I remember 20-30 years ago I used to always open ferment, though maybe not quite to this degree. To my recollection, I kept the lid on the fermenter until a decent yeast head started to form at which point I would leave the wort uncovered. Before the krausen collapsed back into the beer I would skim off the "crust" and then cover the beer just before the head broke and the green beer was uncovered. Fashion has changed somewhat and probably accounts largely for why I ferment now in sealed vessels but it still makes me smile just how scared, almost to the point if paranoia a lot of honebrewers are about air reaching their wort nowadays. You only need to have a look at those Yorkshire Squares a couple ofbbrewers still use to see howbunwarranted their fears are. PS: agreed on the home grown hops as well. Looks like your process is the same as mine with the vacuum bags. I grow First Gold and Chinook and they both grow well here for me (in Lincolnshire). Enjoyed the vid, good job!
It's really interesting, in some ways homebrew is really resilient - you can ferment with the lid off and it's fine - and other times people are getting infections because their kettle taps are dirty! I know it's cliche, but I definitely subscribe to the whole "sit back, relax, have a homebrew" approach. It is funny to see the levels of panic some people have and those Yorkshire Squares 😂. I've seen photos of commercial breweries who scoop yeast in buckets and leave them on the side until they need to be pitched! How did your hops come out this year? Mine have been really good, probably from the incredibly hot summer we've had.
@@KegThat Yeh, I had a great harvest too. Like you say, the long hot summer no doubt helped there (I think I personally was also a bit more dutiful in keeping them fed and watered than recent years tbh)
I don't use a lid on any of my fermenters, I put cling wrap over the top of the fermenter with a rubber band around it to keep it in place. I've done this for years now with no ill effects. I know it's not open fermentation though.
Thanks! Whilst a fast fermentation probably helps, I think the main advantage comes from a small lag phase which can happen with most yeasts. Just aerate well and ensure the yeast is in good health and has a good cell count. Once the beer gets to 2-3% a lot of spoilage bacteria can't survive.
If you're talking about truly wild yeasts (as opposed to just non saccharomyces) then their fermentation properties will be unknown. It might take a really long time to ferment to FG, or the FG might just be really high, and depending how the open fermentation is done it could drastically increase risk of infection. If you mean "wild" as in Brett, it can take 6 months to a year to ferment which is a long time to have the fermenter open. Also with known yeasts, we know whether open fermentation will benefit them; there will probably be little to gain from open fermenting US-05 with much to gain from saison and kveik yeasts.
@@BaronKentouring Wadworths in the uk they took a group of 20 of us up next to the open fermenters massive things and no concern whatsoever about contamination lol I even grabbed a sample of the high krausen
I use open fermentation all the time. My current mask tun, boiler and fermenter cost less than £100 and I don't have a fermentation fridge so I do most of the things you show in this video. However, I'm struggling to believe that a plastic bucket fermenter is so air-tight that the lid could be popped off unless you fit an airlock.
I doubt that the back pressure associated with a tiny airlock would suppress too much ester formation. Typically pressurised fermentation is carried out at about 15 psi but you would still suppress ester formation at 10 psi and even 5 psi. I estimate that the back pressure caused by a small airlock to be approximately 0.04 psi - almost undetectable. Remember, the height of the liquid in the fermenter is many times greater than the height of the liquid in the air lock. The bottom of the fermenter is at a higher pressure than at the top of the fermenter. Even in Unitanks this added pressure due to liquid height is small (at 1 metre, the pressure at the bottom is about 1.4 psi: this would reduce ester formation to taste noticeable levels)
Interesting to think that even the back pressure of just an airlock could suppress flavor expression. I'm not one to just leave my brew open for just anything to get in there but I may have to try an unrestricted blowoff tube.
I doubt that the back pressure associated with a tiny airlock would suppress too much ester formation. Typically pressurised fermentation is carried out at about 15 psi but you would still suppress ester formation at 10 psi and even 5 psi. I estimate that the back pressure caused by a small airlock to be approximately 0.04 psi - almost undetectable. Remember, the height of the liquid in the fermenter is many times greater than the height of the liquid in the air lock. The bottom of the fermenter is at a higher pressure than at the top of the fermenter. Even in Unitanks this added pressure due to liquid height is small (at 1 metre, the pressure at the bottom is about 1.4 psi: this would reduce ester formation to taste noticeable levels)
I have always found that even though the Kviek finishes quickly it can take a long while to clear after crash chilling even wiyh deltafloc . Just saying it does not save me time.
Some kveik is a poor flocculator, but I have found with bottle conditioning it tends to flocculate a lot better. I'm not too bothered about clarity most of the time so will serve a hazy beer, and I think makes some styles look more interesting anyway. Haziness doesn't really directly affect flavour. Do you cold crash your beers?
hi, if I heard right you grow your own hops ? I had a girlfriend who had farming family in kent and my impression is that growing your own hops would be a heck of a lot of work for one person on any meaningful scale, it struck me as being dreadfully inefficient, a lot of person power for a handful of stuff once dried. have I got it wrong ? it also occurs to me that I probably wouldn't see a hop in the wild if I wasn't looking for it. would anyone else be interested in our host making a video of wild hops ?
I remember 20-30 years ago I used to always open ferment, though maybe not quite to this degree.
To my recollection, I kept the lid on the fermenter until a decent yeast head started to form at which point I would leave the wort uncovered. Before the krausen collapsed back into the beer I would skim off the "crust" and then cover the beer just before the head broke and the green beer was uncovered.
Fashion has changed somewhat and probably accounts largely for why I ferment now in sealed vessels but it still makes me smile just how scared, almost to the point if paranoia a lot of honebrewers are about air reaching their wort nowadays. You only need to have a look at those Yorkshire Squares a couple ofbbrewers still use to see howbunwarranted their fears are.
