Olde London IPA - 1839 recipe!

Well this is a turn up for the books. Just took a gravity reading on day 5 of primary fermentation. The brew is reading 1.010...started og 1.064!
Massive attenuation of 85% from S04. Completely motionless air-lock for a couple of days and if my eyes aren't mistaking me, the lid slightly bent in. Like there is negative pressure in the bucket. Sample tastes unlike anything I've tasted so far too. But then it is the strongest so far...and tastes it.
Anyone had similar experiences?
 
No way it could pull a pressure to suck in the lid of a standard bucket. It’d suck the water out of the airlock first, anyway.
 
The Green Man said:
Just took a gravity reading on day 5 of primary fermentation. The brew is reading 1.010...started og 1.064!
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Not unusual for S-04 to finish quickly. High attenuation is a little unusual, but with the right conditions and with a good mash, it goes there. I've gotten 82% on at least 2 occasions, but I think that's the highest it's gone for me.
 
jeffpn said:
No way it could pull a pressure to suck in the lid of a standard bucket. It’d suck the water out of the airlock first, anyway.
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The bucket isn't being sucked down into the bucket in a very big way, it just looks a little convex to me. Very much as if there is a slight vacuum in there. There is literally no action from the airlock, even when I removed the bucket from the ferm chamber when I thought it was too cool...weird, don't you think?
Aliens? Homebrew Gremlins? Hang-on...can I hear the X Files theme in the background?
 
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J A said:
Not unusual for S-04 to finish quickly. High attenuation is a little unusual, but with the right conditions and with a good mash, it goes there. I've gotten 82% on at least 2 occasions, but I think that's the highest it's gone for me.
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Cheers JA. I did overpitch I think, but only ny about 15%. The yeast calculator put it at 16 billion cells over what I needed. 11g of S04 in 8 litres of 1.064 wort. Maybe this has something to do with it?
The mash temp was lower than I wanted it, about 61-64 over 90 mins and I added sugar to dry it out and boost the abv to Export strength, but og at pitching was 1.064, not crazily high.
 
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Best to ignore the yeast calculator when it comes to dry yeast. The default counts for those yeasts that the calculator uses are very low. It's nearly universally accepted that 11g of those Fermentis yeasts will pitch 20 liters easily. even at a 1.064 OG, you were probably nearly double what you really needed.
No harm, though...overpitching usually results in cleaner, quicker fermentation. Unless your fermentation temps were in the high range, you can probably expect a nice malty brew without a lot of fruity ester notes typical of that yeast.
 
J A said:
Best to ignore the yeast calculator when it comes to dry yeast. The default counts for those yeasts that the calculator uses are very low. It's nearly universally accepted that 11g of those Fermentis yeasts will pitch 20 liters easily. even at a 1.064 OG, you were probably nearly double what you really needed.
No harm, though...overpitching usually results in cleaner, quicker fermentation. Unless your fermentation temps were in the high range, you can probably expect a nice malty brew without a lot of fruity ester notes typical of that yeast.
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Cheers JA. I have always wondered about that calculator. Always seems to go against what I read and hear as conventional wisdom...
It's got another week yet to condition on the formidable yeast cake.;)
 
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If you want to get crazy, brew up a 1.100 Russian Imperial Stout to throw on the cake as soon as you rack the current beer off. You better have a big fermenter and a blow-off tube though. :D
 
J A said:
If you want to get crazy, brew up a 1.100 Russian Imperial Stout to throw on the cake as soon as you rack the current beer off. You better have a big fermenter and a blow-off tube though. :D
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Would do if I wasn't leaving the country the next day...However, will be putting blow-off tube into action with a Saison planned for the summer. I've heard those yeasts like to redecorate whatever room they find themselves in.:eek:
 
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If you start it then you won't be around to fret about it. Win win!
 
Just means it's conditioned.
 
Hawkbox said:
Just means it's conditioned.
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Really? I thought 3 months on the cake would be twilight zone for the yeast i.e rip yeasties.:(
Learn something new everyday...literally.
Certainly would be cheaper on the yeast front. Cheers.
 
Well, bottled this yesterday. My considerable over-pitch has delivered about the right attenuation according to the recipe I borrowed from and now it is at the Export IPA strength too, so all that is good.
How did the FG sample taste? Like no other drink I have had. Not very bitter, not very IPA like, at least in the modern sense. More like a hoppy barley wine, if anything. Will see how this develops in the bottle...
A very interesting adventure though.
 
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