Beer Forum

I guess I assumed with more available sugars, that a bigger beer would ferment even bigger. We made a 1.065 smoked Porter(JZ's recipe), and pitched it with a 1L 1056 starter( a little underpitched I guess). The krausen never really got bigger than about 3/4" in a 6.5 gal carboy. It did ferment pretty cold at about 64F. It was active for about 4-5 days and has begun to die out now. It just never really got rolling like a typical 1056 pitch. I haven't taken a reading to see what the progress was. Any concern?

On a side note, does anyone know if a carboy cap fits on these 6.5 gallon carboys? I forgot to check before adding the blowoff tube?

The 5 gallon carboy caps will not it on the 6.5 gallon carboys. They do sell, however, 6.5 gallon carboy caps. They should be easy to get.

Nothing to be concerned about. It isn't just the gravity, but also the overall wort composition combined with temperature and starter size that help determine fermentation activity. Your starter size was about half of what I normally use and that temperature was low enough that activity will be somewhat slow. I do most of my fermentation at that temperature.

Just be patient. I wouldn't even bother to check the gravity for another week.

The carboy caps come in different sizes. They are color coded but I don't remember which color goes with what size. I do remember that, for some odd reason, that the cap for the 6.5 gallon carboy is smaller than the one for the 5 gallon one.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

BugeaterBrewing wrote:Nothing to be concerned about. It isn't just the gravity, but also the overall wort composition combined with temperature and starter size that help determine fermentation activity. Your starter size was about half of what I normally use and that temperature was low enough that activity will be somewhat slow. I do most of my fermentation at that temperature.

Just be patient. I wouldn't even bother to check the gravity for another week.

The carboy caps come in different sizes. They are color coded but I don't remember which color goes with what size. I do remember that, for some odd reason, that the cap for the 6.5 gallon carboy is smaller than the one for the 5 gallon one.

Wayne

Bugeater Brewing Company

That's what I figured. I need a 2000ml flask for the "bigger" beers. I'm sure it will be fine, I was just a little curious. Any benefit to give it a little heat with a heating pad to bump it up a few degrees to make the yeast a bit more happy. I guess I was a bit surprised at the difference from my APA that was only about 12 points lower, but took off like a damn geyser using the same exact starter and yeast.

orange= 5 gallon
purple = 6.5 gallon

Maybe

yellow = 6 gal
BUB

bub wrote:yellow = 6 gal
BUB

My orange ones for my 5 gallons fit on my 6 gallons just fine. The 6.5's are a totally different neck design though. I think I have a drilled rubber stopper that will work fine for now. The 6.5's are mainly primaries, so they have a blow off tube in most of the time.

I have 2 6.5s that take the orange caps. I just got another 2 6.5 that wont take those so I have to make a trip to get some new caps. I just stuck the orange caps on the new 6.5s to keep out the airborn bacteria.