Very nice! Great earthy aromas of coffee and chocolate, perhaps a little more body than the last iteration of this recipe, or it feels like it anyway. Pleased with this one.
May 202511Sun
Yeti XIII
| Ref | 2025-02 Yeti | Brewer | Pain & Patience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Style | Imperial Stout | Type | Beer, all-grain |
| Started | Mon 24th Feb 25 | Status | Available, |
| Packaged | Mon 10th Mar 25 | Fermenter | SS 25 litre bucket |
| Handle | 2025-02 Yeti |
|---|---|
| Brewer | Pain & Patience |
| Style | Imperial Stout |
| Type | Beer, all-grain |
| Fermenter | SS 25 litre bucket |
| Status | Available, ABV |
| Started | Mon 24th Feb 25 |
| Packaged | Mon 10th Mar 25 |
Some subtle tweaks in order to see how close I can get to making this a truly big beer. I think my efficiency numbers are the best they’ve been to date for this one so I just hope the dry-pitched yeast is as virile as a regular starter.
Tracking in Brewfather.
61 days
Mar 202511Tue
Standard gravity transfer to sanitised but non-purged keg. The yeast had clearly finished long ago although there were still occasional bubbles to be heard from the blow-off tube this week.
The FG was measured at 1.024 against an expected 1.012 so it looks like despite 3 sachets of yeast used were still not as good as with a starter. Or at least that’s how it feels – will have to sit down properly one evening and compare all attempts at this recipe sensibly.
15 days
Feb 202524Mon
A fairly good brew day today with no major mishaps. I’ve tweaked the recipe slightly in order to get the most out of my 35 litres maximum mash volume, ending up with 33.4 litres and aiming for batch size of 17 litres at 1.081 OG and 8.9% at the end.
In hindsight I could probably have squeezed another half a percent ABV out of my remaining 1.6 litres play room, but that would have made things even trickier.
As it as my dough-in felt like it took twice the normal amount of time and I didn’t think I was going to get everything wet for mash rest. Once underway the flow was quite good with 250g of rice hulls to help things along, no threat of stirring needed and I finished with a mash efficiency of 65% – nowhere near the 75% indicated by the recipe (How? Why?) but perfectly in line with expectations of my equipment profile – for the first time on Yeti.
I’m writing this almost 24 hours after pitching 3 packets of M44 dry (smashed the flask on Sunday) and although sporadic bubbles were heard while cleaning up the kettle yesterday, it’s still not anywhere near as ferocious as WLP-002 was with Blair III two weeks ago. Will be interesting to overlay the fermentation curve over the previous Yeti when we’re done.
Continue reading1 day
Feb 202523Sun
There was a distinct crack from the base of my Erlenmeyer flash as I was heating it on the large hot plate, immediately followed by a light smell of burnt sugar. On carefully moving the flask to the sink it was obvious why: a crack all around the sidewall where the base meets the sloping sides, with only about 2 inches of un-cracked glass holding the base on.
Not sure whether this was due to the hotplate being slightly wider than the flask or whether it’s down to the accumulated years of use on a halogen hob rather than a gas flame, as suggested by TMM’s page when searching for a replacement. Either way I’ve ordered a newer, larger version from TMM and also a camping gas burner.
This brew meanwhile will go ahead but instead of a starter I’ll use the calculated 3 sachets of dry yeast instead. Should make for an interesting if expensive comparison.