Brew # 17 - Racking
After prepping the wort yesterday, today I'm racking from the HDPE bin to the Snubby Fermus and pitching the yeast.
Racking is transferring the wort or beer between different fermenting vessels. I made the wort yesterday and allowed it to settle overnight in a HDPE fermenting bin. Today, it's at the right temp (~18C) and ready to transfer to the Snubby Fermus for fermentation.
- I sanitised and rinsed the Snubby Fermus, including pressure kit, etc. Also the hose used to transfer from HDPE bin to Fermus.
- I shook as much of the water out of the Fermus as possible, and then I put it out in the sunshine to dry (open end up to allow for evapouration)
- Attached hose to HDPE bin and gravity transfered to the Snubby Fermus making sure the wort splashed around to aerate during the transfer. I could tell from the smells emanting that this might be a high OG - very sweet smelling.
- Once I'd transferred all but the very last of the wort (actually very little trub at the bottom of the bin), I measured the OG (1.060 - highest yet)
- I gave the wort another good shake to aerate before pitching the 4 yeast packs
- Then another stir up to mix the yeast in before placing the Fermus in the fridge
Coming next...
Primary Fermentation
- Attach the PRV/spunding valve to ensure the Fermus doesn't explode
- Check pressure regularly to make sure the PRV is set correctly (~10PSI)
- After 1 week, begin cold crash for 4C in 0.3C steps
- Kegging
Improvements for next time
- It occurred to me that I shouldn't have pitched 4 packs of Kolsch yeast as the fermentation temp is much higher than for the lager I planned originally. I've set the temp to 18C to try and balance that out, anyway.