I have been doing the part open/pressure ferment for a long time and agree with your findings + for UK style beers it’s a must. However I use a slightly different procedure to ‘save’ messing around with the fermenter once I have it in the chamber. After adding the yeast and placing the fermenter in the chamber I screw the lid on and then add the spunding valve BUT leave open i.e. fully unscrewed. The ‘open’ side of the spunding valve I add a short bit of hose which is placed into a half filled plastic container fill with water - for my own amusement to see the bubbles 😊 After 3 or 4 days (depending on the yeast) I start to close down the spunding valve over the next day or three watching the pressure build up until I have about 10psi then back off the valve until I see bubbles escaping, then leave it until fully fermented at that setting* *That enables (A) the beer to be part carbonated and (B) have pressure to do my closed transfer to a keg (C) enjoy the esters
Done this for years. I ferment in 30 l stainless steel kegs. First open for the main fermentation. Only with tin foil over the opening. After 4-5 days I put in 200 g sugar, seal off with an adapter to cornelius ball connector, with a floating ball and silicon tube. Taking from the surface. Cold crash and then closed transfer to a clean keg to get rid of the yeast. Works fine.
Nice looking beer, I think I'll give it a go. I too have recently started fermenting my Belgian and Saison beers with no back pressure; just a piece of sanitized aluminum foil over the top until I'm at 50% attenuation. They I add the airlock. From what I've read it reduces the stress on the yeast. Thanks for the video.
I usually start using a blowoff tube and then switch to spunding when the SG has dropped by around 50% and let the pressure build to around 10psi for the rest of the ferment.
@@KegThat I make a blow off vessel out of a 1l pop bottle and one of those red dispensing carb caps, I leave it cracked open to allow pressure out, after a couple of days or so fermenting I tighten it up and stick on a spunding valve. Most of the time I will also use the ferment to push out star-san from a keg and then put the spunding valve on the keg so I end up with the FV and the purged keg at the same pressure, then simply swap from the gas connection to the beer out on the FV to start a closed transfer.
I’ve never open fermented, but might have to try it down the track. I did wonder if it would be worth doing on day 1 and possibly 2 of a kveik yeast and then seal.
@@qlmh3757 Kveik would be great for open ferments. I think in my original open ferment video I used a kveik strain. They are so flavourful and will benefit from this.
Here's an out of the beer box idea. Why not try a champagne method carbonation if you wish to capture the esthers of the particular yeast? Brew your brew to dry and rack it. Make a 'dosage' using DME and water (using a priming calculator to get a 4-6 atm. High like champagne to trap as much gas) and fresh Belgian yeast. When this is lively, mix with the brewed beer and bottle (using champagne/prosecco bottles or 370ml Belgian beer bottles that'll stand the pressure, with 29mm crowns.) Leave for the next 6 months and up to you whether you want to disgorge champagne style for a clear beer or store bottles upright to settle sediments in the bottom. If you degorge, you can replace cap with a caged cork like some Belgian geueze/champagne. Only limit is the alcohol tolerance of the Belgian yeast when pitched in to a liquid with alcohol already. (Champagne yeast is strong enough even when pitched in to 13% IME) They're mostly rated for up to 11abv and long store beer is recommended from around 8% abv beer. So 6.5abv base beer with about 6atm carbonation will ferment in the bottle another 1.3%... Anyway, it's all your talk of capturing the gasses that got me thinking...😂
I have been doing the part open/pressure ferment for a long time and agree with your findings + for UK style beers it’s a must.
However I use a slightly different procedure to ‘save’ messing around with the fermenter once I have it in the chamber.
