- Joined
- Apr 11, 2013
- Messages
- 376
- Reaction score
- 61
Another short story from me.
Brewed an Irish Red a few months back. First week of June to be more exact. I was planning on letting it ferment out for about a month and kegging. Fortunately for me, not for the beer, I got a new job. This job requires me to be gone for the week and home during the weekend. So unfortunately for the poor beer it sat and sat until this weekend before I could keg it. So here in lies the abuse and my question.
I created a fermentation chamber which I utilized for the first month of the fermentation. So primary fermentation was most certainly complete. When I got the new job though, all hell broke loose. I basically unplugged my chamber and just left the beer in the silly thing for roughly 3 months. Temperature swings ensued but I can not tell you any rough approximation of beer temp throughout this time.
I can, on the other hand, tell you that outside the chamber temperatures swayed between 50 degrees f and 105 degrees f. We had a few hot weeks been in the throws of summer and all.
Now I know how critical temperature is during the primary fermentation, but how about the secondary?
Now for the abuse kicker. I used a blowoff tube during the primary fermentation and never transferred the beer to a secondary nor did I ever eliminate the blowoff pot that I was using. So the beer sat in its original conical for roughly 4 months sitting on all the trub and such things. Along with that the open pot being in a sealed chamber cause condensation to occur which over time cause mold grows inside the chamber. I laughed at myself when I finally checked on it expecting the worst and face palmed when I saw mold inside the chamber.
Regardless. I finally pulled out the beer and kegged it today. The OG was 1.050 and the FG turned out to be about 1.009. Even after all the 'abuse' the beer turned out to be fantastic upon sampling.
My primary question for writing this little story is... How much does temperature during secondary fermentation effect the flavor of beer? All things considered with this little bit of experience under my belt I am leaning toward not to much. I am interested to hear what others think though.
This beer really is good BTW. I've brewed roughly 20 or so batches so far, and I've cornered the Irish Red because it suits my pallet very well. Been trying to replicate something as close to a Firestone DBA as I can within the Irish Red style. This one didn't come out how I expected. Been toying with the hops, but it did come out in a way that was pleasing to say the least.
Brewed an Irish Red a few months back. First week of June to be more exact. I was planning on letting it ferment out for about a month and kegging. Fortunately for me, not for the beer, I got a new job. This job requires me to be gone for the week and home during the weekend. So unfortunately for the poor beer it sat and sat until this weekend before I could keg it. So here in lies the abuse and my question.
I created a fermentation chamber which I utilized for the first month of the fermentation. So primary fermentation was most certainly complete. When I got the new job though, all hell broke loose. I basically unplugged my chamber and just left the beer in the silly thing for roughly 3 months. Temperature swings ensued but I can not tell you any rough approximation of beer temp throughout this time.
I can, on the other hand, tell you that outside the chamber temperatures swayed between 50 degrees f and 105 degrees f. We had a few hot weeks been in the throws of summer and all.
Now I know how critical temperature is during the primary fermentation, but how about the secondary?
Now for the abuse kicker. I used a blowoff tube during the primary fermentation and never transferred the beer to a secondary nor did I ever eliminate the blowoff pot that I was using. So the beer sat in its original conical for roughly 4 months sitting on all the trub and such things. Along with that the open pot being in a sealed chamber cause condensation to occur which over time cause mold grows inside the chamber. I laughed at myself when I finally checked on it expecting the worst and face palmed when I saw mold inside the chamber.
Regardless. I finally pulled out the beer and kegged it today. The OG was 1.050 and the FG turned out to be about 1.009. Even after all the 'abuse' the beer turned out to be fantastic upon sampling.
My primary question for writing this little story is... How much does temperature during secondary fermentation effect the flavor of beer? All things considered with this little bit of experience under my belt I am leaning toward not to much. I am interested to hear what others think though.
This beer really is good BTW. I've brewed roughly 20 or so batches so far, and I've cornered the Irish Red because it suits my pallet very well. Been trying to replicate something as close to a Firestone DBA as I can within the Irish Red style. This one didn't come out how I expected. Been toying with the hops, but it did come out in a way that was pleasing to say the least.
