You get to harvest yeast more easily. Getting the trub out certainly isn’t hurting anything other than your volume if you do it often
You are making a Weizen and it should be cloudy. Thats part of the style. The best Weizen strains don’t floc very easily which adds to the profile.
Well yeah… Hazy is desired, but I have actual solids inside… Trub and leftover strawberry puree. I need to get it to a hazy-but-not-chunky
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So I sampled off the top of the fermenter today… Still tastes bad. Very bland, almost like cardboard. My grain bill was:
5# 2 row
5# weyermann pale
0.2# honey malt
2# honey added to boil, tetnang hops added as well
Wyeast American ale starter
3# of strawberry puree added to secondary
At this point, I can’t figure out what went wrong, and I can’t think of how to salvage the beer. I’m thinking of bottling one bottle, letting the remaining volume sit in the fermenter. Assuming it still tastes bad from the bottle after a few weeks, maybe add lactose and strawberry extract to try to hide the funk. Other than that, I might hafta trash the brew which SUCKS
I thought it was a wiezen?
It is… I got the recipe from NB. Honey Weizen
weyermann pale wheat malt… I think you mean. “Cardboard” is an oxidation descriptor. If it truly is oxidized that will only get worse with age. How long has it been in the fermenter? Maybe you don’t like fermented Honey? I don’t really.
I mean the fermenter was definitely pressurized when I added the strawberry, and still was pressurized (or better yet, re-pressurized) when I sampled again today.
Yes, sorry I meant weyermann wheat.
Primary lasted about 10 days, secondary has been going for 12 days. I normally like mead… if this is truly a weird honey flavor, that’s unfortunate
Where did the strawberry puree come from?
This may be yet another one to disregard… Cardboard IS an oxidized situation… 4 days ago you were removing gunk from the fermenter… Did you push the gunk out with CO2 or just let it go on its own… I can’t stress enough to use CO2 whenever and however to rack a finished brew… Why did those guys at Brulosophy come up the Brewloon? I’m not banging on you… its a process that has caused me a bit of grief… not too long ago… And then theres the over compulsive side side I don’t subscribe to cause yeast DO need O2 to complete their job" effectively" I feel the pain too… Sad to loose so much time and brew down the drain… Sneezles61
The strawberry puree also came from NB
So you’re saying that I shouldn’t let gravity take the solids out of my conical? I don’t own any CO2, since I naturally carbonate in bottles. I don’t even know how to go about that… I mean I let the solids leave through gravity but I never had to remove the airlock, nothing overflowed.
Basically, unless I use CO2 to push things out of my conical, using a conical is more harm than good?
It’s just tough because this was my first time using a conical… So all those transfers between buckets and carboys in the past led to no oxidation, but the new piece of equipment does? God damn it
Maybe maybe not. How much headspace did your conical have for this batch?
Wait until its done fermenting… I would believe every time you remove trub, something has to replace the loss of volume… O2… Your conical isn’t the enemy, How to use it will be what your going to figure out… I wonder, can your conical hold some pressure? Find a way to let pressure build up during the fermentation process is a thought… Using a spunding valve, you’d have head pressure… when you dump out trub when complete, the CO2 would be able to expand, thus keeping O2 away from your brew… Throwing thoughts out… Sneezles61
I understand that I’m the problem here, not the equipment… But I always thought I was using the conical properly. What you’re saying makes sense about needing to replace whatever is coming out with oxygen… But I just assumed that the amount of O2 coming in during trub removal was nothing compared to the O2 exposure I would otherwise have during transfer from a bucket primary to a carboy secondary… Never had oxidation problems there and never used CO2 to purge anything.
I had a decent amount of headroom, probably more than I should but I checked with various knowledgeable people who said it would be fine. I had about 2 gallons worth of headspace.
My method was to wait for fermentation to end, slowly take out solids (once a day for 2-3 days)… Then I had to open the top to dry hop the strawberry. Let that sit for 10 or so days, then take solids out once a day for 2-3 more days. I’m finally trub/solids free, but obviously the taste is a mess. Without using additional CO2 I don’t see what I could have done any differently. In fact, I’m surprised an item like this is even sold as-is (ie without additional CO2 or instructions) if what I did is wrong. Looks like I may just have to go back to buckets for a while
That’s a crazy amount of headspace for a secondary. The goal is none. I will reemphasize that you should not need to remove trub on a secondary until bottling. When adding fruit I let it sit on the fruit as long as possible… so until I am bottling.
I don’t think removeing the trub is the problem because o2 is heavier than co2 so the beer is protected since the o2 will stay above the co2 cap. I don’t think you need to remove it though unless your harvesting. The headspace is troubles for a secondary though. So you should try leaving it full or transfer to a smaller secondary Brite vessel. IMO
That is a fallacy… the whole one gas being heavier than another and hovering or sinking to the lowest levels.
Here is a video of mercury vapors, a super heavy vapor, and you will see it goes where it wants…
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I guess since it took multiple attempts of removing the trub in the secondary, I assumed trying to do it at the end seemed wrong. I felt like I wouldn’t get the necessary solids removed, and thus I would be standing around for hours trying to get it to empty.
I understand the headspace is a lot. But some professional brewers told me it shouldn’t have been an issue. My normal process includes a 6.5 gallon carboy as a secondary, so that usually has some extra headspace as well, albeit much less. Even buckets are 6.5 gallons. But either way… unless I am willing to shell out some extra money to get a pressure kit for the conical and a CO2 setup, you’re saying I shouldn’t use my conical for 5 gallon batches? That sucks, but it’s better than throwing multiple batches down the drain so I will suck it up I guess. I was just very excited to use my new “toy”, and now it’s going to sit in the corner for a long while… Back to buckets and carboys
Bland and cardboard are not the same. Lots of beers taste bland prior to carbonation. I like your idea of test bottling but make sure fermentation is finished or use a PET bottle.
You may end up fine. Could be just that the adjuncts are not as intense as you expected them to be.
