Bad news first: one of the new design lids using grommet instead of glue is leaking and needs to be replaced. There’s enough pressure to have a visible impact on the levels, but not enough to force the bubble out of the top before the gas escapes via an easier route. You can even see the levels moving slightly as the leak activates – check the video. I’ll fix this later today, using the correct drill bit to modify a fresh lid instead of fudging it with a countersunk bit because I was too lazy to look for the right tool last time.
On to the good news now, and these two vessels are going like the clappers! There was no sign of fermentation last night as we turned in about 3 hours after starting primary, but I couldn’t resist swinging by the brewery on a 01:00 loo run and was pleased to see about half an inch of foam on the Hoppy Blonde* and maybe a quarter of an inch on the Dippy one**.
When I checked in this morning I could see a generous head of Krausen on both vessels reaching almost to the top – guess I got lucky with estimating head-space. The wort inside was in obvious turmoil and couldn’t have been more animated had there been a kilowatt immersion heater jammed into the base. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a quick start to fermentation in a kit. Is this due to me using simple extract and steeping it along with hops rather than just adding hot water, as with all the kits until now? Maybe it’s due to the extra aeration from boiling, mixing, and splitting to two FVs? Was it the soaking of the yeast for 20 minutes and mixing it in, rather than just pitching it on top, dry? Or maybe it’s due to me accidentally using just over 1g of yeast per litre because my scales are crap. Who knows. I’ve got some better scales ordered and will likely use the same approach of waking my yeast next time since it wasn’t nearly as hard to pitch that paste as I thought it would be.
* I’m thinking of adding finishing hops to the vessel which was poured last from the bucket and subsequently received most of the sediment that was in the bucket, despite giving it a good stir. The version in this FV will therefor be known as Hoppy.
** Because she’s the slower of the two. So what?