I have just started brewing and I have been reading quite a bit here but I haven’t been able to find this answer.
I am going to be driving for 6+ hours for an annual fishing trip with my buddies and I want to share my 2nd and 3rd rounds (hopefully) of homebrew.
Will I need to let the bottles sit for a bit after the long drive to let thing re-settle?
I’ll be brewing round 2 this weekend (English Brown) then hopefully the NB Cream Ale the following weekend. I never thought this would be so addictive!
During a car ride the sediment will stir up a little. Dropping it out again depends on the yeast and if you can keep the bottles cold. Some yeast drop out quicker than others and cold definitely helps. Not really the answer you wanted I’m sure, but it’s the best I can tell you.
Nope, that’s helpful and kind of what I figured. Hopefully the night we arrive it will be cool enough I can let them sit on the dark side of the porch and relax any floating yeast.
I know the brow has a dry Danstar Nottingham packet (not sure which one).
The cream has the Wyeast 1056 pack.
Put them in an ice chest just big enough to hold them standing in rows, then cover with ice and add enough water to cover half the way up the bottles. The water will act as a shock-absorber and the cold temp will help keep the yeast down.
Can you put 'em in a cooler on ice? Or even in a freezer for 30 minutes or so after you arrive? That might help.
Also, I hate to thread jack, but I just bottled NB’s nut brown ale and used danstar nottingham. The yeast cake smelled rather strong and yeasty/sour when I cleaned out the carboy, and I was curious: did you notice something similar when you racked off of that yeast yourself?
I am brewing the brown this coming weekend. So it will be a bit before I can answer that one. Being my second batch, unless it was a bad smell, I won’t know if it’s off or not.
+1
the last few years i drove from NJ to NC. put them in a cooler before i left and they were fine wher i got there. as long as you clill them good before you go the yeast mostly sticks to the bottom, unless your going for a two hour off road bouncefest.
To ickyfoot: Sometimes I get a yeast cake that smells kind of foul but the beer ends up totally fine. Did you do a taste test of the beer when you racked?
I did mplsbrewer (What else are gravity samples for? Oh, wait… ), and it tasted just like a nut brown ale. I was really excited, as I love nut browns, and then I smelled the yeast cake and got worried. Thanks for the reassurance!
Apologies for the diversion, ibeentired. FWIW, sediment always seems to stay put, more or less, when I drive with my homebrew.
), and it tasted just like a nut brown ale. I was really excited, as I love nut browns, and then I smelled the yeast cake and got worried. Thanks for the reassurance!