Things have been going pretty well since I started this brew 11 days ago, and I’ve not posted as many notes or pictures as with previous brews, partly because I’m more confident now that I’ve got 15 under my belt, partly because it’s all gone to plan.

Slow Start

That said, it did take almost 24 hours for the yeast starter to begin doing its thing, which makes me wonder if I’m doing something wrong there, or if making a starter is superfluous. Pretty much all dry yeast manufacturers recommend dry-pitching straight from the packet, and pretty much all seasoned brewers advocate the creation of a starter instead. Brewfather sides with the latter, recommending several packets of yeast if dry-pitching into a 23 litre FV, yet the vendor reckons one packet is enough. I can’t really comment since I’m still quite green, and running a parallel test is out as I still only have one fermentation fridge. I might try dry pitching next time around, but that’s likely to introduce a certain amount of variance thanks to age of ingredients among other factors.

A dose of … Meatballs?

I don’t know if it’s the use of Polyclar together with Protafloc or something else, but the protein / snot that was transferred from the kettle has clumped together to form mobile lumps which look a little like meatballs. These were quite lively throughout fermentation and have now settled down. Most strange.

Started Cold-Crashing

According to the Brewfather app I was due to drop the temperature down yesterday, but the SG curve appeared to be declining still so I left it another 12 hours. Visually there’s nothing going on in the FV now and the curve seems to be levelling out, so I’m setting the Inkbird for 1℃ and will leave it there for at least 4 days before I transfer this to a keg for lagering. About a week before we’re due to take this to a friend’s party I’ll transfer to smaller party-size kegs, ideally leaving the settled trub behind and giving us a better shot at getting it into a fridge.