Storm In A Homebrew

[going down a hill]

I put my second HB (Morgans Golden Saaz Pils, Kit Yeast (it states that its a lager yeast, but what I have read I doubt it), 500g Dextrose, 500g Light Malt, 150g of MaltoDextrin and a Morgans Saaz hops t-bag boiled for 25mins) on Thursday arvo, it's about 48h after the fact and the brew doesn't have any storm, it is however bubbling away nicely and smells good out of the airlock. My first HB (Coopers Pale Ale, Kit Yeast and Kit Enhancer 2) had a whole lot of storm, nearly to the top of my 25L Carboy. Both brews were and are fermenting at about 22 deg. Is it a bad thing that there is no storm? Or am I just showing how new to the homebrew game I am.

 

[going down a hill]

Sorry about the muliple posts, compter was slow and I thought it wasnt posting.
Sorry again disregard other topics.

 

[kelbygreen]

every yeast acts differently. the storm you mention is called kruasen and different yeast will do different things. it may be a lager yeast if there is little krausen I am not sure what morgans pils comes with. Also whats it smell like? lager yeast produces more sulfur smells so you could tell by that. if the airlocks bubbling and gravity is dropping its fermenting so I wouldnt worry. kit yeast is usually well underpitching as for 23lts you should pitch about 12g of ale yeast and 24g of lager yeast.

 

[going down a hill]

Thanks for the info, it smells like oranges and floraly. much to learn including how to post only one thread at a time. #slinks away from the internet

 

[Brewlord]

I put my second HB (Morgans Golden Saaz Pils, Kit Yeast (it states that its a lager yeast, but what I have read I doubt it), 500g Dextrose, 500g Light Malt, 150g of MaltoDextrin and a Morgans Saaz hops t-bag boiled for 25mins) on Thursday arvo, it's about 48h after the fact and the brew doesn't have any storm, it is however bubbling away nicely and smells good out of the airlock. My first HB (Coopers Pale Ale, Kit Yeast and Kit Enhancer 2) had a whole lot of storm, nearly to the top of my 25L Carboy. Both brews were and are fermenting at about 22 deg. Is it a bad thing that there is no storm? Or am I just showing how new to the homebrew game I am.

Hey GDAH (going down a hill), firstly +1 for the comments from kelbygreen.

The morgans golden saaz in a really good drinker. WRT the yeast, I also doubt that its a true lager yeast. IIRC, it had lager yeast written on the sachet but most kit yeasts do but are not actually true lager yeasts.

As lagers are bottom flocullating (can never spell that proper...) you would probably tend to see a big old yeast cake at the bottom and a smaller krausen from my experience. Also the sulphur smell is a giveaway and the temperatures for a true lager should be kept generally at about 9-15 deg c. A great big krausen can be the result of higher temperatures causing the yeast to gorge on the sugars and produce masses of CO2. Problem here is they can also die quicker and / or start eating each other and subsequently give off bad flavours. If it smells oranges and florally that could be the Saaz hops and these hits do really benefit from a hops addition BTW.

I guess if the temperatures go down and fermentation slows then it is probably not a lager yeast. Stable 22 deg is a good (higher end) temperature for most ales so from your description it seems to be fermenting Ok which indicates that it might be an ale yeast. IMHO, try this kit again with a W34/70 Weiheinstephan Lager yeast kept at about 10 deg C. You will really notice the flavour difference. Happy brewing.

 

[going down a hill]

Hey GDAH (going down a hill), firstly +1 for the comments from kelbygreen.

The morgans golden saaz in a really good drinker. WRT the yeast, I also doubt that its a true lager yeast. IIRC, it had lager yeast written on the sachet but most kit yeasts do but are not actually true lager yeasts.

As lagers are bottom flocullating (can never spell that proper...) you would probably tend to see a big old yeast cake at the bottom and a smaller krausen from my experience. Also the sulphur smell is a giveaway and the temperatures for a true lager should be kept generally at about 9-15 deg c. A great big krausen can be the result of higher temperatures causing the yeast to gorge on the sugars and produce masses of CO2. Problem here is they can also die quicker and / or start eating each other and subsequently give off bad flavours. If it smells oranges and florally that could be the Saaz hops and these hits do really benefit from a hops addition BTW.

I guess if the temperatures go down and fermentation slows then it is probably not a lager yeast. Stable 22 deg is a good (higher end) temperature for most ales so from your description it seems to be fermenting Ok which indicates that it might be an ale yeast. IMHO, try this kit again with a W34/70 Weiheinstephan Lager yeast kept at about 10 deg C. You will really notice the flavour difference. Happy brewing.

I'm in Melbourne and the temp has dropped a little in the last two days, the brew has slowed down a bit but it is still consistently bubbling every 30 secs or so. I have a small old cupboard which I will be fitting out as my fermenting space. I will give the 10 deg a shot when I can drop a brew to that temp, might have to be after summer. The beer has lost a bit of the old smells and you can now smell more beer in it. I think she's going to live!

Thanks for the response, this website is a great resource.