help needed- tolly cobbold old strong

[zgoda]

hi seymour I used golden syrup and treacle(I believe you call it blackstrap molasses) as per this site

http://www.unholymess.com/blog/beer-bre ... ers-invert

now safely tucked away in fermentation fridge

I make invert from demerara and lactic acid following recipe from this page. More time consuming but ingredients much easier to source here. And cheaper, 1 kg demerara is £1.10 in Lidl, £0.90 on offer sometimes.

Great stuff, adds much distinctive flavour to strong beers.

[paulg]

check progress yesterday morning and the airlock was going crazy ,checked today and only passing a bubble every minute or so .do you think that a sachet of notty and a sachet of windsor would have caused the wort to ferment so quickly .I havent checked sg yet will leave it for at least 10 days before checking its just I have never had so much activity before it has always been a steady stream of bubbles for several days

[paulg]

checked sg with a refractometer and it appears to be about 1020 the surface of the beer still has bubbles on it ,so I assume the yeasts are still munching all be it slowly now.I decided to rouse the yeast anyway so gave it a gentle stir.
having mashed at a higher 67 degrees and fermenting at 21c I guess the easily fermented sugars are all gone and now the harder ones are being tackled.

[seymour]

I'm sure you're exactly right. With a good fermentable wort, a big healthy yeast population, and a comfy temperature, primary fermentation can finish extremely quickly. Now you're in the important conditioning stages where all those new yeast cells clean up their own mess and perfect your brew. Nice work!

[paulg]

seymour
would you rack to secondary fermenter,I dont usually I just let it stay in fermenter for about 10-14 days under airlock before crash cooling and then racking to corny and force carbonation
I will have to change my procedure soon when I change to using a pin cask anyway

[paulg]

once again double post BL**DY COMPUTERS
sorry

[seymour]

seymour
would you rack to secondary fermenter,I dont usually I just let it stay in fermenter for about 10-14 days under airlock before crash cooling and then racking to corny and force carbonation
I will have to change my procedure soon when I change to using a pin cask anyway

It's up to you, of course, but it sounds like your routine works just fine. One advantage of racking to secondary for several more weeks is higher attenuation (= lower final gravity, lighter body, crisper finish…none of which is necessary in an English Old Ale, in my opinion). Another advantage is clearer finished beer because the yeast and trub have more time to drop out (but again, that's not really important in a darkly coloured English Old Ale).

So, feel free to skip it, but consider doing the extra step on your next pale brew.

Cheers!