grittyminder
Apprentice
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2011
- Messages
- 8
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Hi there,
I'm switching over to grain, so I decided that I'd take all my old malt extract and make a total Frankenstein of an imperial stout beer. Unfortunately, the only yeast available to me from my brew shop was SafAle S-04. However, I read that S-04 performs reasonably well with beers around 8.5% so I went with it. I also got some champagne yeast (Lalvin EC-1118).
So I wrote a recipe up using BeerSmith (est orig gravity: 1.096, est final gravity: 1.022, est alcohol by vol: %9.8) then went at it: brewed, wort into the fermenter, and pitched yeast (two packets of S-04). My target batch volume was 19 liters, but I lost 2 liters due to evaporation (I didn't have any additional water on hand to add to the wort). I took a gravity sample and it was quite high at 1.110.
The fermenter blew its top--crazy foam everywhere. It was my first time brewing a beer with this high of a gravity. Somehow I managed, but a lost 3 more liters of word (now down to 15 liters).
So now I am wondering what I should do now. I haven't taken a gravity sample yet. How long should I let the beer sit in my primary fermenter (a plastic bucket)? How long should I let the beer sit in my secondary fermenter (also a plastic bucket)? When should I pitch the champagne yeast, or if the gravity gets low enough should I not worry about it?
Thank you for your help.
I'm switching over to grain, so I decided that I'd take all my old malt extract and make a total Frankenstein of an imperial stout beer. Unfortunately, the only yeast available to me from my brew shop was SafAle S-04. However, I read that S-04 performs reasonably well with beers around 8.5% so I went with it. I also got some champagne yeast (Lalvin EC-1118).
So I wrote a recipe up using BeerSmith (est orig gravity: 1.096, est final gravity: 1.022, est alcohol by vol: %9.8) then went at it: brewed, wort into the fermenter, and pitched yeast (two packets of S-04). My target batch volume was 19 liters, but I lost 2 liters due to evaporation (I didn't have any additional water on hand to add to the wort). I took a gravity sample and it was quite high at 1.110.
The fermenter blew its top--crazy foam everywhere. It was my first time brewing a beer with this high of a gravity. Somehow I managed, but a lost 3 more liters of word (now down to 15 liters).
So now I am wondering what I should do now. I haven't taken a gravity sample yet. How long should I let the beer sit in my primary fermenter (a plastic bucket)? How long should I let the beer sit in my secondary fermenter (also a plastic bucket)? When should I pitch the champagne yeast, or if the gravity gets low enough should I not worry about it?
Thank you for your help.