Post
by Barley Water » Fri May 10, 2013 3:19 pm
I had some Ringwood yeast going from an AIPA I made recently and decided to use it to make a special/best bitter. I found a forumulation for Ringwood's 49'er someplace (possibly lurking around on these forums, I don't remember) so I made up a batch. Once it's done I'll pull off three bottles for a contest later in the year and I am always looking to do something slightly unique to make my entries stand out while at the same time making the beer more interesting. Anyway, I have some American oak chips, medium toast left over from a Firestone Walker Double Barrel clone I made a couple of years ago. I am seriously considering throwing some of those chips into the secondary and letting the beer sit on those for a week or so before kegging. In my limited expereince messing with oak, that should give me just a slight, subtle oak flavor and maybe just a touch of vanilla, should simulate fermenting in a Union. What do you guys think of that idea?
As an aside, this particular beer gave me quite the scare and it may well end up screwed up. As noted, the yeast came from a previous beer I made with no problems. I pitched a very large slurry into this beer, oxigenated throughly and set it up to ferment at 68F. The yeast was pitched on Sunday evening and I didn't see any evidence of fermentation until Thursday morning. On my way home from work Thursday, I picked up a package of Windsor dry yeast from my LHBS with the intention of pitching that if things hadn't progressed since the morning. Since there was an acceptable head on the beer when I came home, I decided to let things alone. Most likely, I'll rouse the stuff this evening just to try and make sure it attenuates like it should. I have been doing this hobby for the better part of three decades and I don't believe I have ever had a yeast fail. I have heard that Ringwood can be a bugger but this is the first time I have had an issue with it. Anyway, the lession here I guess is that if you decide to use this strain, make sure you have an acceptable backup of dry yeast should things go south on you. I guess the yeast sensed hubris or something with the brewer and decided to dish out a bit of humility.
Drinking:Saison (in bottles), Belgian Dubbel (in bottles), Oud Bruin (in bottles), Olde Ale (in bottles),
Abbey Triple (in bottles), Munich Helles, Best Bitter (TT Landlord clone), English IPA
Conditioning: Traditional bock bier, CAP
Fermenting: Munich Dunkel
Next up: Bitter (London Pride like), ESB
So many beers to make, so little time (and cold storage space)
