Olive oil for yeast health - Experimentation

[Markbeer]

Keep up the good experimentation.

I love high gravity beers and am keen to see how the baltic porters turn out.

If it works for 3 generations thats enough for me.

 

[black_labb]

Thanks Mark

There shouldn't be any detrimental effects of the olive oil compared to aeration, all it is is giving additional nutrients and technically should be the same or better yeast health for following generations. I think the concern people expressed is whether yeast health is going to be as good as yeast from oxygen injected brewing which can easily provide ideal oxygen levels for yeast.

In some people's opinions homebrewers aren't usually able to get enough oxygen into the wort at pitching time for ideal yeast conditions. I'm testing to see if the olive oil improves the end product compared to as good as possible aeration. Both samples go through the same aeration schedule but one has the bit of oil with it. I don't think there is any reason to expect worse conditions with the olive oil, just the possibility of no difference.

 

[black_labb]

Some comparative tasting notes on the bitter. Firstly the bitter ended up being a fairly straightforward bitter that had excellent balance and could be drunk all night long. One of my top 3 bitters and a reminder to keep them simple.

In terms of differences there was very little difference. The side by side tasting I did on Thursday had me sensing a hint of acetaldehyde in the olive oil sample and not in the aerated only sample. This made the aerated sample slightly smoother but not as enjoyable; it lacked the crispness and complexity that the small amount of acetaldehyde brought. The difference was extremely minimal.

I've just had one after the other and I cannot tell the difference. I can taste a very small amount of acetaldehyde in both of them. Maybe it's fading during the conditioning in the bottle and the rate isn't uniform across the bottles.

Clarity is exceptional in both examples and head retention is good (haven't left them in the fridge more than a few hours to really test the head)

At this point I can't see a noticeable difference. The Baltic porter will likely be a better test but that will wait for another month at least.