Time in primary

[VLo]

My second batch is in the fermenter, an oatmeal stout and I’m using S-04. Would you guys recommend 2 weeks or 3 weeks (Or longer?) in the primary before bottling? The original recipe said 21 days with a different yeast but I also saw a recipe that said 2 weeks with S-04. Thanks for your help.

Also wondering how one uses the yeast cake for another batch? Seems like cleaning/sanitizin* the fermenter would be a problem.

 

[tellyho]

I'd probably go for 3, just to be sure. Best way to tell is to check gravity.

Yeast cake reuse: you can pitch another beer directly onto your old yeast cake. Just be reasonably careful to close up the fermenter after transferring the stout and get the new beer in there as fast as possible.

Alternatively, sanitize a glass jar and pour some slurry in there. Refrigerate until needed. Pitch into new beer. This is my preferred method of reuse.

Either way, I find that 2 or 3 repitches is about as far as I want to go from fresh yeast with these methods. I mostly just buy new yeast these days as I really want my beer to taste like it should.

 

[Harleybrew32]

hate to sound like im on repeat, but same as tellyho said.
do you have a fermenting chamber?
I have reused yeast cakes, trick is to wait until your new wort is chilled then keg or transfer to bottling bucket and transfer your new wort and aerate. then bottle your other beer. i use plastic wrap to cover any opening during transfers and purge with co2.
cheers

 

[GnenieGone]

Great advice here. 21 days. I've learned that beer flavors using 04 seem to take time to develop anyway. Be sure to cold crash 2days in advance at 55f or below if possible prior to transfer.

Brewing a lower ABV beer is my preferred method of building yeast for a bigger 10%+ brew. I usually time the 1st beer being kegged/bottled on the same day as the big beers brewing day. So there's no need to sanitize as it already is. If your sanitation technique is solid from the get go, you should have no issues.

 

[davidabcd]

It's not that the beer won't be done fermenting in a week. Not rushing (3 weeks is a fine amount of time) and letting the yeast clean up is kind of the deal.
I'm still looking for a way to get a high ABV (12 or so) stout to not be so stubborn carbonating.

 

[GnenieGone]

Bottle or keg?

It's not that the beer won't be done fermenting in a week. Not rushing (3 weeks is a fine amount of time) and letting the yeast clean up is kind of the deal.
I'm still looking for a way to get a high ABV (12 or so) stout to not be so stubborn carbonating.

 

[davidabcd]

Bottle or keg?

Bottling. I suspect two things interfered: I added a sizeable amount of whiskey (12oz). I don't really want to change the amount next time as it was delicious. 2. I used S-04 and I suspect that it might not have been able to handle the ABV.
So, I'm open to suggestions. Thank you.

 

[GnenieGone]

Bottling. I suspect two things interfered: I added a sizeable amount of whiskey (12oz). I don't really want to change the amount next time as it was delicious. 2. I used S-04 and I suspect that it might not have been able to handle the ABV.
So, I'm open to suggestions. Thank you.

I was going to suggest adding 1/2pk of 05 prior to bottling. I've ran into that issue with extended primary times/cold crashing. Beer ends up flat. There are threads about that issue. If I bottle, I'll either carb in the keg 1st or only do a light cold crash.

 

[davidabcd]

adding 1/2pk of 05 prior to bottling.

Would you suggest 1/2 pk of 05? I'm fuzzy on exact steps taken for carbonating. A smidge in each bottle? It wouldn't work adding to the bottling bucket, obviously, because it won't dissolve/mix.
What do you think of maybe doing 3 packs of S-04 or US-05--I'm not sure there's too much difference between them without looking? Maybe this could combat that high ABV?
I saw this one type but it's diastatic--some "super yeast"--and I'd want to stay away from it as it seems unpredictable and would have a good chance of drying out a stout. I'd be willing to do blow cash on liquid if it's going to work. I do not do starters though.
Thanks for the help so far.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

With my small batch barleywines (~ 10%), I got good results when adding a yeast with a higher alcohol tolerance (CBC-1, EC-1118). I dosed individual bottles (tedious work, tasty results).

 

[ESBrewer]

Adding small amount of fresh, viable yeast slurry from a 'starter' (or a dry package although I haven't tried this myself) is a great way to speed up bottle conditioning and it can also produce a cleaner tasting beer. Probably the single biggest improvement in my bottling process. When the batch size is large, dosing yeast to each individual bottle separately can be a tedious task. In my small batches this is not a problem. I use liquid yeast slurry and a syringe, adding maybe three drops of thick slurry to each 500 ml bottle. Three drops may feel like a small amount at first, but it makes a huge difference when the yeast is not stressed by a recent fermentation. In a very high gravity brew, you could probably add a little bit more whereas in a session beer just a drop or two is probably enough.

You could mix additional yeast to bottling bucket in a large batch, although it may not get dispersed so evenly. I do not use bottling buckets any more, instead I bottle straight from the FV. Both yeast and boiled sugar solution is added to the bottles. Transferring to additional bucket inevitably adds some extra oxygen to the beer.

 

[GnenieGone]

Since I've personally never done this, I'd listen to the 2 folks above.

Would you suggest 1/2 pk of 05? I'm fuzzy on exact steps taken for carbonating. A smidge in each bottle? It wouldn't work adding to the bottling bucket, obviously, because it won't dissolve/mix.
What do you think of maybe doing 3 packs of S-04 or US-05--I'm not sure there's too much difference between them without looking? Maybe this could combat that high ABV?
I saw this one type but it's diastatic--some "super yeast"--and I'd want to stay away from it as it seems unpredictable and would have a good chance of drying out a stout. I'd be willing to do blow cash on liquid if it's going to work. I do not do starters though.
Thanks for the help so far.

 

[davidabcd]

With my small batch barleywines (~ 10%), I got good results when adding a yeast with a higher alcohol tolerance (CBC-1, EC-1118). I dosed individual bottles (tedious work, tasty results).

I've seen the CBC-1 but have zero experience. I can make "tedious" work. Any specifics on amount per bottle?
Thanks.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I've seen the CBC-1 but have zero experience. I can make "tedious" work. Any specifics on amount per bottle?
Thanks.

I used 2.0 grams sugar & 0.1 g (1/10 gram) of EC-1118 per bottle. I thought I had notes on how I got to those numbers, but I can't find them.

 

[davidabcd]

I used 2.0 grams sugar & 0.1 g (1/10 gram) of EC-1118 per bottle. I thought I had notes on how I got to those numbers, but I can't find them.

Thanks for the info.