Brewing TV - Episode 26: Big Beer Brewing
Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 7:47AM Original Postdate: December 17, 2010
Features:
- Yeast Starter
- Parti-gyle brew session: Wookiee & Ewok
- Tasting Notes x 3
- Fermentation Tips for High-Gravity Beers
- Brew Dog Battle Royale
Brewing TV embraces December's sub-freezing temperatures. In this episode, Dawson and Chip (and the brew dogs) brave the cold for an outdoor parti-gyle brew session. The fruits of their labor - a big ol' American barleywine, a smaller beer Dawson calls an American bitter, and lots of fun. Put on your puffy coat and gloves, grab a pint and think BIG!
Related Links
Short Pour video: Wookiee & Ewok @ 24 hours after pitching yeast
Wookiee & Ewok recipes
Warwick Golden English barleywine parti-gyle blog (recipe included)
Karl's rye wine parti-gyle experiment blog (recipe, tasting notes & more)
More beer experiments, recipes and musings @ the Northern Brewer Blog
Northern Brewer barley wine beer kit
Ames Farm Artisanal Minnesota Honey
Reader Comments (28)
AWESOME EPISODE!!! I've been looking for a good "how-to" on doing partigyle... seems like a great way to get a bunch of beers (for those of us that aren't lucky enough to have a job where they get to brew all day and work in a homebrew shop). This episode was ballin'.
Great job on this episode! I appreciate the thoughtful and laid-back delivery.
Great episode! Where did you get the info on yeast washing? Maybe a future show could be on yeast ranching.
Like the story of the cold brew day. Also great sunny shots of that golden barleywine! Pretty looking stuff. Hot scotchy looks good. I could try that on my next brew day. Brew Dog Royale was a fun quick aside. I have done some yeast washing, but a lot of people don't know much about it. (And I'm no pro at it). It would great to see a video on how Dawson does his yeast watching. Maybe a Short Pour? Cool video. Fun to see a batch like this the whole way through. Nice work.
wow...great episode. Definitely one of my favorites. Keep the brew days coming guys!
Just saw my first episode. FANTASTIC. Can't wait to view the rest. Well done!
Awesome episode! Very enjoyable and informative. It's nice to watch how other brewers do things. ANd I will definately be making a Hot Scotchie next time I brew, it gets stupid cold here in Chicago as well, cheers!
Keep a spray bottle of water with you when you're boiling in an Erlenmeyer flask. When it start to head up the stack, give it a spray or two and you should be boil over free! Great episode.
Hey Chip Walton, just saw a blog post about you on a blog from your home state. Could tell you were good stock, but had no idea you were a fellow southerner. I have a request, wear some Bama gear in an upcoming episode!?
As always this was a great episode. Keep up the good work & Roll Tide!
Phillip
Hi Dawson and Chip,
The epasode was excellent. I was hoping you could tell me or show how you "washed the yeast". Thank You for the shows.
By the way were's Cobra?
Great episode! Chip should definitely get some more on-camera time, too.
Great episode dudes. As a pedantic aside - Dawson, Chiswick is pronounced with a silent "w" ie Chis'ick. Cheers from Blighty.
Great episode! It does bring up a question that I've always had. How do you get the stir bar out of the yeast? Do you take it out before pitching or just take it out of the fermentor when it's done?
@brewale4me - we'll do some yeast warshin' in a future episode.
@crezzer - you should hear me pronounce Marylebone!
@Kyle K. - I try to pour out the yeast slurry slowly and leave the stir bar behind in the flask (easy to do if you have a magnet or second stir bar to hold against the outside of the flask); if you pour the stir bar into the fermenter along with the yeast, it won't hurt anything, but a week or two later you might forget it's in there and dump it down the drain with the trub when you're cleaning (or you may want to use the stir bar for a starter again while it's still at the bottom of a carboy).
Dawson, don't fret, we're the fools that made up a language that is spelt different to how it sounds!
Nice shout out to the Real Ale guys! sending some more TX love your way for The Mashout in Jan!
Great epi guys! thanks!
So I just watched your short pour video at 24 hours after fermentation. You blast it with oxygen after fermentation has already taken off? I give it a blast the following day as well, but only if it's not started (or has slowly started) the fermentation. Don't you worry about introducing oxygen once things have started to roll? I'd love to give this approach a try if it's something that's tried and true for you.
Great episode! Are you racking the beer from the "Dawson Square" into a secondary after things settle down, or are you letting it finish in the kettle? I know you'd rack with a completely open fermenter, but wonder if the lid keeps things clean enough to do the whole ferment in the kettle.
@DRPC - Yes, more O2 @ 24 hours, but only for really big beers (OG > 1.080 or so); plus, I roused the yeast by swirling the carboy 2x every day for the past 2 weeks. It's the same principle as the staggered nutrient additions in Curt Stock's meads a few episodes back, or even a stir plate - giving the cells what they need, as they can make use of it. Oxidation can only happen if the cells don't use up the extra oxygen, which wouldn't be a concern that early on in a fermentation that big, that will last many days.
For this beer in particular, the fermentation environment was pretty rugged for the yeast - very high gravity (the OG, after factoring in the honey, was over 1.100), flirting with the ceiling of the abv% tolerance for Wyeast 1272, cool unheated basement, lots of CO2 in solution - and the extra O2 and rousing will help the attenuation (after 2 weeks, it's at 1.029 and slowly dropping).
@Kaffeedog - Cheers! The small beer was racked to a carboy after 1 week for final settling (and to free up some floor space). It probably could have sat where it was a bit longer and then straight to a keg, cask ale-style.