Open fermentation
- Thread starter ckirtley
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wide eyed and legless
Well-Known Member
Only uncover it when the fermentation takes off, when id slows down cover it up again. When the protective krausen is diminished your wort/ale becomes an invitation for spoiling microbes to get in and ruin your brew. Best to cover it before that happens a tea towel was used by home brewers of yester year. Some cling wrap would be the easiest and cheapest modern way.
Ester expression would my first thought, and cling wrap is perfect to open ferment at home.
If you are looking to capture wild yeast via open fermentation I would do so with a reasonably small batch first, maybe a litre or so (or even less) and then you'd probably want to test it for desirable (measurable) characteristics e.g floc, attenuation, lag time etc as well as the obvious sensory tests e.g what does it taste, smell like... before deciding to use that yeast on a full scale batch.
Otherwise I suspect you are going to end up with potentially a lot of tipped batched before you end up with a good one.
As an aside, I've captured a few different 'wild' yeasts from around my brewery, ended up with some that tasted quite good- Belgian or funky characteristics, but non of them attenuated well, fermentation was slow and not what I was ultimately looking for, so decided against upscaling.
If you are looking to capture wild yeast via open fermentation I would do so with a reasonably small batch first, maybe a litre or so (or even less) and then you'd probably want to test it for desirable (measurable) characteristics e.g floc, attenuation, lag time etc as well as the obvious sensory tests e.g what does it taste, smell like... before deciding to use that yeast on a full scale batch.
Otherwise I suspect you are going to end up with potentially a lot of tipped batched before you end up with a good one.
As an aside, I've captured a few different 'wild' yeasts from around my brewery, ended up with some that tasted quite good- Belgian or funky characteristics, but non of them attenuated well, fermentation was slow and not what I was ultimately looking for, so decided against upscaling.
Chuck a clean towel over your bucket and let it rip … cold crash when it’s done and bottle / keg - heaps of fun.
Thanks. It's a bit more complicated because I ferment in a keg with spunding (for natural carbonation). I was planning on leaving it open for a couple of days before closing up with spunding. I realise the keg lid is quite small, so do you you think that would collect anything worthwhile?
I too ferment in keg with spunding… buy yourself a bucket and enjoy a different process … I wonder how brewers fermented before kegs / pressure vessels / stainless steel / sanitiser …. Worry less brew more
wide eyed and legless
Well-Known Member
Lots of folk ferment using open fermenters as mentioned above, more about esters. for your farmhouse ale I would be looking at a cultured 'wild yeast' there are some bacteria out there which can be pretty rank in a beer.
I was reading some time ago about wines fermented using wild yeast, turns out that majority of those wines contained the dominant house strain.
Anything with sugar will attract yeast, also bacteria and it doesn't matter how big the hole is they will find it.
They kept a yeast covered stick covered in the yeast from the previous brew in a jar by the door.
My point exactly, if you can open ferment in a timber vessel using yeast from a stick hanging by the door and still make drinkable beer then you can afford to try stuff out - not saying be careless with sanitation, good sanitation equals less risk of infections - you won’t know what you like till you try it - I recently started making English cask ale and pale ale recipes open fermented and enjoy the result’s immensely - a bucket and a towel is a cheap outlay to try something different
TwoCrows
Well-Known Member
Try a hefeweizen, ferment in a sanitized fridge with the lid off. Put the lid on a pressurize transfer to keg, crash chill and serve. EASY.
Ooooo might try that with my dunklewiess
yankinoz
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Captain Obvious points out that by fermenting in open air you expose the beer to oxygen (a little even after carbon dioxide comes off) and to wild yeasts longer than if you closed the fermenter early with minimal headspace.
Commercial brewers that I've come across who use open fermentation reduce exposure by transferring the beer to closed secondaries as soon as fermentation slows. Closing a fermentation early might accomplish the same thing. I've also made batches that only occupied half the fermenter, Although I closed right away, the fermentation was effectively open longer than if headspace was minimal..
Wild yeast and bacteria are a gamble. Some win, some lose. Yeast cultures that get reused many times under open conditions, yeasts on the proverbial paddle, and yeasts that thrive in the brew shed's air have undergone selection as mixed landraces. We don't know how well they worked to begin with.
Commercial brewers that I've come across who use open fermentation reduce exposure by transferring the beer to closed secondaries as soon as fermentation slows. Closing a fermentation early might accomplish the same thing. I've also made batches that only occupied half the fermenter, Although I closed right away, the fermentation was effectively open longer than if headspace was minimal..
Wild yeast and bacteria are a gamble. Some win, some lose. Yeast cultures that get reused many times under open conditions, yeasts on the proverbial paddle, and yeasts that thrive in the brew shed's air have undergone selection as mixed landraces. We don't know how well they worked to begin with.
I presume you don't temperature control the fermentation?
Depends on yeast but I ferment in temp controlled chamber - (fridge plus inkbird and reptile heater) it’s in the shed so 6-9 months a year the temp is pretty stable around 18-20c fine to let an ale rip
ianh
Well-Known Member
When I started brewing over 50 years ago in the UK. I used a plastic dustbin with lid for the primary fermentation (which to me is an open fermentation). Then transferred to a demijohn with airlock for secondary then bottle.
