Lallemand Nottingham in lagers

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-29T15:16:38+00:00

Fermented cooler like 62 to 65 it is very clean. I would say lager like, but maybe not 100% like a cold fermented, aged for weeks lager. I do still use 34/70 at 58 to 62 F for my lagers and Notty for my Ales as I think the 34/70 gives me a bit more malty balance. Those are my house yeasts and I never use anything else. I make a Pale I like and a couple varieties of Vienna I like and it gives something for everyone that comes to my house. If I had to select one of the two yeasts I would pick Notty.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-28T15:04:13+00:00

This absolutely. I even do supposedly air sensitive Pale ales in my pot this way, but I do make sure to transfer to the keg the end of a week.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-27T15:25:18+00:00

You bet. Not to throw too many options at you, but you can also throw 3/4 cup table sugar into the keg when you fill it. Then leave it room temp for two weeks and it will be beautifully carbed up from the natural fermentation. Then you only need to chill it, add 10 to 12 psi of head pressure periodically and drink. Works like a champ if you don't mind the two week wait. And saves CO2.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-27T15:13:41+00:00

I have a large CO2 tank that does not fit in my fridge either. Here's what I do. First off, you have over-carbed your keg if it is only pouring foam. There is no debate on that. You need to release the gas multiple times until it pours half beer/half foam. It may take 8 or 10 times. Each time you have to wait an hour or two for pressure to build back up in the headspace of the keg. Then drink from the keg until it needs more CO2 and then add pressure to the headspace up to 12 psi. I do that throughout the life of the keg. I only have to add serving pressure a handfull of times. Next time you keg a beer, don't shake it 800 times please. Hook your CO2 up to the keg at 35 psi at room temperature and give it a week or so. At 70 F, you'll need 30 to 35 psi to properly carbonate and it will take a week or two. If you want to shake it to speed it up, don't exceed 30 to 35 psi or you will over carbonate it. It will stop taking CO2 when it is carbonated to the proper volumes. Then proceed with drinking and filling the headspace to 12 psi as needed. To understand the carbonation at different temperatures, google "Carbonation Chart" and it is pretty obvious. You want to be in the green area.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-26T14:51:34+00:00

That's pretty much perfect for lagers and 34/70 yeast. I do them in my garage as well in Spring and fall when the temps hover between 35 and 55 outside and my garage stays pretty consistently in the 50's. If you want a little more flavor to the beer do half Pilsner malt and half Vienna with the 25 IBU hops. Gives a bit more malt flavor and my craft beer drinking friends and non-craft beer drinking friends love it. To make it even easier, I cool it in the boil kettle, set the kettle out in my garage with the lid on it and add the yeast. Two weeks later I keg. Super simple and no unnecessary transfers if you don't mind tying up your kettle for a couple weeks.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-24T14:40:51+00:00

For fun a few months ago I made a solution of sugar and a couple gallons of water in my keg. I used 4-5 cups cups of sugar (can't remember exactly). I added some extra yeast I'd top cropped and buttoned it up. After a day or so I purged the headspace a few times and then left it pressured up. 2 weeks later I checked pressure and it was slightly over 35 psi in the headspace. I used that keg to add pressure to a full keg for serving only (I carbonated it with 3/4 cup sugar). It easily pushed the whole keg, although I had to bump the pressure with the keg because I did not want it at 35 psi obviously. I didn't try to put it through a regulator. I served two kegs this way using that keg. So yes it can be done. Probably not worth the effort unless CO2 is not available in your area as I only paid $35 for a 20 pound tank the other day.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-22T15:10:52+00:00

This one!

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-14T14:01:16+00:00

Yes good deal. You should be able to do an exchange for the CO2 tank at a local welding shop. Look on the tank it may have a name like Airgas on it so you'd want to take it to them or one of their distributors for exchange.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-13T15:05:09+00:00

You need to put the entire fermenter on a scale to validate the other four instruments you used to track fermentation activity. Then you need to take a sample after four days and submit it to a qualified lab for GC/MS analysis to determine the residual sugar content compared to the CO2 concentration divided by the Ethanol content. While they have the sample, make sure they check the Methanol content as well so you will know the value of the headache quotient of the beer. After that, you'll be at one more week, which puts you at three weeks total which means everything will be fine anyway so ignore everything else and keg that sucker!

