hiroller173 wrote:Here are a couple of the things I picked up - please let me know if I misunderstood or misinterpreted...
1) You don't need to start hopping at 60 min+. Do the calculations to calculate to the correct IBU's and move the hopping until later in the boil (way later, like 10 min and 1 min). This gives you huge flavor and aroma with the appropriate level of bitterness.
2) Ferment cooler. It sounded like 5-8 degrees under the White Labs recommendation was best. Yeast manufacturers tell you the temperature that will ferment the quickest, not necessarily with the most flavor or character (my interpretation).
3) Get the wort cooled to at or better yet under the fermentation temp prior to pitching.
4) Get the wort off the break by letting it settle overnight (8-12 hours) and rack it off before pitching (this also gives the wort time to get to the desired fermentation temperature)
How'd I do?
Fred
Great job. A couple of clarifications.
1) Right. This works really well for beers where you want a big aroma and flavor. I wouldn't use it for styles where hop aroma and flavor are not wanted.
2) In general, it pays to ferment cooler rather than warmer, because you get a cleaner fermentation with less harsh alcohol character (in big beers especially). Of course, in order to ferment cooler, you'll need to be pitching lots of clean, healthy yeast. There is also a bottom limit to where the yeasts will ferment. If you get too cold, the yeast will drop out. It is kind of a case by case, yeast by yeast thing. No real specific number of degrees. The white lab ranges seemed to be higher than I prefer, but in general I think fermenting in the range that they provide is best. I'm not sure I'd ferment outside their range without understanding what will happen. They're the yeast experts, I'm just a brewer.
3) I always cool to fermentation temp before pitching, but it is most important for lagers. For lagers, I cool to ~44F and I let it drift up from there only about 3 or 4 degrees. I would not cool ales below fermentation temp.
4) I only do this for lagers, because I need to get the temp so low and I need to get rid of the trub. For ales, I don't think it is worth the bother. For lagers, you need to get rid of the break material. If you're going to do this, you need to make sure your sanitation is flawless. Letting your wort sit overnight can give the bacteria a great head start.
JZ