PS: agreed on the home grown hops as well. Looks like your process is the same as mine with the vacuum bags. I grow First Gold and Chinook and they both grow well here for me (in Lincolnshire).
Enjoyed the vid, good job!
It's really interesting, in some ways homebrew is really resilient - you can ferment with the lid off and it's fine - and other times people are getting infections because their kettle taps are dirty! I know it's cliche, but I definitely subscribe to the whole "sit back, relax, have a homebrew" approach. It is funny to see the levels of panic some people have and those Yorkshire Squares 😂. I've seen photos of commercial breweries who scoop yeast in buckets and leave them on the side until they need to be pitched!
How did your hops come out this year? Mine have been really good, probably from the incredibly hot summer we've had.
@@KegThat Yeh, I had a great harvest too. Like you say, the long hot summer no doubt helped there (I think I personally was also a bit more dutiful in keeping them fed and watered than recent years tbh)
Great topic! I started open fermenting my saisons and had great results but would be interesting in trying this more with other styles.
great idea, mate, thanks for sharing!
pitching the yeast starter while having the stir plate attached to the bottom of the flask to prevent the stir bar from falling in, genius!
Haha thanks, I've "lost" a few stir bars trying to wing it!
I don't use a lid on any of my fermenters, I put cling wrap over the top of the fermenter with a rubber band around it to keep it in place.
I've done this for years now with no ill effects.
I know it's not open fermentation though.
Good vid. Do you think there was an advantage in using kviek in that it blasted through the fermentation so minimised the chance of a 'bug'?
Thanks! Whilst a fast fermentation probably helps, I think the main advantage comes from a small lag phase which can happen with most yeasts. Just aerate well and ensure the yeast is in good health and has a good cell count. Once the beer gets to 2-3% a lot of spoilage bacteria can't survive.
May I ask why would one open ferment using known yeasts and not wild ones?
If you're talking about truly wild yeasts (as opposed to just non saccharomyces) then their fermentation properties will be unknown. It might take a really long time to ferment to FG, or the FG might just be really high, and depending how the open fermentation is done it could drastically increase risk of infection. If you mean "wild" as in Brett, it can take 6 months to a year to ferment which is a long time to have the fermenter open. Also with known yeasts, we know whether open fermentation will benefit them; there will probably be little to gain from open fermenting US-05 with much to gain from saison and kveik yeasts.
Is it really an open ferment if it's stuck in a fridge... just sayin
I agree. He’s pointing out he’s not afraid of open fermentation, yet won’t open the fridge to show it in progress.
@@BaronKentouring Wadworths in the uk they took a group of 20 of us up next to the open fermenters massive things and no concern whatsoever about contamination lol I even grabbed a sample of the high krausen
Is it really an open fermentation if you’re fermenting in your house?
I use open fermentation all the time. My current mask tun, boiler and fermenter cost less than £100 and I don't have a fermentation fridge so I do most of the things you show in this video. However, I'm struggling to believe that a plastic bucket fermenter is so air-tight that the lid could be popped off unless you fit an airlock.
Oh, believe it, mate!
I doubt that the back pressure associated with a tiny airlock would suppress too much ester formation.
Typically pressurised fermentation is carried out at about 15 psi but you would still suppress ester formation at 10 psi and even 5 psi.
I estimate that the back pressure caused by a small airlock to be approximately 0.04 psi - almost undetectable.
Remember, the height of the liquid in the fermenter is many times greater than the height of the liquid in the air lock.
The bottom of the fermenter is at a higher pressure than at the top of the fermenter. Even in Unitanks this added pressure due to liquid height is small (at 1 metre, the pressure at the bottom is about 1.4 psi: this would reduce ester formation to taste noticeable levels)
Interesting to think that even the back pressure of just an airlock could suppress flavor expression. I'm not one to just leave my brew open for just anything to get in there but I may have to try an unrestricted blowoff tube.
I doubt that the back pressure associated with a tiny airlock would suppress too much ester formation.
Typically pressurised fermentation is carried out at about 15 psi but you would still suppress ester formation at 10 psi and even 5 psi.
I estimate that the back pressure caused by a small airlock to be approximately 0.04 psi - almost undetectable.
Remember, the height of the liquid in the fermenter is many times greater than the height of the liquid in the air lock.
The bottom of the fermenter is at a higher pressure than at the top of the fermenter. Even in Unitanks this added pressure due to liquid height is small (at 1 metre, the pressure at the bottom is about 1.4 psi: this would reduce ester formation to taste noticeable levels)
co2 is heaver than air so it's sealed anyway?
this is real life and not a school book. Gases mix and there are things like the slightest draft that causes turbulance.
I have always found that even though the Kviek finishes quickly it can take a long while to clear after crash chilling even wiyh deltafloc . Just saying it does not save me time.
Some kveik is a poor flocculator, but I have found with bottle conditioning it tends to flocculate a lot better. I'm not too bothered about clarity most of the time so will serve a hazy beer, and I think makes some styles look more interesting anyway. Haziness doesn't really directly affect flavour. Do you cold crash your beers?
Learn how the monks in Belgium made kriek lambic. Maybe we overthink this stuff.
Lost me at Kviek. Sorry!
hi, if I heard right you grow your own hops ? I had a girlfriend who had farming family in kent and my impression is that growing your own hops would be a heck of a lot of work for one person on any meaningful scale, it struck me as being dreadfully inefficient, a lot of person power for a handful of stuff once dried. have I got it wrong ? it also occurs to me that I probably wouldn't see a hop in the wild if I wasn't looking for it. would anyone else be interested in our host making a video of wild hops ?