Stone & Wood Pacific Ale

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For what it's worth I think your fermentation is going fine given the circumstance.

I'd suggest that

A - you've slightly under pitched for a higher gravity beer,( a good rule of thumb is that a SG over 1.050 you should pitch 2 packets, )
B - you didn't re hydrate the yeast and
C - SO4 is a fickle beast, and tends to be slower than say, US05, and under attenuate ( Higher FG reading).

I'd keep your temp up at 20 degrees, give it the gentle swirls others have mentioned, and what a few more days. I leave all my beers fermenting for 14 days before cold crashing, so 11 days isn't so bad. I'd suggest US 05 is a better choice for your next version, unless you like what SO4 has brought to the party.


I'm Currently drinking my version of this ( S&W pacific ale). It turned out great, and very clear. The Recipe was 1.5kg light Coopers liquid extract, 1 kg dry wheat extract, and .250kg light DME in 25L to get 4.5% ABV( Oh and I used galaxy to 21 IBU's)

Good Luck!
 
Yeah I was going to ask about a faster yeast, and was thinking of US-05..... I think I will still collect some yeast from this batch though for future use. Hopefully using a load of yeast slurry would be a larger pitch and get the job done quicker.

For the moment at least, I want to get more stock ASAP!
 
Matplat said:
Yeah I was going to ask about a faster yeast, and was thinking of US-05..... I think I will still collect some yeast from this batch though for future use. Hopefully using a load of yeast slurry would be a larger pitch and get the job done quicker.

For the moment at least, I want to get more stock ASAP!
If it's a fast ferment you're after then you can't go past Nottingham dried yeast by danstar, people get ridiculously quick results with it. The US-05 is what I use for Pacific Ale because it's clean. Try not to rush fermentation too much, for me at least I'd rather drink good beer in five weeks instead of shit beer in 3 weeks.
 
My patience may improve anyway, next on the list is a dunkelweizen, which I have got K-97 for already, and by the time I am ready for the ale after that (cascarillo), I will be drinking this current batch which should keep me happy.

It will be a good comparison to see how the s-04 performs when pitched from recovered yeast slurry.
 
Nizmoose said:
If it's a fast ferment you're after then you can't go past Nottingham dried yeast by danstar, people get ridiculously quick results with it. The US-05 is what I use for Pacific Ale because it's clean. Try not to rush fermentation too much, for me at least I'd rather drink good beer in five weeks instead of shit beer in 3 weeks.
Indeed its fast and very clean, especially at 15 or 17 degrees(clean), BUT, it does strip out some of the hops flavour. That is the only reason I didn't suggest it. Nottingham and US05 are my favourite yeasts.
 
Still bubbling.... day 16... temp at 21°C :huh:

Probably 1 per minute, gonna take another hydro sample tonight... looks like bottling may not happen this weekend :(
 
So its still bubbling slowly but the hydrometer shows this! Target FG is 1.012...If it shows the same tomorrow im gonna cold crash until bottling time on saturday morning :)

1424851194640.jpg
 
As i think has been mentioned earlier, the bubbling is probably just CO2 coming out of solution.
And the calculated FG can be inaccurate (my last brew attenuated to 94% rather than the 82% calculated - bloody Belgian yeasts! :lol: ).

(as you seem to be aware) Just take 3+ days straight of the same hydro reading. (& to be fair, that it's also close to the calculated FG ;) ).
Hopefully that 3rd day is tomorrow, and its bottles ahoy!! ... And then only 14 sleeps until Beer Central B)
2c
 
hey all, newbie here and am about to do my first extract recipe! as per some advice on this thread i am going to go with:

1.5kg Pilsen light LME
1.5kg Wheat LME
250g Carapils

30g cascade @15 mins
30g Galaxy @ 5 mins
15g Galaxy Dry hopped on day 6 or gravity less than 1.020 (for 2 days) then remove.
15g Galaxy Dry hopped on day 8 (for 2 days) then remove.
Crash in fridge for 2 days then bottle.

I have a 20 litre pot and a burner so want to do a full boil. so my question is do i follow the same directions as the 8 litre boil or do i need to change anything?
Thanks so much everyone for all your input on here. I am fully excited to do this brew!!!
 
Keep in mind that with a 20l pot you may want to keep the volume down to @ 15l to avoid boil overs. Also the longer it takes to cool down that volume the more bitter it's going to get. I all grain ( 60 % pils, 20% wheat, 20% raw wheat ) but I don't think I'd use carapils in this beer at all. I aim for 18 IBU when making this beer, and dry hop @ 2.0g/L for 48 hours at CC temp. I ferment with 1272 ( american ale II)
Had one at coolangatta beach yesterday arvo, it's now next on my brew list.
Good luck with it, sure it will turn out tasty as.
 
so would i only boil for 15 mins? as this is the longest hop time. I will be chilling it in an ice bath in the laundry sink and maybe even some sterile ice in the wort. thanks for the tip on the Carapils. i only added it as i thought it may add to body and head. I will be using US-05 as thats what i have on hand. cheers for the help!
 
Yep to boil time, the ice bath should drop the temp fairly quick ( from memory, I started AG with BIAB in the BigW 19l pot ) and ice even quicker. This beer doesn't have a lot of body and you'll get the desired head with the wheat lme anyway. US05 is perfectly suitable, I just have a soft spot for 1272. I reckon the real one has less than 18 IBU too, but I'm happy with mine, and IBU calculation is a bit of a dark art for us homebrewers.
 
sorry this is getting off topic... a question about chilling the wort once it has achieved FG. I have an empty chest freezer. would it be safe to chill it in there for 2 days before bottling or is it better to put it in the fridge?
 
stompnground said:
sorry this is getting off topic... a question about chilling the wort once it has achieved FG. I have an empty chest freezer. would it be safe to chill it in there for 2 days before bottling or is it better to put it in the fridge?
Is it permanently empty? If so grab a temp controller and use it to control the entire ferment, including the cold crash, I run my chesty this way and cold crash at 1-2C. The freezer as is will probably get much to cold and freeze the beer!
 
I would use it to control the ferment but i am in Stanthorpe QLD where it gets below zero. I think i would need to have a heat source in there too. getting a bit tricky for me but maybe down the track. I could use it to control the cold crash though :) is a fridge ok to cold crash in the meantime?
 
A fridge is fine. Most fridges sit between 1'c - 3'c at their lowest settings, which is what you're looking for.

However is it is an older model with the exposed cooling element at the back, just make sure your fermenter isn't touching it. I've found ice in my FV thanks to an older model fridge like that.
 
nope its a newer one. it was the food fridge that became the food/beer fridge and now its become the brew fridge :beerbang:
 
slcmorro said:
I'd drop the cascade altogether.
Didn't register the cascade, I'd drop it too, galaxy all the way. With a 15min boil you aren't going to get the harshness you might get from a 60min boil.
 
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