Kegmenter. Are they good to use?

[Lionman]

I have done heaps of reading on DMS and have a reasonable understanding of the sources.

I have never noticed it in any of my brews before now and the smell was very strong of creamed corn. I have done 5 batches now in the kegmenter and the smell during fermentation has always been very good.

I did use about 30% pilsner malt so that could be the source, I did a vigorous 60min boil and chilled it quickly afterwards. Maybe I should have boiled for longer with the pilsner malt, although I have used similar amounts in the past without issue before using a kegmenter.

Maybe I have an infection in this batch. There are are number of wild yeasts and bacteria that can contribute DMS. Its common in spontaneous fermentations such as lambics.

I've been venting the pressure regularly in the hope I can drive off the DMS down to a level that is not offensive. The smell does seem to have subsided after a few vents but I could also just becoming less sensitive to it. Hope I don't need to ditch this batch.

Arg!

 

[altone]

Hope it's not an infection mate but to quote Brad Smith

DMS aromas (including some sulfur or rotten-egg aroma) during fermentation (particularly lagers) are not unusual,
so you don’t need to toss your beer out just because you have a DMS aroma during fermentation.
Some of this will fade naturally during the lagering process.

I usually do a 75min boil when using pilsner - just to be safe.
But 60 mins should really be more than enough with the current malts we have.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I have done heaps of reading on DMS and have a reasonable understanding of the sources.

I have never noticed it in any of my brews before now and the smell was very strong of creamed corn. I have done 5 batches now in the kegmenter and the smell during fermentation has always been very good.

I did use about 30% pilsner malt so that could be the source, I did a vigorous 60min boil and chilled it quickly afterwards. Maybe I should have boiled for longer with the pilsner malt, although I have used similar amounts in the past without issue before using a kegmenter.

Maybe I have an infection in this batch. There are are number of wild yeasts and bacteria that can contribute DMS. Its common in spontaneous fermentations such as lambics.

I've been venting the pressure regularly in the hope I can drive off the DMS down to a level that is not offensive. The smell does seem to have subsided after a few vents but I could also just becoming less sensitive to it. Hope I don't need to ditch this batch.

Arg!

I know that you know about letting the the co2 vent and I agreed somewhat with this post (below) which you put up recently, apart from the ale fermentation but that is just my taste, yes you can ferment an ale under some pressure, and yes it will have a clean taste and it will drop clear at the expense of the yeast esters. Agree wholeheartedly that a Belgian should not be included in pressure ferments at any cost.

Lionman quote.
My point was that if you are pressure fermenting, the temperature difference is not as critical due to the higher pressures suppressing ester production.

Some people are reporting the clean fermentation of ales at 26c at 1 bar, so its plausible that the difference between 20c and 21c at pressure is negligible.

The actual temperature is not really that important, it's the results that count. If you are producing consistent and desirable results, the exact temperature doesn't really matter. Temperature stability becomes the real benefit of temperature controlled fermentation.

If you are brewing estery styles like Belgians or Wheats then you probably wouldn't be pressure fermenting and accurate temperature becomes a lot more important, especially for yeast strains that produce different esters in different, relatively narrow temp ranges.

 

[Lionman]

Hope it's not an infection mate but to quote Brad Smith
I usually do a 75min boil when using pilsner - just to be safe.
But 60 mins should really be more than enough with the current malts we have.

I know I shouldn't worry yet, but its hard not too. I'm mainly concerned because I have brewed a series of batches all with the same yeast and this one is noticeably different. I'll keep venting it periodically to help purge as much DMS as possible.

 

[altone]

I know I shouldn't worry yet, but its hard not too. I'm mainly concerned because I have brewed a series of batches all with the same yeast and this one is noticeably different. I'll keep venting it periodically to help purge as much DMS as possible.

