Resurgence Pale Ale version 3
No change to the grain. This version is no longer single hop, using an additional 100g Nectaron to the 200g Riwaka, totaling 300g of hops. 120g during the boil and 180g at dry hop. Yeast is now Lallemand BRY-97 American West Coast Ale instead of the Safale US-05, still using 2 packets. Target temperature is 20C. Raise to 22C once no gravity change for 48hours. Target pressure is 4psi until end of fermentation. Spunding valve closed for gas capture end of primary fermentation. Crash cool to somewhere around 1-4C and complete carbonation using the gas line.
Day 0
Brew went well overall – issue with pump at the very end but no impact to the brew. Pump rotor gets jammed as the plastic part seems to expand. Dismantling the pump and using a 4mm drill bit to reem the center seems to fix the issue – but it needs doing every few brews. Slower pump rate for whirlpool and transfer allows a clearer beer into the fermenter without blockage on the bottom plate of the brewer.
Day 1
12 hours into the ferment (the next morning), pressure has increased to 2.5psi and gravity dropped 2 points from 1.0633 to 1.0614.
Day 2
Fermentation going gangbusters. 36hours in gravity has dropped 24pts (approx. 3%)
Pressure held at 4 PSI
Day 3
Fermentation a little to fast – krasuen hit the top of fermenter and came through the spunding setup a little. Likely next time ferment at 18C instead of 20C. Possibly at 5PSI instead of 4PSI too.
Disconnected the pressure kit from the top of the feermenter and cleaned it up with sanitiser, then back on with slightly higher pressure (a little over 5psi) to keep it under control.
Day 5
Gravity flattened out at 1.014 giving approx 6.5%, still slowly fermenting/bubbling but only about a point change in 24hours so on the tail end and ready for the dry hop.
Added hops, sprayed down some of the krausen with sanitiser to clean up a little as appropriate, closed the spunding valve to see if it will build pressure.
Raised temp to 21C to help the yeast with clean up.
Day 6
Raised temperature to 22C.
Checked pressure, off the clock on the 15psi dial…
Replaced the 15PSI dial with one that goes up to 40PSI, pressure reading about 16PSI.
Will continue to let pressure build up, in theory the yeast performs well under pressure so should be able to clean up at pressure.
Looking at the carbonation chart, 22C at 25-30PSI should be equivalent volumes of CO2 to that at 1C and 15PSI – so letting it build up should hopefully allow fermentation carbonation and reduce the amount of CO2 needed at the end of fermentation.
Day 8
Pressure built up naturally since the day 5 dry hop to approx 21PSI – gravity change is minor slowly dropping from 1.014 to 1.013 and has been at 1.013 for 48hours.
Temperature has been at 22C for 48hours to assist the yeast with cleanup of the DMS / diacetyl byproducts.
Dropped the target temp to 21C at 11am. I will continue to drop this over time using a maximum rate of 3C per 12hours from now until it is chilled to 3-4C. I’ll also monitor the pressure drop as temperature changes and aim to connect the CO2 bottle as the natural pressure drops below 15PSI (to maintain 15PSI at 4C).
This should provide a fully carbonated beer by day 14 (hopefully).
Day 9
lowered temperature from 22 -> 20 day 9.
20 -> 14 day 10.
14 -> 4 day 11
pressure was at 21PSI day 9, and dropped to about 17PSI when at 4C morning of day 12 (12hours at 4C).
Day 12
Purged gas to 15PSI 8am day 12
4pm (approx) – reduced gas pressure to approx 4PSI and connected the nukatap to serve a test beer and check carbonation levels.
Beer came out clear, tasted good, great aroma – and was reasonably fizzy – although needed more.
Shortly after pouring 150ml ish, the trub eruupted and caused a great stir. Likely the drop in pressure allowed trapped CO2 to escape, mixing up the beer with hops and trub.
I added the gas line and set pressure to 1bar (approx. 14PSI) to continue carbonation.
I lowered target temp to 3C to help with settling/clarification.
Day 13
Checked pressure in the morning – it was lower than 1bar (approx 13PSI), likely the head pressure of the beer before connecting the gas was higher than the regulator setting, preventing the regulator from being the max. A things settled overnight the pressure fell to the regulator setting (which was too low). I adjusted the regulator to bring it back up to 1bar.
The beer had settled out well at 3C for half a day.
I’ll test again on day 14 to see if it is ready for bottling.</p
Day 14
Setup the nukatap counterpressure filler and fillled half a bottle under counterflow pressure to test carbonation. Still needed more.
I was unsure if the foam i was getting with the nukatap alone was providing a sample not true to the carbonation levels. Wait further.
Day 16
Another test using the counterpressure filler – not ready.
Day 17
Tested – light carbonation and about right. Bottled 19.75L.
Leaving pressure at 15psi meant the outlet pin/valve on the counterpressure filler was hard to control. Lowering pressure to around 9psi allowed better control.
Using the purge phase of the bottle fill process to clear any liquid or foam that went through the outlet pin/valve helped get it to sit right, and allowed a sense of what the outlet gas speed was going to be. Keeping this low and therefore a slow fill got best results.
Some trub activity once volume was down to about 12L – likely caused by change in the weight of the liquid. A lump rose and fell, it didn’t seem to bad and settled quickly so I carried on.
Slower is better for the fills. Patience.