Yeti

Ref 2023-05 Yeti Brewer Pain & Patience
Style Imperial Stout Type Beer, all-grain
Started Fri 5th May 23 OG 1.070 Status Archived, 7.9% ABV
Packaged Tue 6th Jun 23 FG 1.010 Fermenter SS 25 litre bucket
Handle 2023-05 Yeti
Brewer Pain & Patience
Style Imperial Stout
Type Beer, all-grain
Fermenter SS 25 litre bucket
Status Archived, 7.9% ABV ABV
Started Fri 5th May 23 OG 1.070
Packaged Tue 6th Jun 23 FG 1.010

My seventh go at a perennial favourite. This time there were no pump dramas during the brew day, but my first use of rice hulls to aid mashing pushed the already too-big volume up even higher and I failed to extract as much as I could. Maybe aim for a smaller fermenter volume next time around. Tracking in Brewfather.

Milestones & Tasks

Jun 06 -526dFirst taste
May 21 -542dKegged 18 litres, start conditioning
May 05 -558dStarted primary fermentation
Jun 202306Tue

First taste today (along with the Bernsdorfer) and it’s a resounding success with Steffen. Taste is good but I’ve missed the ABV target by quite a margin and it shows – we’re drinking this very quickly! Will definitely go for a smaller fermenter volume next time and see if I can extract more from my malt.

16 days
May 202321Sun

Just put away 18 litres into a standard Cornelius keg. With just 19 litres in the fermenter I was expecting to lose a bit more, but there wasn’t all that much gunk in the bottom so we got away with quite good yield.

7 days
May 202314Sun

Fermentation has well and truly slowed up for this one, and I may as well get her into a keg as soon as I have one available – just finishing off the dregs of Yeti VI now. I’m not sure if this is down to hydrometer calibration (no manual reading taken yet) or if my yeast starter was compromised, but she doesn’t appear to have reached full potential, stopping sever ABV points short.

9 days
May 202305Fri

Can’t believe it’s already my seventh go at this brew. All went reasonably well today with no pump lock-ups or other mistakes. I tried using rice hulls for the first time in order to make the mash a bit more free-flowing and extract more of the available sugars, but this increased the already significant mash volume right to the limit of the system and I think may have ultimately been counter-productive, missing my predicted OG by 9 points. We’ll see how that works out when primary is over.

Continue reading
1 day
May 202304Thu

I prepared the starter yesterday for tomorrow’s brew, keeping it on the stir plate with the smaller, banded spinner for around 24 hours. When I switched it off it rapidly went for good Krausen, but this evening it seems to have receded and looks almost lifeless. Too long on the stir plate / too far in advance of the brew? Will prepare just 24 hours ahead next time. Didn’t use the fermentation chamber either this time around, instead keeping it in the cool bathroom at around 19℃.

Brew Day Update

I was planning to pitch my remaining packet of dried yeast instead of this apparently lifeless starter, but there’s still the tiniest signs of fermentation from the layer of yeast at the bottom, so I’ll throw it in anyway and will follow up with dried yeast if nothing happens after 24 hours.

#wisdom: let’s keep starter time to 24 hours ahead of brew, with half of that on the stir plate.