All my recent Americans have been done with 1450 so I'm kind of used to how it goes.
The last one I did crawled out of the 30l fermenter with only 19l in it in less than 24 hours
same temp same yeast but very different, maybe I just made the perfect starter for it I dunno.
Maybe your starter this time got stressed and is behaving differently.
Let's hope so as if that's the case you'll end up with something drinkable if not perfect.
My old speckled hen type brew on the other hand is going so slow I expected it to be done by now
but it's dropping slowly and hopefully has about 4 points to go.
At least the hydro sample tasted good.

 

[Beerandpies]

yep since starting pressure fermenting i have been dry hopping when i pitch yeast to avoid the wort volcano.
beers have been fruitier and delicious.

So I'm on my second pressure ferment. The first I didn't get a good seal on the primary ferment (6" opening on kegmenter) so when I reseated the seal i also dry hopped at about day 5/6. I feel this beer is lacking the dry hop flavour and aroma. I used about 90g of centennial and 10g Amarillo. Note: the hops had been in my freezer in a sandwich bag for greater then 5months.
The second i did yesterday. I used US05 1L starter for a 1.043 Amber ale. I have dry hopped when pitching the yeast with 45g simcoe, 45g Amarillo and 10g centennial (trying to use it up). It is currently at 5psi and rising to the set 8psi. This time it has sealed properly.

What do brewers recommend the optimal psi setting should be?

Feel free to provide advice on all aspects

 

[wide eyed and legless]

So I'm on my second pressure ferment. The first I didn't get a good seal on the primary ferment (6" opening on kegmenter) so when I reseated the seal i also dry hopped at about day 5/6. I feel this beer is lacking the dry hop flavour and aroma. I used about 90g of centennial and 10g Amarillo. Note: the hops had been in my freezer in a sandwich bag for greater then 5months.
The second i did yesterday. I used US05 1L starter for a 1.043 Amber ale. I have dry hopped when pitching the yeast with 45g simcoe, 45g Amarillo and 10g centennial (trying to use it up). It is currently at 5psi and rising to the set 8psi. This time it has sealed properly.

What do brewers recommend the optimal psi setting should be?

Feel free to provide advice on all aspects

It depends what you are brewing and how you like your end product to turn out, hop forward ales I would be going for 4 to 8 psi, detrimental to yeast so eliminating any esters the yeast may produce.
What is it you are brewing?

 

[Beerandpies]

It depends what you are brewing and how you like your end product to turn out, hop forward ales I would be going for 4 to 8 psi, detrimental to yeast so eliminating any esters the yeast may produce.
What is it you are brewing?

I brewed Amber with US05 and simcoe and Amarillo dry hop . I thought I had it set for 8psi then checked today and it was at 15psi. Readjusted back to 8.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I brewed Amber with US05 and simcoe and Amarillo dry hop . I thought I had it set for 8psi then checked today and it was at 15psi. Readjusted back to 8.

Ouch, I did that early on with an English bitter except it went higher than 15psi turned out very clean but did suppress the yeastiness. Sound like you are putting the pressure on a bit early in the ferment.

 

[Beerandpies]

Ouch, I did that early on with an English bitter except it went higher than 15psi turned out very clean but did suppress the yeastiness. Sound like you are putting the pressure on a bit early in the ferment.

So what psi would you recommend for primary?

 

[altone]

I normally leave the PRV wide open for the first few days (actually I don't use it I put a blowoff tube on) with ales and then go to 5 psi.
if you're actually racking/moving to a secondary, I'd leave it there until you do that then maybe raise closer to serving pressures.
For lagers/more hop forward beers I'd do a higher psi after initial fermentation.

warning: I'm still pretty new at this.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

So what psi would you recommend for primary?

Just about exactly what Altone suggests, don't hook up your PRV let the gas out for a couple of days so you will be driving out the DMS with the co2 cap and set to whatever pressure you want if you are going to keg. If I am going to bottle I wont bother with pressure ferments, if I am going to cask with a gravity pour from the secondary 2 to 4 psi with captured gas for filling the vacuum when I pour.