stakka82
Hoptimus Prime
- Joined
- 8/6/11
- Messages
- 637
- Reaction score
- 121
Hi,
On the weekend I brewed a belgian pale ale with Wy 1214 - one smack pack.
The OG was a bit low for style at 1045 but the plan was to use it as a 'starter beer' for an upcoming Belgian blond ale, so this was intentional, and I only brewed 9 litres. Mr Malty said I needed 3 packs due to the production date being mid November, but I wasn't overly concerned as really I'm just building a big starter and didnt mind if the BPA wasn't perfect.
When I smacked the pack it took aaaages to swell, and only half swelled after about 8 or so hours at which point i lost patience and pitched cause the wort was sitting there at pitch temperature for some time so I was getting paranoid about infection and it was getting late.
I pitched sunday night, and only noticed any activity at all (hints of krausen/positive pressure/air lock) last night, which makes it a full 48 hours - I knew I was underpitching, but to me this signifies a pretty serious under pitch.
Two questions:
1. Usually my sanitation is top notch, but with this beer i had an unsanitised airlock fall into the unpitched wort just prior to pitching. If I had a normal fast kick off to fermentation (6-12 hrs) I wouldn't be worried but in this case yeast numbers must have been VERY low in that first 48 hours and I'm worried something else might have got a hold in that time. I would just say c'est la vie but I want to pitch that belgian blonde onto the cake in a couple of weeks, and I dont want to risk 2 beers unnecessarily. Thoughts on risking it?
2. I'm also expecting some off flavours from such an underpitch. Assuming I drain most of the finished beer off the cake when kegging, and infection isnt an issue, is this likely to negatively affect the blonde ale?
Thanks in advance.
On the weekend I brewed a belgian pale ale with Wy 1214 - one smack pack.
The OG was a bit low for style at 1045 but the plan was to use it as a 'starter beer' for an upcoming Belgian blond ale, so this was intentional, and I only brewed 9 litres. Mr Malty said I needed 3 packs due to the production date being mid November, but I wasn't overly concerned as really I'm just building a big starter and didnt mind if the BPA wasn't perfect.
When I smacked the pack it took aaaages to swell, and only half swelled after about 8 or so hours at which point i lost patience and pitched cause the wort was sitting there at pitch temperature for some time so I was getting paranoid about infection and it was getting late.
I pitched sunday night, and only noticed any activity at all (hints of krausen/positive pressure/air lock) last night, which makes it a full 48 hours - I knew I was underpitching, but to me this signifies a pretty serious under pitch.
Two questions:
1. Usually my sanitation is top notch, but with this beer i had an unsanitised airlock fall into the unpitched wort just prior to pitching. If I had a normal fast kick off to fermentation (6-12 hrs) I wouldn't be worried but in this case yeast numbers must have been VERY low in that first 48 hours and I'm worried something else might have got a hold in that time. I would just say c'est la vie but I want to pitch that belgian blonde onto the cake in a couple of weeks, and I dont want to risk 2 beers unnecessarily. Thoughts on risking it?
2. I'm also expecting some off flavours from such an underpitch. Assuming I drain most of the finished beer off the cake when kegging, and infection isnt an issue, is this likely to negatively affect the blonde ale?
Thanks in advance.