Caribou Slobber

Mashing
1

This past Sunday (8/9/15) I made my first ever batch of Caribou Slobber. I added oxygen using a stone and pitched the Danstar Windsor Ale yeast. Within 8 hours there were sings of fermentation. Within 18 hours I had 3-4 bubbles per second in the airlock and a thick 2 - 2 1/2 inch krausen. This morning when I was checking the temp inside the chamber there was no sings of activity in the airlock and the krausen was almost all gone except for a thin layer.

Curious I took a gravity reading and it was 1.022. Started at 1.048. Obviously it still has some time to go, just curious if anyone else has this experience with this yeast.

2

I have and your experience is fairly typical. My advice is to give it a full 3 weeks of primary fermentation as the current SG is too high still. (Still early I know) even with extract a reasonable FG would be less than 1.018 and better at less than 1.014. Google bottle bombs…

The quick takeoff and rapid decline may have to do with warm fermentation temps.

3

Mine also was an aggressive fermentation that lasted about 3 days. My final gravity only got down to 1.020 after about 3 weeks.

4

Well I transferred to secondary after 13 days and I started to see signs of fermentation again for almost seven more days. Nothing major, just a about 5 - 7 bubbles a minute and a light krausen formed. I took a reading yesterday when I transferred to a keg and it got down to 1.008 for a final ABV of 5.25% and the sample tasted really good. Glad it all turned out okay but that yeast scares the hell out of me to use again.

5

That’s seems like an awfully low FG for this recipe and yeast. Was the sample corrected for temp? Usually this reflects an infection.

6

Sample was 69 degrees. I didn’t notice any signs of an infection. It looked, smelled and tasted good. Will see how it is after if carbs up.

7

I would add, to write all this in your notes about the whole process about this one and all your future ones, possible too high temp when pitched, how this yeast performed to completion, everything for now so you can look back before your next batch. As you progress in your experience, these things will jump off the page at you about what to do and what not. Good luck!