WLP023 Burton Ale Fermentation

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neilrh
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WLP023 Burton Ale Fermentation

Post by neilrh » Wed Nov 15, 2017 10:13 pm

Hello All,

I've followed the same procedure for my 50+ brews, which is as follows. 24 litres of wort into my screw top fermenting bin, add yeast and ferment, four weeks later rack into bottling bucket and bottle with little bottler. If I'm using a liquid yeast I'll harvest the slurry from the fermenting bin (1.5 litres), use half for my next batch and let my bro have the other. It works for me and I'm happy with the results I've had.

My last batch I used WLP023 Burton Ale yeast. It kicked off within a few hours and by day 2 had good airlock activity and a great smell (very fruity).
Day 4 and it's coming through the airlock. Fitted a blow-off tube, but after a few hours noticed there was no bubbling from the starsan in my drain off bottle. The reason, a blocked tube so I repeatedly sprayed it with starsan until the krausen dropped (a nightmare). It appears I'm not the only one whose had this problem with this yeast, I'm guessing it's the krausen thickness with this particular strain.

I'll be bottling the first batch shortly and if all's well using the slurry for my next brew. So I'm thinking, ferment in the bottling bucket (32 litres to the top), which I think is bigger than the bin (I believe 29 litres). If it looks like going volcanic skim the krausen off with a big sanitised spoon. Then when it's finished fermenting, fit a syphon tube to the tap and run into my bin as a secondary (will possible dry hop at the same time).

I know the buckets are not sealed, so if left for a length of time I presume the CO2 will dissipate and leave it vunerable. And when I rack to the secondary (there will probably be approx 22 litres of beer) possible a danger of oxidisation with that much head space.

So my questions are, is the above the correct way to go and the timescales for each process, and any other thoughts really.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Neil

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Jocky
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Re: WLP023 Burton Ale Fermentation

Post by Jocky » Thu Nov 16, 2017 1:34 pm

It sounds like WLP023 is a strong top cropping strain.

Personally I leave most ferments just covered with a sanitised foil top for the initial 2-4 days as it encourages esters in certain yeast strains and avoids the stall associated with some yeast strains that are CO2 sensitive. The beer gets airlocked as fermentation begins to slow, but before it's stopped.

I think your plan is generally sound - and you can do the same as I do - leave the bottling bucket open for 2-3 days until the worst is passed, then transfer to the fermenter and seal it up. The krausen should protect the beer from oxidation during that initial open time, you just want to be careful transferring the beer.

Good luck.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.

neilrh
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Re: WLP023 Burton Ale Fermentation

Post by neilrh » Thu Nov 16, 2017 2:23 pm

Thanks Jocky,

Sound advice, think my options are, follow my usual procedure (no racking to secondary) but leave the fermenter top just covered with sanitised foil and clean up if necessary. Other option ferment in the bucket but with the lid loose and careful when racking to secondary (as little splashing as possible).

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