After adding the yeast and placing the fermenter in the chamber I screw the lid on and then add the spunding valve BUT leave open i.e. fully unscrewed. The ‘open’ side of the spunding valve I add a short bit of hose which is placed into a half filled plastic container fill with water - for my own amusement to see the bubbles 😊
After 3 or 4 days (depending on the yeast) I start to close down the spunding valve over the next day or three watching the pressure build up until I have about 10psi then back off the valve until I see bubbles escaping, then leave it until fully fermented at that setting*
*That enables (A) the beer to be part carbonated and (B) have pressure to do my closed transfer to a keg (C) enjoy the esters
Done this for years. I ferment in 30 l stainless steel kegs. First open for the main fermentation. Only with tin foil over the opening. After 4-5 days I put in 200 g sugar, seal off with an adapter to cornelius ball connector, with a floating ball and silicon tube. Taking from the surface. Cold crash and then closed transfer to a clean keg to get rid of the yeast. Works fine.
Very interesting never done a open fermentation but I may now give it a go cheers 👍🍻
Good luck! would be interested to hear how you get on. If you need help we do have a video on open fermentation and always happy to answer questions.
It sounds like a nice beer. I found the dual fermentation interesting. I’ll have to give it a try. Just Sub’d to your channel. Cheers from the States🍻
Thank you! Cheers 🍻
I agree with you. It is shocking how much wort whole leaf hops absorb. Thanks for the video. I am eager to try that next time I pressure ferment.
It's a good looking beer. Like your channel. Keep up the good work. Cheers from Munich
Very interesting video as usual. A new technique for me.
Nice looking beer, I think I'll give it a go. I too have recently started fermenting my Belgian and Saison beers with no back pressure; just a piece of sanitized aluminum foil over the top until I'm at 50% attenuation. They I add the airlock. From what I've read it reduces the stress on the yeast. Thanks for the video.
Do the kreusen go wild when you open ferment? Maybe should give this a try on my next Weissbier 🍻
Yeah give it a go, it will work really well for a Weissbier! The krausen tends to stay the same in my experience.
I usually start using a blowoff tube and then switch to spunding when the SG has dropped by around 50% and let the pressure build to around 10psi for the rest of the ferment.
Cool, so you start the fermentation with a spunding valve attached but set to 0 with a blow off tube, then increase the pressure towards the end?
@@KegThat I make a blow off vessel out of a 1l pop bottle and one of those red dispensing carb caps, I leave it cracked open to allow pressure out, after a couple of days or so fermenting I tighten it up and stick on a spunding valve. Most of the time I will also use the ferment to push out star-san from a keg and then put the spunding valve on the keg so I end up with the FV and the purged keg at the same pressure, then simply swap from the gas connection to the beer out on the FV to start a closed transfer.
I’ve never open fermented, but might have to try it down the track. I did wonder if it would be worth doing on day 1 and possibly 2 of a kveik yeast and then seal.
@@stripeyjoe Sounds like a good way to do it. I'm saving fermentation gas more and more and using for things like purging kegs etc.
@@qlmh3757 Kveik would be great for open ferments. I think in my original open ferment video I used a kveik strain. They are so flavourful and will benefit from this.
Here's an out of the beer box idea. Why not try a champagne method carbonation if you wish to capture the esthers of the particular yeast? Brew your brew to dry and rack it. Make a 'dosage' using DME and water (using a priming calculator to get a 4-6 atm. High like champagne to trap as much gas) and fresh Belgian yeast. When this is lively, mix with the brewed beer and bottle (using champagne/prosecco bottles or 370ml Belgian beer bottles that'll stand the pressure, with 29mm crowns.) Leave for the next 6 months and up to you whether you want to disgorge champagne style for a clear beer or store bottles upright to settle sediments in the bottom. If you degorge, you can replace cap with a caged cork like some Belgian geueze/champagne.
Only limit is the alcohol tolerance of the Belgian yeast when pitched in to a liquid with alcohol already. (Champagne yeast is strong enough even when pitched in to 13% IME) They're mostly rated for up to 11abv and long store beer is recommended from around 8% abv beer. So 6.5abv base beer with about 6atm carbonation will ferment in the bottle another 1.3%...
Anyway, it's all your talk of capturing the gasses that got me thinking...😂
This is really interesting and I think this would go really well with my cider. I'm gonna look more into this!
the last time didn't use an air lock it was one of the worst I'd brewed, thought the issue was oxidation but not sure.
That's a shame, do you remember why it was so bad and what off flavours were coming out in the beer?