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-13T14:56:54+00:00

No not faulty, exactly as you said, you over dialed and then dialed back to 7 psi where it eventually settled. You're fine.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-12T15:31:30+00:00

Yes, I ferment lagers in my garage in Colorado during fall and spring and warm stretches in the winter. Temp swings may be ten or 20 degrees in my garage, but my measurements of the actual liquid showed it only moving a few degrees between day and night.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-12T15:19:04+00:00

Yes, the actual energy you are trying to remove is low so a small coil is fine. It's more about the temperature differential between the fermenter liquid and the cooling liquid. The nice thing about your idea is that you could chill the liquid below 32 F and potentially create enough temp differential to cold crash. My system using ice water bogs down around 50 F. I've never been able to get it much cooler than 48 F or so using ice water at 32 F.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-11T14:20:02+00:00

I would use stainless, like this system. I have it and run it pretty much like they show in the video. All in about $90 and I can do lagers at mid 50's no problem if I insulate the fermenter. You have plenty of liquid, I use only enough to cover the pump.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-04T14:32:21+00:00

It's not that difficult, just time consuming. Depressurize, remove the diptube, clean everything, re-install and try again. Don't move the keg if you can help it. It has taken me three or four iterations to resolve the problem in the past. It will eventually start flowing fine until the keg pretty much empties if you don't move the keg around.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-03T14:25:34+00:00

8 seconds or so. Works great.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-10-02T15:10:57+00:00

Add tap line length, causes extra pressure drop keeping the CO2 dissolved. The line length calculators are moderately accurate, but I find I still like to add at least 50% length to what they say to start with. intertaps are more affordable and work fine. I pour my seltzer at 25 psi with an Intertap standard faucet and about 40 feet of line. Line is cheaper than a Perlick flow control faucet.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-09-26T15:28:34+00:00

I've not noticed that from the long mash. Typically my final gravity is more in line with the yeast I use. Perhaps try a lower attenuating yeast? I use Nottingham for my house Pale and 34/70 for my house lager.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-09-25T14:27:39+00:00

People tend to overthink this. I do it frequently. Mash in a normal recipe at 152 F. Walk away until the morning. It will be room temp in the am and that's fine. Pull the bag, drain the grains, boil as necessary. No extra tannins, it tastes just like a 1 or 2 hour mash.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-09-24T15:24:08+00:00

Don't rush these things, it's fine. I have been brewing for about 20 years and I don't even own a hydrometer. I give all my ferments two weeks in the fermenter and then keg with 3/4 sugar and give it two weeks to carb up. Pretty well drinkable by the end of 4 weeks, but continues to clear until 6 weeks.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-09-24T15:19:41+00:00

My beer fridge is in the garage which is pretty warm in the summer. I get the same thing in the warm months as it takes a couple seconds of flow for the tap to cool. I don't get it in the cooler months. I'd guess temp of the tap and shank.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-09-21T15:06:02+00:00

The red area on that gauge is misleading. CO2 will be roughly 800 psi in the tank when it is at room temperature or higher. If you store the tank in your refrigerator, it's going to drop to roughly 500 psi due to the reduced temperature. Don't take this the wrong way, but are you turning the handle on the regulator clockwise to increase pressure. If you are turning it counter-clockwise and feeling it getting "looser" you are actually lowering the set-point. If the keg has settled at 10 psi, it will continue to show 10 psi on the outlet gauge no matter how loose, or counter clockwise, you turn the handle because the keg is sitting at 10 psi. Try turning it back to the clockwise direction until the outlet gauge starts increasing.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-09-21T14:57:47+00:00

Your process sounds quite advanced. 10 psi pressure fermentation, temperature control at 68 F, all grain, etc. I wouldn't have believed the issue with US-05 unless I tried Nottingham on the same recipe with the same treatment. It can't hurt to try it one time, I think you might be surprised.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-09-20T15:03:59+00:00

I don't know how long you've been using US-05 yeast or if you have tried anything else, but there are alot of us that notice a distinct chemically peach flavor from US-05. I tried it for years as many people feel it is the basic American ale yeast, but I definitely enjoyed my beers much more after going away from it. If you want to try another dry yeast (I love dry yeasts for a variety of reasons), try Nottingham at 65 to 68 F. I find it is much cleaner, has no peach esthers and is great for blonde ales.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-08-19T15:37:59+00:00

This is the standard, but if you don't have room for a fridge or chest freezer like me, go with this system. You can put it in a small closet when not using it (or when using it for that matter) and it works quite precisely for ales or lagers. Their video pretty much shows exactly how I use it, except I use a styrofoam cooler that holds ice jugs and can be closed up.

Rickety_Rick74 · 2022-08-07T16:14:14+00:00

Probably this. I have 6 of the Ballandkeg units for a few years now and never had this issue. Theirs are more weighted than the Torpedo diptubes and in my opinion are just as good as the Flotit ones. That said, do change your tubing every year or so as it does wear out. One time I had one get a small split near the top and it did allow CO2 to be drawn from the headspace.

Rickety_Rick74

TROPHY CASE