Stone & Wood Pacific Ale

[menoetes]

I just bottled this one 3 days ago

Stone & Wood Pacificale Clone
25lts
19 IBUs
ABV: 4.2% or 4.4% after bottling

70% Pilsen Malt
21% Wheat Malt
5% Carapils
4% Torrified Wheat

30g of Cascade @ 15min
30g of Galaxy @ 5
20g of Galaxy - Dry Hopped

Yeast - Wyeast; 1450 Denny's Favourite 50

It smells great and can't wait to get at it in 2 weeks time - should be a cracker. I think the colour is about right and the aroma will certainly be too with the dry hop - all that's left now is the tasting. I will post a pic when I crack the first one...

 

[Dan Pratt]

So my brew has been in the fermenter for 6 days now... And I just opened it up to add 25g Amarillo dry hop and then take hydro sample.

OG was 1.052 and so far it has only reached 1.030. Does that sound right, I've read people saying they've nearly reached FG in 5 days sometimes.... So I was expecting to be a bit closer than 1.030? There is still good air-lock action and I dropped the temp to ferment at 17-18 after reading a bit more about S-04 which would have slowed things down a bit, and I only sprinkled the yeast on instead of re-hydrating, so I may be worrying about nothing.... but just wondered peoples thoughts on it all?

Cheers, Matt

Hi Matplat,

what did you measure the 1.030 with ?

if it was the refractometer then its @ 1.016 which is pretty much done as the reading is with alcohol and needs to be converted.

 

[Matplat]

Hi Pratty,

No it was measured with a normal hydrometer unfortunately!

I went and checked the air lock again, it is probably going 4-5 times a minute which I believe is a fairly good rate.

I was looking at the spec sheet for s-04, and if sprinkling straight into the fermenter, the wort is supposed to be over 20deg but mine was down around 16. I also stirred the yeast straight in whereas you are supposed to wait half an hour.

I think these two factors combined may have lead to a slow start which it has now recovered from....At least that's what I'm hoping!

 

[Nizmoose]

Hi Pratty,

No it was measured with a normal hydrometer unfortunately!

I went and checked the air lock again, it is probably going 4-5 times a minute which I believe is a fairly good rate.

I was looking at the spec sheet for s-04, and if sprinkling straight into the fermenter, the wort is supposed to be over 20deg but mine was down around 16. I also stirred the yeast straight in whereas you are supposed to wait half an hour.

I think these two factors combined may have lead to a slow start which it has now recovered from....At least that's what I'm hoping!

If you search 'ahb s04 stall' you might be annoyed lol but it sounds like it's still chugging along, don't rely on the airlock is good advice but mainly for when it's doing nothing (i.e. If there's no airlock activity there may still be fermentation) but a bubbling airlock always means active yeast (or active something at least) so I wouldn't worry till the airlock had stopped for quite a few days and you SG reading was still high and not moving down over three days

 

[Matplat]

If you search 'ahb s04 stall' you might be annoyed lol but it sounds like it's still chugging along, don't rely on the airlock is good advice but mainly for when it's doing nothing (i.e. If there's no airlock activity there may still be fermentation) but a bubbling airlock always means active yeast (or active something at least) so I wouldn't worry till the airlock had stopped for quite a few days and you SG reading was still high and not moving down over three days

Bummer, seems like I set myself up to fail slightly.... Maybe I shouldn't bother waiting and just turn the temp back up to 20 (where I had it originally, d'oh!) and give the FV a bit of a twist, as I was hoping to bottle it this weekend...

I was planning to re-use this yeast a few times, but I think I might just go and get a packet of US-05 for my next amber ale :unsure:

 

[Matplat]

So, I just cranked up the temp 2 deg and gave it a bit of a swirl, so we'll see what happens in a few days time.

One thing I thought though, how severe is the risk of mixing the yeasty crap on the surface back into the wort/beer?

Old mr Palmer reckons it's super bitter so should be avoided...?

 

[Matplat]

UPDATE.

So after dry-hopping and cold crashing for a full week, the rubbery off taste was still present. I kegged it and gassed it up hoping that might make a difference to no avail. The S&W fruitiness is not there and it tastes like water out of a rubber tube. The only thing I can think of is that I've done something to the yeast when I re-hydrated it in warm water (maybe too warm) and this has tainted the beer.

Anyway, I'm going to try it again and alter the hop schedule a bit to have more galaxy going in later in the boil. This time I'm just going to sprinkle the dried yeast on top after stirring vigourously.

I was reading John Palmers website and was reading about autolysis of yeast, Mr Palmer reckons that a rubbery flavour is the least extreme consequence of autolysis and that the worst creates an odour that will clear a room... So apparently you got off lightly!

