Increase in fermentation rate

[Muttley]

I'm currently fermenting an Old Peculiar clone which had a SG of 1059. I'm using Wyeast 1469 and all seems to be going well. 48 hours after pitching I had a good head of foam about 1 - 1.5 " thick. Up to this point I'd had the wort open to the air but decided to cover it with a sterilised lid and air lock for the last 2 or 3 days of fermentation. To my surprise after a further 16 hours the fermentation rate seemed to have increased as had the thickness of the head - it now is about 3" thick and has hit the bottom of the lid (glad I sterilised it first!!). Can anbody tell me why, in these presumably anaerobic conditions, the rate has increased? The temperature has remained pretty constant throughout at about 20 deg C.

[mysterio]

Whorst reported something identical to what you're describing with this yeast a few days ago.... just seems to be the way this yeast behaves!

Is there anyone on the forum who isn't using 1469 ?? I'd be surprised if they don't make it a regular line considering the demand.

[Whorst]

That's the nature of the beast! It goes ape shit as it slows down.

[Muttley]

Whorst - that's just what mine looks like! In fact it's gone so berserk now that I've removed the lid - it started to escape through the air lock!

It's amazing how differently all these yeasts behave. I suppose if you use one regularly you get used to it. Being my first live yeast fermentation I'm surprised how different it is to the dried variety such as SO4.

Thanks for the photo - I tried to cut and paste one onto the forum the other day but failed. How exactly do you submit photos to the forum?

Mysterio - thanks for your reply. I used the rotating sparging arm that you sold me in the summer for this brew and it worked a treat.

[Seadart]

Have look Hereto post photos etc

[Muttley]

Seadart - many thanks for the link. I had a search for it a couple of days ago but couldn't find it. Expect some photos soon!

[Muttley]

Here are the photos:

Fermentation after 41 hours (when I thought it was slowing down):




Fermentation after 68 hours:

[Whorst]

Yep, that's it! My problem is I really like this yeast. My Landlord clone is amazing, and I suspect my Best Bitter I'm brewing right now will be also. I don't understand why they don't make it a year 'round strain? I've heard that S-04 is actually a bottom fermenting strain? Supposedly do to the use of conical fermenters.

[Muttley]

Yes, I think S-04 is a bottom fermenter. I've only used it once and it went like rocket but behaved very differently to1469.

I've now got a lovely pale brown yeasty head on my brew (it smells fantastic) but I'm not sure what's the best thing to do next. Do I just leave it (perhaps to sink into the brew) or should I skim it off before allowing the beer to completely finish fermenting under an airlock (I've got it open to the air at the moment)?

[mysterio]

Mysterio - thanks for your reply. I used the rotating sparging arm that you sold me in the summer for this brew and it worked a treat.

Glad to hear it - quite a nifty wee device isn't it!

The pictures look alot like the way White Labs WLP023 Burton ale behaves, which is apparently the Brakspear yeast. They're probably related in some way

[Whorst]

My Landlord clone went from 1.044 to 1.010 in 4 days! It's in the corny now going through a slight secondary fermentation.

[mysterio]

Do you cask condition yours Whorst? i.e. priming sugars & isinglass in the keg?

[Whorst]

I naturally condition everything and serve on my beer engine. I don't even care about other styles anymore. I mainly brew British beers and US West Coast styles, which is a borrowed style. I use gelatin and make up a syrup with just sugar and water. A corny keg works well for cask conditioned beer. The problem I had previously was minor. I found out that my beer was a tad on the heady side. This sorted me out:
http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipa ... ation.html