Over pitched ale

flars · July 30, 2018, 9:21pm

I’ll probably move this beer to a secondary to keep some of the excess yeast out of the bottles. Wasn’t paying attention when I used the Brew United calculator to estimate viability/starter size for the harvested US-05. Entered the wrong date. Added an extra 30 days of viability loss. Thought viability was shown as too low. This is day 7 in the primary for the Speckled Heifer. Krausen looks like solid yeast. Just hoping some character was able to develop with the huge overload of yeast.

I left a pint of Star San solution in my secondaries when I put them away 8 years ago. Do you think I’ll need to clean and sanitize?

sneezles61 · July 30, 2018, 10:20pm

That looks like a very active brew there… I think if you use and old sock to help disperse the start san… It’ll be good! Sneezles61

loopie_beer · July 31, 2018, 12:07am

Although not ideal I think it’s difficult to over pitch. And I don’t think it was too high of an over pitch with a 30 day difference. I think you’ll like the beer just fine.

squeegeethree · July 31, 2018, 12:54am

I also don’t think you’ll have any issues with overpitching. As to “character” from 05, I wouldn’t hold your breath.

flars · July 31, 2018, 2:23am

It looks like a krausen during an active fermentation but the fermentation is over. Some CO2 popping yeast off the bottom but that is it. I’ll take a SG reading tomorrow. Then decide whether or not to secondary. There would be a lot of yeast falling from the yeast ring to the siphon going from the primary to the bottling bucket. The reason for considering the secondary.

jmck · July 31, 2018, 10:23am

Give it a little bump once or twice a day; that cap will break up and fall in a couple days.

Leave that Star San alone, it needs a few more years to mellow and develop proper flavor.

uncdeo · July 31, 2018, 11:57am

I cant drink star san until year ten.

squeegeethree · July 31, 2018, 4:33pm

@flars I just really over pitched a wheat and got to thinking how my wheat (compared to your picture) at 1.045 OG (edited from 1.45… hence the hilarity to follow) and 1.5L starter made nearly no kruesen and is almost done, activity wise, at 3 days.

flars · July 31, 2018, 5:22pm

My pictured beer was OG 1.042. 1.5 liter starter with ≈ 100 billion cell over build for later use.

squeegeethree · July 31, 2018, 5:39pm

I pitched the whole 1.5.

sneezles61 · July 31, 2018, 9:06pm

I suppose you could stick that sucker in the fridge… Really give it a cold break, then rack to your secondary and allow it to sit/finish off at room temp… Sneezles61

loopie_beer · July 31, 2018, 11:30pm

[quote=“squeegeethree, post:8, topic:26380, full:true”]
at 1.45 OG[/quote]
Now that’s a BIG BEER!

uncdeo · August 1, 2018, 12:12am

Dayum.

squeegeethree · August 1, 2018, 10:06am

I just was experimenting. Obviously no need to build such a big starter and frankly I had no need to build a starter at all. I was curious what would happen. I guess I’ll find out this weekend when I check gravity at 1 week.

flars · August 1, 2018, 7:53pm

The krausen of yeast began dropping last night. A heavy ring of yeast still remains I’ve been giving the fermentor a little nudge every time I’ve been downstairs @jmck to drop some of the yeast. There will be quite a bit of yeast remaining clinging to the side of the carboy. This yeast will fall as I siphon to the bottling bucket. The siphon will collect some. The conundrum is accepting this and not being able to pour the entire bottle contents or risk the secondary to eliminate this yeast. Evaluate this after another week.

Take a hydrometer sample next week. There is still too much suspended yeast to get a good taste of the beer.

loopie_beer · August 2, 2018, 12:00am

I would think a beer with an OG of 1.45 would need a huge starter!

squeegeethree · August 2, 2018, 9:43am

oh right lol I see what I did there now.

sneezles61 · August 2, 2018, 9:44am

Sometimes, a zero does make a difference! Sneezles61

squeegeethree · August 4, 2018, 11:45am

I just checked and my over pitched ale, that never had a thick krausen, is done. So I will proceed to spill whole leaf hops all over the floor while trying to get them in my depth charge.

flars · August 4, 2018, 1:27pm

Checked the SG of the Speckled Heifer this morning. The screw up starting with too cool of strike water had its effect. SG is at 1.007. Very pale weak tasting beer with hardly any body. This will be one to have multiple beers at a time to get rid of it. Maybe some one else will like it though and I can give it away by the case.

edit: Checked my brewing notes. I went for a mash pH of 5.3 for this brew. All the other brews were at a mash pH of 5.5. Perhaps this is part of the lack of body.