 

[Nizmoose]

Autolysis shouldn't be a problem under normal conditions for at least a month probably longer so no need to stress there! I ferment in the one vessel for 3 weeks for some beers and have never had a problem. In regards to the s04 don't feel like you've bought a dud yeast haha many people love it and I'll definitely be giving it a shot, just be aware of its quirks and how you can combat it so that you don't have any surprises. Once again with the swirling imo it won't have an effect on your beer providing you cold crash before bottling and the yeast was healthy at pitching

 

[Matplat]

Still bloody bubbling! Will it ever stop! I am also concerned that if i have to leave it in there another week, that the dry hop will end up tasting grassy? But perhaps any aroma from it will have been blasted out by the continuing primary phase?

 

[menoetes]

If you're worried about the dry hop sitting on the beer too long, you can move the beer to a secondary vessel (ie a second fermenter if you have one). That'll get it off both the sunken hops and the yeast cake - no worries about autolysis anymore. Though like Nizmoose said, it's not something you will need to worry about for some weeks to come.

If it's still bubbling check the gravity - what's it at? if it's dropped super low (ie below 1.008) then you can start worrying about having an infection.

 

[Matplat]

The bubbling has slowed to maybe 1-1.5 times per minute, so I think we are almost there.

I will check the gravity this afternoon, but the hydro sample I tasted was freakin delicious, although overly bitter there were zero off flavours, so I'm not too concerned about infection. I just want to be sure I don't make any bombs!

I'm not concerned about autolysis either, I only mentioned it in reference to Mr Boblaw's issues...

Considering it has taken so long to reach this stage, do you think it still needs to stay in the fermenter another week for clean-up? would be great if I could bottle this weekend....

 

[Nizmoose]

The bubbling has slowed to maybe 1-1.5 times per minute, so I think we are almost there.

I will check the gravity this afternoon, but the hydro sample I tasted was freakin delicious, although overly bitter there were zero off flavours, so I'm not too concerned about infection. I just want to be sure I don't make any bombs!

I'm not concerned about autolysis either, I only mentioned it in reference to Mr Boblaw's issues...

Considering it has taken so long to reach this stage, do you think it still needs to stay in the fermenter another week for clean-up? would be great if I could bottle this weekend....

The funny thing is it sounds like you have pretty much a bang on perfect fermentation! Just let it keep doing its thing and then once your airlock has stopped for a day or so start measuring your gravity to see if it has finished or is still moving. Being a Pacific Ale clone (assuming wheat was used) it should be cloudy so a day or so of cold crashing if you can AFTER terminal gravity is reached then bottle her up!

 

[indica86]

Airlocks are not a reliable indication that fermentation is going, has stopped, is slowing whatever.
CO2 can continue to come out of solution post fermentation.
Specific gravity readings are the key.

 

[Nizmoose]

Airlocks are not a reliable indication that fermentation is going, has stopped, is slowing whatever.
CO2 can continue to come out of solution post fermentation.
Specific gravity readings are the key.

This. Although obviously airlock activity means fermentation is occurring, it's when there's no activity that you need to whip out the hydro.

 

[Matplat]

Well just took a gravity reading, it came in at 1.017 and there is still veerrrrry slllloooow airlock movement so looks like i will be waiting until next weekend at the earliest for bottling. Hydro sample tasted great, definitely no infection not as bitter as last time, but cloudy as hell with loads of lumps in it... i guess il take another reading in a few days after the airlock has stopped.

 

[Nizmoose]

Sounds like the yeast is definitely still active and you've still got plenty of sugar to get through, sorry if its been asked already but how long has it been fermenting in days now? I have a Pacific Ale clone that is 9 days old and its calmed down but will be in the fermenter for at least 2 weeks, I wont bother testing it till its almost 2 weeks old and then will cold crash once it has showed a stable SG over three or so days.

 

[Matplat]

It has been in the fermenter 11 days now, i was under the impression that the airlock would stop after 5-7 days once primary had finished? And that you would reach 90% of FG within that same period....? I am obviously still learning

 

[Nizmoose]

Yeah it really depends on the yeast pitch, strain, temperatures, and keep in mind airlock activity is not a good fermentation measurement you'll hardly ever get consistent airlock behaviour across brews. From what I've read s04 doesn't tear through the process so I wouldn't be surprised, as I said above I'd give primary fermentation 2 weeks providing everything went according to plan.

 

[Matplat]

Hmmm waiting waiting..... the fact that i am currently having to drink my previous brew which pretty much tastes like VB makes it that much harder

 

[Nizmoose]

Yep patience is the hardest bit