Harvest Ale Brew Day
The first of two winter vacation brews is complete. The harvest ale, which used homegrown hops, is currently fermenting away in the basement.
I made two 2 liter starters for the WLP002 and WLP008 vials.
I labeled the 002 so I would remember the difference. The 008 was used in the harvest ale.
My mash temp stayed pretty steady at about 154°F for the full hour. I had some boiling water ready to add to it at the 30 minute mark, but I didn’t need it.
The boil went fine – seeing all the hop cones swimming around was great. They do soak up some wort though. Starting with a 6.5 gallon pre-boil volume worked. I was able to get 5 gallons into the fermentor.
Knowing that the spigot on my kettle gets clogged pretty quickly with whole hops, I had my autosiphon cleaned, sanitized, and ready to go.
With the siphoning out of the kettle, a long aeration session with the aquarium pump seemed necessary. I let it aerate for a full hour before I pitch the yeast.
My final gravity was 1.055 which is where I wanted it to be. The fermentation began quickly – in about 6 hours after pitching.
I read a bunch of negative comments about this yeast strain on boards. It apparently can impart some tartness – If my hop choices work out – earthy, spicy rather than citrusy – then the tartness shouldn’t be a distraction.
on December 23rd, 2011 at 12:20 am
Hey nice post! I hope that brew turned out great.
on December 27th, 2011 at 4:07 pm
Have you ever compared using the stone vs O2 from a tank?
on December 28th, 2011 at 11:30 am
Thanks Home Brewer.
David – I haven’t compared the aquarium pump versus an O2 tank. I think I would be more confident with my aeration with an O2 tank but I haven’t invested in getting a tank yet.
Now, I can tell you that I have noticed that my fermentations have started up a lot faster with the aeration step. I think with an O2 tank, I can cut the time of this step from 30 to 60 minutes to 60 seconds.
on January 7th, 2012 at 10:42 am
[...] of the yeast cake and swirled around the rest. This strain is chunky! It’s fermenting right next to the harvest ale and I’ll post more when we get to the conditioning phase. No [...]