So I visited a local brew pub and saw what looked like an active fermentation that wasn’t air locked.
What’s your take on that?
Open fermentation has been around for eons. A lot of sours are brewed that way with the natural yeast on the air. Belgian is one country that still continues to do open fermentation
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Open fermentation can also be used if you pitch a healthy, abundant amount of yeast.
As @damian_winter said these are often for sour beers.
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Was this fermenter in a closed room. I think breweries that use open fermentation have the air filtered to prevent contamination. I believe Sierra Nevada does this.
Actually, SN uses a positive pressure room for their open fermentations.
Thanks Denny. I understand what a positive pressure room is. Basically a fancy term for sealed. What i don’t get is how does the O2 enter the room. Obviously the pressure from CO2 produced is vented out and nothing allowed in.
A coolship is a process use by a brewery in my town. The brew mostly Belgian and sour style
IIRC from beer camp, they pump O2 into the room. That’s how the positive pressure is achieved.
good info; thanks guys!
Here’s a pic of hefeweizen fermenting at Sierra Nevada. They use the same system for the barleywine, too.
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Anchor ferments in open fermenters, too. I couldn’t get a good picture when i took the tour, alas.
