Pressure Fermenting with spunding valve - first attempt

fakr · October 27, 2011, 02:37:53 PM

I thought I'd start my own thread instead of filling up the other one on spunding.

To recap, I brewed up Richard's "Black; Black Like Your Heart IPA" recipe, added a bit more sparge water than the recipe called for, but split the wort up in 2 kegs, at about 13L each.

I aerated each of the kegs with pure oxygen (aeration stone) for roughly 30 seconds then sealed the kegs. I then hit each with 5lbs of CO2, shook them up, and attached to the spunding valve via a 2 port manifold.

With all the headspace in each of the kegs, I still had krausen come through the spunding valve several times so I had to clean the lines, manifold, and spunding valve, and put a krausen catcher in line to stop the valve clog ups.

I set the spunding valve to 6 psi, and it hissed for 4 days. Each day, I disconnected the gas valve and shook the keg to rouse the yeast (tip from Senior).

On the 4th day, when hissing could not be heard, I shook the kegs once more and turned the spunding valve up. Over the next 12-18 hours the gauge hit 22psi. I'm going to leave the spunding valve at 22psi for 2 days before transferring to the secondary kegs. At this point, I am going to cold crash the secondary kegs for 2-3 more days before transferring to the serving kegs.

Two questions at this point...

1. Richard, how long did you age your black IPA that I had at your place? Trying to figure out how long to age these bad boys.

2. John, I understand that this beer will be pretty much finished carbonating before it hits the serving kegs (I think), so how much time could I possibly knock off the aging process if any?

Richard · October 27, 2011, 03:09:48 PM

Pitched on 04/10, kegged about 10 days later and crashed to 2C, drinking it after two weeks - but it's absolutely reached its peak now. Kyle and I had some last night and it's bloody fantastic at this point (just over 3 weeks after pitching).

fakr · October 27, 2011, 03:34:29 PM

wow, that's quick! It tasted like you aged it for many weeks!
Well, I might just have grain to glass in under 10 days then...it will age as I drink it....and I have two kegs of it so the second keg should be even better!

Richard · October 27, 2011, 03:41:59 PM

Yeah the IPA age thing is one for which there are quite a few schools of thought - some people like to leave it for six weeks (Kyle) to "take the edge off all those hops" (paraphrasing). I like them young - the bite of the hops is something that I enjoy in a fresh IPA, plus the dry-hops are still marching around your senses in all their glory.

Put it down to taste.

fakr · October 27, 2011, 04:26:46 PM

QuoteI like them young -

- really Richard? lol!

sorry, couldn't help it...

Richard · October 27, 2011, 05:22:00 PM

dammit...

JohnQ · October 27, 2011, 06:27:51 PM

Yup, at 22 psi you should be pretty much self carb'd ...that's excellent.
If anything you may need to add a tiny bit, but I certainly wouldn't add anything before tasting.
I bet the mouthfeel will be super smooth.
Well Done, I am really looking forward to a sample of this one!
JQ

fakr · October 28, 2011, 08:46:47 AM

I'll make sure I bring some up to both of you my next trip up. could be as early as next weekend, but I'm going to try and wait until the next meeting in November.

By the way, something else I'm looking for advice on....I made up a 2L starter of white labs 001 for my fakr'ed up IPA bomb to test out pitching high krausen into it to clean it up... well I only used half of it for some reason. I had about half poured in and then stopped. Something told me not to put the whole 2 leters in. so, now I have 1L of starter and was thinking of using it on the black IPA...think I should? Maybe I should pitch half of the remaining letre into one of the two IPA kegs? I guess that would really give a good side by side comparison of high krausen technique vs not.

Maybe I just answered my own question.....

Next meeting I'll bring up 1L of each to sample.

fakr · October 29, 2011, 04:39:48 PM

well, I transferred both kegs of IPA to secondary kegs, pitching some high krausen beer in one of them, hooking it back up to the spunding valve.

I cold crashed the other one, last night and this afternoon checked the pressure. it had dropped substancially. I poured about a pint and threw it out, then poured another to sample....WOW! this beer is really good...completely naturally carbonated, and VERY tasty. I personally think it's done...don't know how it could get any better really! I am still going to tranfer it to a serving keg tomorrow though to clear it up a bit.

I don't think I can go back to fermenting in a bucket...the quality and mouth feel of this beer is just awesome!

I will try very very very hard to bring a leter of each to the next meeting for sampling.

Richard · October 29, 2011, 05:10:07 PM

And that's what... AG batch number two?

To hell with those who say the deep end is for the experienced swimmers.

fakr · October 29, 2011, 05:48:09 PM

yeah, this would be all grain batch #2 !!!

Richard · October 31, 2011, 11:34:34 PM

Side note to what I had said before - the hops are now starting to fade in this batch. Might be 'cause it got drained pretty fast (people seem to like it - even those who normally wouldn't go for hop-bombs), but it's starting to taste more like a porter than a black IPA now.

fakr · November 01, 2011, 05:30:12 PM

is it? Well, the first of the two kegs has been dipped into quite a bit as I had to let everyone taste it. I still can't believe how good it is....amazing.

I transferred the second keg into the secondary and cold crashed it last night. I did try it but it wasn't down to temp yet. Definitely good too...I'll have to taste it later tonight on a side by side comparison with the first keg.

Looking forward to your critiquing of this beer Richard!

fakr · November 01, 2011, 05:33:05 PM

and I do taste a slight porter/stout flavor in the beer....but I think that's one of the reasons I like it so much!

Very hoppy at this point, but probably because it's only 8 days old...it will probably mellow out like yours. I wish you could taste it in it's current state...

Richard · November 01, 2011, 05:36:18 PM

I look forward to it also - very glad you like the recipe and it turned out well for you.

Kyle suggested I make this a "house beer"; I think I will be taking his advice there. I can't really think of anything to change in the recipe

If you keep some as close to 0C as possible without freezing it, it should remain consistent for the next couple of weeks - crashing out any remaining sediment will also help with stability. Of course it may not last that long