Williamswarn Brewery Operation and Explanation

[roger mellie]

The mad science experiment has begun.

Simple Pils - nothing out of the ordinary - brew day was as usual - with the BM - pretty uneventful

95% Pils
2% Hell
2% Wheat
1% Acid

Mashed at 65

OG 1.056

Yeast 34/70

Fermented at 15
A couple of shots of the day

The beast in my shed



Got to love the wort clarity



Blichmann Hopback with 50gms of Nelson and Riwaka





Rehydrate Yeast - for about 15 mins prior to connecting to the bottom of the conical



Just after opening the dump valve to introduce the wort to the rehydrated yeast - this was done with the temperature at ~ 20 DegC and the temperature controller set to 15 DegC



T= about 30 mins after opening dump valve



T=1 Day - CO2 production has begun but little impact on the Pressure Gauge - little bit of movement in the sediment trap



T= 2 Days - a lot of rolling on the sediment trap - but definite stratification with a layer of clear beer between the dead stuff on the bottom (not moving) and the yeast above (rolling heaps)



Pressure in Fermenter is now 1.4BarG the backpressure valve is wound out to maintain this pressure (approx) - actually aiming for 1.5 BarG so increasing slowly



A couple of things I have noticed

1. There is much less Krausen evident. Disconcertingly so - there is a volcano at the bottom of the fermenter and the top has a layer of foam - but little or no 'lift' - I assume this is a product of the pressure in the fermenter. Could be good news for 1.075 IIPA's
2. Taking a sample is easy - but it comes out as foam and you have to let it gas off before you can test the SG

Refractometer has dropped to about 11

Will post some more when I start to chill and clarify the beer.

Cheers

RM

 

[mooncat]

Thanks for the reply. I did as you suggested and emailed Ian and got an immediate reply. This is what he suggested.

2 Minute Hop Boil to add lots of hop aroma (e.g. American Pale Ales).
For simplicity take 50g of hops and do the coffee plunger technique as described in the manual and shown on the instructional video. Rinse twice as described in the manual.
To add a lot of hops aroma like in APA, what we’ve found however that what works slightly better is (see attached photo)
Simmer the 150g of aroma hops in 2L of water for 2 minutes. Stir to break up the hops. We use a portable induction cooker and pot.
Take off boil and add 2 litres of cold water to the pot to reduce temp to stop any further bitterness formation which is minimal is only 2 minutes.
Strain the 4L with hops through the funnel supplied into a second pot. The idea is to avoid hop particles getting into the tank to block the beer tap.
Rinse the hops residue remaining on the sieve with 2 litres cold water to get more flavours rinsed in the 2nd pot.
Add the 6L as part of the brew water before you top up to 23L in the brewery.

I’d suggest you do the 2 minute boil method with 75-150g. 50g is for coffee plunger as any more becomes a bit harder to plunge.

 

[rehabs_for_quitters]

Just curious does fermenting under pressure remove a lot of hop aroma, or does it preserve more aroma, has anyone tested this I'd be interested in the results as I am about to build some conicals out of 50L kegs and been thinking about pressure fermenting in them?

 

[Parks]

Just curious does fermenting under pressure remove a lot of hop aroma, or does it preserve more aroma, has anyone tested this I'd be interested in the results as I am about to build some conicals out of 50L kegs and been thinking about pressure fermenting in them?

Logically it would preserve it as far less CO2 leaves the fermenter. Whether this is the case in practise, I don't know.

 

[rehabs_for_quitters]

I was thinking ablng those lines as well but the talk of 150g of aroma hops in a 23 L brew made me wonder that was all

 

[Parks]

I was thinking ablng those lines as well but the talk of 150g of aroma hops in a 23 L brew made me wonder that was all

I'm guessing part of that issue is contact time and the fact it's soaking in water, unlike traditional dry hopping where you put the hops directly in your beer for 2+ days.

 

[wobbly]

Re Hop Aroma

I am still early into my experiences and the second brew I did I used two packets of "6 months out of date" US-05 and that ferment was over and done with in under two days and didn't have a lot of "hop aroma" there was some flavour and about the right level of bitterness so I made some "hop tea" in a French Press, depressurised the WW, took the top of the WW and tipped it in, replaced the lid and reapplied CO2 pressure

I wasn't too worried about exposing the fermented beer to oxygen as my view was that there would still be a CO2 blanket over the beer

It was fine drinking with good flavour and aroma

Cheers

Wobbly

 

[rehabs_for_quitters]

Keep up posts about aroma as it's all good info,

2 days man thats flying, so fermenting under pressure is definately faster then, is it common across all brews or just that yeast, and how long did it take to clear?

 

[mckenry]

Is this the brewery / serving in one, that turns a brew out in 7 days, but you have to wait until that's been drunk before you can brew another batch?

 

[roger mellie]

Is this the brewery / serving in one, that turns a brew out in 7 days, but you have to wait until that's been drunk before you can brew another batch?

There is a nifty little connection on the back of the font that allows you to connect up a piece of 8mm beer line to a QD



So once the ferment is done and clarified - hook up a pressurised keg to the beer line and lift the relief valve a couple of times until it flows. This continues the anaerobic aspect of the process - as long as your keg is purged well.

Then you are good to again.

RM

Editicture added

The font tower is actually a single piece of some sort of polycarbonate so the beer tap and the kegging/sample port at the back share the line from the bottom of the vessel. The port at the bottom is connected to the CO2 line in (primarily for the counter pressure filler I believe)

 

[mckenry]

There is a nifty little connection on the back of the font that allows you to connect up a piece of 8mm beer line to a QD

So once the ferment is done and clarified - hook up a pressurised keg to the beer line and lift the relief valve a couple of times until it flows.

Then you are good to again.

