Hey guys,
I realize this is probably a dumb question... yeast is our friend here, and assuming everything goes well there's a lot more yeast by the end of primary fermentation than was pitched. That being said...
My first batch was 1 gallon of mead. Per LHBS recipe instructions, I pitched the entire 5 gram packet. After reading up more, I realized this was probably much more yeast than was necessary. When I racked into secondary, I noticed the yeasty smell was very strong. I tasted my hydrometer sample, and it was nice -- there was a bit of a yeasty overtone like in a hefeweizen, but it wasn't at all unpleasant. I figured it would mellow out in secondary, but on my next batch I would scale down the yeast.
Second batch was 1 gallon of cider. I used Cooper's ale yeast which comes in 7 gram packets, so I did my best to portion out roughly 1 gram. I just racked into secondary tonight and noticed that same strong yeasty smell. Again, taste is nice, even less "yeasty" than the mead was at racking.
In both cases the trub was waay more than the amount of yeast I pitched, so I'm assuming this is all just normal yeast reproduction and brewing activity.
My ambient temperature in my closet where I keep my brew experiments is right around 70-71F consistently. I realize on further reading that the process of fermentation means the actual brew is probably a few degrees warmer, but both yeast strains I've used (Lalvin D47 and Cooper's Ale) reportedly do well under these higher temps.
Should I just RDWHAHB? Am I right on in assuming this is just a normal part of the process, and when I sample again at tertiary racking, the yeasty smell will have subsided considerably? Or should I be working to reduce my closet temps on future batches?
I'm ready to start up a 3rd test batch of something... maybe some Welch's wine or something... and I'd like to know if I should examine cooling options before I start another batch fermenting.
Thanks for humoring this n00b.
I realize this is probably a dumb question... yeast is our friend here, and assuming everything goes well there's a lot more yeast by the end of primary fermentation than was pitched. That being said...
My first batch was 1 gallon of mead. Per LHBS recipe instructions, I pitched the entire 5 gram packet. After reading up more, I realized this was probably much more yeast than was necessary. When I racked into secondary, I noticed the yeasty smell was very strong. I tasted my hydrometer sample, and it was nice -- there was a bit of a yeasty overtone like in a hefeweizen, but it wasn't at all unpleasant. I figured it would mellow out in secondary, but on my next batch I would scale down the yeast.
Second batch was 1 gallon of cider. I used Cooper's ale yeast which comes in 7 gram packets, so I did my best to portion out roughly 1 gram. I just racked into secondary tonight and noticed that same strong yeasty smell. Again, taste is nice, even less "yeasty" than the mead was at racking.
In both cases the trub was waay more than the amount of yeast I pitched, so I'm assuming this is all just normal yeast reproduction and brewing activity.
My ambient temperature in my closet where I keep my brew experiments is right around 70-71F consistently. I realize on further reading that the process of fermentation means the actual brew is probably a few degrees warmer, but both yeast strains I've used (Lalvin D47 and Cooper's Ale) reportedly do well under these higher temps.
Should I just RDWHAHB? Am I right on in assuming this is just a normal part of the process, and when I sample again at tertiary racking, the yeasty smell will have subsided considerably? Or should I be working to reduce my closet temps on future batches?
I'm ready to start up a 3rd test batch of something... maybe some Welch's wine or something... and I'd like to know if I should examine cooling options before I start another batch fermenting.
Thanks for humoring this n00b.