My next scheduled beer will be a schwarzbier as I can finally step up to lagers using the a Brewers Hardware conical https://www.brewershardware.com/8-Gallo ... entor.html. I was wondering if lager yeast is bottom fermenting then a conical might be a less optimal shape? Clearly, a conical will work great as I have had awesome lagers that were made in conicals. On an AB/Budweiser tour I saw that they use 16 foot diameter by 100 yard long fermenters, essentially a giant tube laying on its side, loaded with beachwood boards for more surface area. AB said they use beachwood as it does not contribute any flavor and it provides more surface area for the yeast so the beer finishes faster. My lager starter krausened a bit or foamed a lot and the yeast seemed active in the column just like with an ale. I'm speculating that the yeast does primary fermentation while in the column and the bottom vs top fermenting is really more of the yeast tends to float or tends to sink issue? Maybe the lager yeast do their secondary fermentation sitting on the bottom?
Any yeast fanatics know what is really going on?
lager in a conical
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Re: lager in a conical
It’s my understanding that top fermenting ale yeast are generally more flocculant than their bottom fermenting lager counterparts, and it is the release of CO2 combined with the more flocculent nature that drives the top fermenting/ale yeast to the surface. This is particularly evident in some English strains that are incredible top croppers and highly flocculent. Conversely, lager strains tend to be less flocculent and stay in suspension longer. I wouldn’t hesitate to ferment a lager in your conical. Your most active yeast will likely remain in suspension.
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indianajns
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Re: lager in a conical
Justin spittin' knowledge!!!
Re: lager in a conical
Top- and bottom-fermenting are old terms for yeast when modern tech is involved. Modern cylindrical-conical fermentation tanks (FT) should have yeast suspended all within the tank if things are done correctly (stratification if you want to look that up). Natural convection occurs in FTs due to gas nucleation and temperature gradients (yeast metabolism, cooling systems). If the FT is made right, yeast would be mixed thoroughly within the FT during fermentation.
The big advantage for having the cone is for blowing out stuff during fermentation (hops, dead cells, break material, ect.) and for harvesting yeast since stuff concentrates at the bottom and center. If you are not doing either, then your cash can go to something better than a fancy FT. That's unless you want the FT for the glycol chilling.
For yeast flocculation, a bunch of theories are out there. In general, stick with what the yeast bank tells you on their flocculation character. I know White Labs list that for their yeast.
Comparing any brewing systems is not very meaningful especially when the volumes are magnitudes different. The behavior of any organism in a bench scale differs to the organism in an industrial scale. From what I heard at ABI, beachwood does not do anything for the fermentation. Their yeast and systems are good enough to ferment their brands. ABI is stuck with using beachwood every few batches to satisfy it's a label claim.
Maybe a homebrew system will have a different character than a industrial system.
The big advantage for having the cone is for blowing out stuff during fermentation (hops, dead cells, break material, ect.) and for harvesting yeast since stuff concentrates at the bottom and center. If you are not doing either, then your cash can go to something better than a fancy FT. That's unless you want the FT for the glycol chilling.
For yeast flocculation, a bunch of theories are out there. In general, stick with what the yeast bank tells you on their flocculation character. I know White Labs list that for their yeast.
Comparing any brewing systems is not very meaningful especially when the volumes are magnitudes different. The behavior of any organism in a bench scale differs to the organism in an industrial scale. From what I heard at ABI, beachwood does not do anything for the fermentation. Their yeast and systems are good enough to ferment their brands. ABI is stuck with using beachwood every few batches to satisfy it's a label claim.
Maybe a homebrew system will have a different character than a industrial system.