Fast fermentation In start (lager)

[Peaty Jones]

Hi,

I have two buckets with identical recipe and the only exception is yeast. On one I have safale s23 and the other is safale w34/70. The Set temperature In my fridge is 12°C and after 24h they have allready dropped from 1.046 to 1.038!?!? Is this normal? Should I drop the temperature a bit to slow it down?

 

[fluketamer]

i would leave it i like to ferment my lagers at 54 .

i often find changing the temp can throw my yeast for a loop. let it ride

 

[day_trippr]

after 24h they have allready dropped from 1.046 to 1.038!?!? Is this normal?

It's not abnormal
Let it ride.
Most of my batches will drop most of their gravity points in the first 3 days. That's going from 1.070-something eventually down to 1.015-ish...

Cheers!

 

[Peaty Jones]

Thanks for the replies! Sticking to the plan it is! 8)

 

[hotbeer]

In general most instructions call for keeping beer in the fermenter for two weeks. That doesn't mean that it's fermenting for those two weeks. Fermentation for ales is usually over and done with in 2 - 4 days. Lager's might be a little more time, but I doubt that it's much more.

We call it a fermenter, but it does more than just ferment beer. And those other things take more time. Unless we want to do the things that can make that happen somewhat sooner.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

Let it ride for this batch, but do you have the temp probe in one of your buckets? Are the buckets plastic? Typical plastic brew buckets aren't great at heat exchange, thus the fermentation temp inside the bucket, especially 5gal buckets, is probably 3-5°f higher during high krausen. Put a fan inside your freezer next time for continous airflow to help keep the temp inside the fermenter a little lower and/or get a thermal well in one of your buckets for the temp prob. Don't worry about this batch though, it'll be fine.

Just some thoughts.

 

[Peaty Jones]

Let it ride for this batch, but do you have the temp probe in one of your buckets? Are the buckets plastic? Typical plastic brew buckets aren't great at heat exchange, thus the fermentation temp inside the bucket, especially 5gal buckets, is probably 3-5°f higher during high krausen. Put a fan inside your freezer next time for continous airflow to help keep the temp inside the fermenter a little lower and/or get a thermal well in one of your buckets for the temp prob. Don't worry about this batch though, it'll be fine.

Just some thoughts.

I have a rapt pill inside the bucket. The thermostat uses the pills temperature so its temp inside it. I have set cooling and heating hysteresis to 1°C so it hovers between 11-13°C.

 

[Peaty Jones]

Let it ride for this batch, but do you have the temp probe in one of your buckets? Are the buckets plastic? Typical plastic brew buckets aren't great at heat exchange, thus the fermentation temp inside the bucket, especially 5gal buckets, is probably 3-5°f higher during high krausen. Put a fan inside your freezer next time for continous airflow to help keep the temp inside the fermenter a little lower and/or get a thermal well in one of your buckets for the temp prob. Don't worry about this batch though, it'll be fine.

Just some thoughts.

Here are both buckets timeline. Blue is temperature, Red is SG and yellow is ABV%. Nice to see that they both go quite hand In hand even though are In two different compartments of the fridge. Both have same wattage of heat sources also. SG has differed 0.001-0.002. So far they seem to act kind of similarly. Both are done with same recipe except they have different yeasts Saflager s-23 and saflager w34/70.

 

[hotbeer]

Should I drop the temperature a bit to slow it down?

To get back to that question... No. I wouldn't try to slow it down. That might do more harm than good. Though it looks like even if you tried, it'd be almost a FG by the time you did get it cooled more. So a net gain of nothing.

If you use two different FV's again for the next batch and if you can maintain different temps for each, then it might be interesting to see what the difference in the SG drop if they are kept at 5 - 10 degrees temperature differential to each other. As well if there is any perceived difference in taste, aroma and appearance of the finished beer.

 

[Peaty Jones]

To get back to that question... No. I wouldn't try to slow it down. That might do more harm than good. Though it looks like even if you tried, it'd be almost a FG by the time you did get it cooled more. So a net gain of nothing.

If you use two different FV's again for the next batch and if you can maintain different temps for each, then it might be interesting to see what the difference in the SG drop if they are kept at 5 - 10 degrees temperature differential to each other. As well if there is any perceived difference in taste, aroma and appearance of the finished beer.

That could be interesting. I have two heaters In each compartment 45W+17W and they are all controlled via the same thermostat. I suppose I could unplug the 17W thermostat on the other compartment and make the pill In the other compartment "Master". By this I mean that the rapt pill which is In the compartment which has both heaters plugged would control the thermostat. Im not sure though what kind of difference In temperature it would make. It also would need to be done in colder weather (ambient temperature should stay below the fermentation temperature whole time) or else the cooling (fridgerator) kicks In and temperature would be the same In both compartments. But hey, I live In A place where weather can drop to - 40°C In winter so that shouldnt be a problem .

Ill keep this In mind In the future but i wont make any promise because my spare time is limited and there May be other brewing quests which I want to try when/IF i have time to brew next time.

 

[Peaty Jones]

How would u guys suggest I do the diacetyl rest? Is it too slow if i pump the temperature +2°C a day until im In +18°C?