RM

Cool - Sorry for my lack of understanding. Is the beer going into the keg carbonated already? I assume the WW carbonates the beer as it is a service point too right? If so, do you then (keep the beer cold elsewhere?) then reconnect to serve it using the WW?

 

[wobbly]

For those that asked questions about the variable pressure relief valve I have attached a number of photos of the unit in the attachment (haven't worked out how to include/paste the photos in the post)

There are no manufacturers details on the valve or body so hope this tells you what you want to know.

Cheers

Wobbly

Moderation

Link to picture deleted as requested by member.

 

[wobbly]

Cool - Sorry for my lack of understanding. Is the beer going into the keg carbonated already? I assume the WW carbonates the beer as it is a service point too right?

Yes it has been naturally carbonated as part of the fermenting process

If so, do you then (keep the beer cold elsewhere?) then reconnect to serve it using the WW?

Yes you keep the beer cold elsewhere and no you don't reconnect the keg to the WW to serve you just treat it as you would a normal keg and dispense it from the keg in the normal fashion via a tap or pluto gun but you would need to keep the keg in a fridge and connected to a CO2 bottle to maintain serving pressure as per normal

Or if you bottle WW sell a counter pressure bottler or you can make your own (there are a number of designs detailed in other topics on this site) and then just chill and consume as you would a normal bottled beer with the difference being no bottle sediment

Cheers

Wobbly

 

[wobbly]

2 days man thats flying, so fermenting under pressure is definately faster then, is it common across all brews or just that yeast, and how long did it take to clear?

I'm no expert but the WW user manual states that US-05, Nottingham, and S-04 will be finished in around 3 days but suggests to allow a forth day to ensure it has finished.
T-85and WB-06 is stated as being finished in around 5 days and S-23 and W34/70 in around 6 days. The beer is then cold chilled down to around 2C for 12 hours and then a two stage clarification process 24 hours apart is followed to clear the beer ready for consumption.

So for Ales the start to finish process ready for consumption is around 7 days and for Lagers and Pilsners around 9 days all based on using one of the dry yeasts detailed above

I am about to ferment a pilsner using a Wyeast Budvar 2000 yeast and plan to just smack the pack and let it swell and then add to the sediment/yeast bottle and ferment at 15C as per the standard WW procedure for 3 days and if it has reached close to terminal gravity then raise it to 18C for another three days and then chill for 12 hours to drop the yeast and clarify. So if all the hype is correct I will be sampling/drinking this Pilsner on or about the 3rd March 2014

I will keep you posted

Cheers

Wobbly

 

[Beerisyummy]

I hate to rain on your parade Wobbly, but the pilsner will still need some time to itself before it really shines. From my experiments, there is no short cut to this part.

Loving the rest of the thread mate. Some good info.
Get those pics sorted!

 

[wobbly]

I hate to rain on your parade Wobbly, but the pilsner will still need some time to itself before it really shines. From my experiments, there is no short cut to this part.

Looks like the 3rd March date is slipping already.

The Budvar smack pack took a day longer to swell than I allowed!!!!

Maybe that's why the WW manual recipes for 7 and 9 days all use dry yeast - no smack delay and about twice the number of cells without making a starter

All part of the knowledge gain

Cheers

Wobbly

 

[Beerisyummy]

Looks like the 3rd March date is slipping already.

The Budvar smack pack took a day longer to swell than I allowed!!!!

Maybe that's why the WW manual recipes for 7 and 9 days all use dry yeast - no smack delay and about twice the number of cells without making a starter

All part of the knowledge gain

Cheers

Wobbly

It's not a problem with the yeast mate. Although, my next experiments will need to involve some dry yeast equivalents to confirm my opinion.

The point I'm making is that the beer will get better after a good lagering. You can totally drink it early, but please try and sample it at different stages and learn the way it changes over time.
This point comes down to personal taste of course.

I add to this a word of warning. Beware the alcoholism that's involved in smashing out quick beers.
Have you had a morning sample yet?

 

[roger mellie]

The Pils that I christened the WW with is finished - probably could have left it for another day but it finished at 1.011 (OG was 1.056/7)



Some random photos

Probably at Max Ferment - looked like a can of creamed corn simmering



End of Ferment



Another one at the end of ferment - a CO2 meteor



After Clarification # 2



In the Glass



Things to like:

1. Watching Fermentation is captivating
2. 9 days Grain to Brain

I haven't had a good taste yet - I hadn't even cleaned my teeth when I poured that glass but from what I could tell the following stood out:
a) Very Clean - no off flavours - no diacetyl - good hop aroma
b Perfect (and quite different) Carbonation. I have experimented with secondary ferments in Kegs before with a spunding valve so am familiar with the difference - best explained as the fact that the bead in the glass is fine (much like champagne) and there is little or no carbonic acid bite.
c) First time I have used 34/70 - think I will go back to S-189 - purely because I think S-189 has better attenuation.

I would have made this recipe at least 5 times in my normal setup - to be honest I can't say that this beer is necessarily a quantum amount better - but I do think that the reduction in the amount of post pitch oxygenation compared to my old method - where I filtered through a CO2 purged 1um filter - is a good thing.

Things not so good.

1. You end up draining the Sediment trap 3 times. Thats ~ 3L down the tubes. Granted some of this is trub but noticeably I am down on final volume - from a 21L brew I will have < a corny. No real issue as I will up the batch size next time.

On the whole I can't fault this method of brewing. I think the pressurised ferment system is superb. It just works.

On with the experiments - I think a Ruination Clone with an OG ~ 1.070 will be next.

Cheers

RM

 

[Beerisyummy]

Can someone please post power consumption figures on the unit, based on actual use.

 

[Dan Pratt]

Can someone please post power consumption figures on the unit, based on actual use.

are you serious....lol. How many fridges do you have??