weeks. This will also clear the finished beer considerably. Patience is the key here, and I admit that at times i find myself sneaking one or two to try it out before my imposed due dates are reached.
If you try this, please let us know what your results are.

Hope this helps!
Visit my blog @ http://www.wottashomebrewblog.blogspot.com

On Tap:
HL Pale Ale
HL Lite Lager
Bottled:
HL Simcoe Pale Ale
HL Wizeguy Weizenbock
HL Reveur Saison
HL Dry Stout
HL Kentucky Common
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slothrob
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Post by slothrob »

Did you use Irish Moss or a Whirlflock tablet in the last 5 minutes of the boil?
THis will help tremendously with clarity.
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Popiseed
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Post by Popiseed »

Whottaguy, your insight sounds correct. What I did was I only let the beer ferment in the primary for the first intial 7 days. Then I bottled. I guess that this is a very shortend process then from what you described. are there any dangers to keeping the beer in the primary for such a long time?
- Also my pitching temp was about 67 degrees.During fermentation, the primary sits in a low 60's, possibly dipping to 58 degree environement.

Slothrob- For this batch I did not use Irish Moss. I did however use it for the Pilsner.
I'll think of one later.
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wottaguy
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Post by wottaguy »

Hi Popi!

I just read what I posted earlier and I really need to correct myself here. :oops: Let me state that if you're brewing an ALE, then the longest time I would leave the ale on the yeast would be no longer than 21 days, and only if you have controlled fermentation temperatures. If you'r edoing a LAGER, then then I would have to say that you should leave the lager on the yeast for 4 -5 weeks, then prime and bottle. I apoligize if I have mislead anyone as I was probably enjoying a few PA's. Also, I would add the Irish Moss or Whirlflock 15 minutes before flame out. I would not let the ale get to the low 60,s as you describe as the yeast will probably call it quits and fall out to the bottom before they should. Some of the dangers of leaving the beer on the yeast too long would be spoiling yeast tainting the flavor of the beer and increased chances of further contamination. I think I would try doing it for 14 days to start with (ales) then increase the time period a little to seehot time effects the beer. I am planning on bottling a brown ale this weekend that has been in primary for 21 days. When the air lock stops, what I do is to slowly lower the temp by 2 degs a day until i'm ready to keg. This helps with conditioning too lets the yeast finish up...then drops the yeast to the bottom faster. Right now my brown ale is at 50 degF and ready to keg. Cmon Saturday!

Hope this helps!
Visit my blog @ http://www.wottashomebrewblog.blogspot.com

On Tap:
HL Pale Ale
HL Lite Lager
Bottled:
HL Simcoe Pale Ale
HL Wizeguy Weizenbock
HL Reveur Saison
HL Dry Stout
HL Kentucky Common
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Popiseed
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thanks

Post by Popiseed »

Whottaguy,
Thanks for the follow up. How do you lower the temp? Do you store your primary in a temp controlled vessal? The sweet thing about this Sat. for me is the debute of a pilsner. I hope your botteling goes well.
I'll think of one later.
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wottaguy
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Post by wottaguy »

Popi,

I ferment in a 14.5 gallon SS conical. I hacked the race-track lid and installed a 25 ft 3/8 copper coil to act as a heat exchanger. I use a cheap styrofoam cooler with a small aquarium pump and fill the cooler with 20 lbs of ice and a gallon or so of water. The aquarium pump is plugged into a digital temperature controller which senses the temp of the wort through the use of a thermowell, and turns on the pump and pumps and recirculates the 32 degF water thru the coils to cool the wort to the desired fermentation temp. the lowest temp that I have gotten it down to was 42 degF, which is plenty low for lagers as well. I am able to hold to +/- 1 degF! It works great!
My blog has some pics of the fermenter, and I'll be writing about how I hacked the conical to install the coil in future postings. If you would like the url for my blog, please ask, and I will PM it to you. That goes for anyone else that wants it too. It is also be posted somewhere on this forum, but I'm not sure where.

Thanks for asking!
Visit my blog @ http://www.wottashomebrewblog.blogspot.com

On Tap:
HL Pale Ale
HL Lite Lager
Bottled:
HL Simcoe Pale Ale
HL Wizeguy Weizenbock
HL Reveur Saison
HL Dry Stout
HL Kentucky Common
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apd1004
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Wottaguys Brewing Setup

Post by apd1004 »

Ron,

Your blog URL is in your profile....

EDIT:

I like the pics of your brewing setup in your blog, I'm getting some good ideas from it.

I really don't want to hijack Popiseed's thread with questions on it though, so I think I'll start a new one.

Jeff
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