exBEERiment | Affect Fermenter Dimension Has On An American Brown Ale

Writer: Mike Neville

Brewers of each scale have out there to them myriad choices in terms of fermentation vessel, from small PET carboys to very large stainless tanks. Even when the fabric of the vessel is identical, some imagine different components can affect the character of the completed beer.

One huge distinction is headspace, which isn’t essentially a subject many brewers fear about, although there’s some proof bigger quantities can result in a completed product with noticeably totally different traits than if a bigger quantity of beer had been fermented with much less headspace. One other argument has to do with the scale of the vessel and the quantity of osmotic strain that’s current, as that is believed by some to have an effect on yeast stress.

Within the time I’ve been brewing, I’ve used a couple of several types of fermentation vessels and may confidently say I by no means frightened about how the fermenter impacts beer character. Whereas most previous xBmts evaluating several types of fermenters have returned non-significant outcomes, one wanting on the affect of various quantities of headspace discovered tasters may reliably inform the beers aside. Curious in regards to the interaction of fermentation vessel and headspace, I designed an xBmt to try it out!

| PURPOSE |

To judge the variations between an American Brown Ale fermented in a 6 gallon/23 liter vessel and the identical quantity fermented in a 13 gallon/49 liter vessel.

| METHODS |

For this xBmt, I went with a spin on an American Brown Ale recipe I’ve had luck with prior to now.

Clown In The Woods

After gathering the water for a single 11.5 gallon/44 liter batch, I weighed out and milled the grain.

With the water correctly heated, I integrated the grains then checked to verify the mash was at my goal temperature.

Through the mash relaxation, I ready the kettle hop additions.

As soon as the mash was completed, I batch sparged to gather my goal pre-boil quantity then proceeded to boil the wort 60 minutes, including hops on the instances listed within the recipe.

When the boil was full, I shortly chilled the wort.

Subsequent, I break up the wort evenly between a 6 gallon/23 liter Spike FLEX+ and 13 gallon/49 liter Spike CF10, every receiving 5.75 gallons/22 liters of wort.

A refractometer studying confirmed the wort was at my goal OG.

15.47 ˚Bx = 1.064 OG

The fermenters had been related to my glycol unit and allowed to complete chilling to my desired fermentation temperature of 68°F/20°C, at which level I pitched a single pouch of Imperial Yeast A09 Pub into every batch.

The beers had been left to ferment for 9 days earlier than I took hydrometer measurements displaying each had reached the identical FG.

Left: small vessel 1.015 FG | giant vessel 1.018 FG

Each beers had been cold-crashed in a single day earlier than I proceeded to strain switch them to CO2 purged kegs.

The crammed kegs had been positioned in my keezer and burst carbonated in a single day earlier than I lowered the gasoline to serving strain. After per week of conditioning, they had been carbonated and prepared for analysis.

Left: small vessel | Proper: giant vessel

| RESULTS |

A complete of 27 individuals of various ranges of expertise participated on this xBmt. Every participant was served 1 pattern of the beer made with low (regular) headspace and a couple of samples of the beer made with elevated headspace in numerous coloured opaque cups then requested to establish the distinctive pattern. Whereas 14 tasters (p<0.05) would have needed to precisely establish the distinctive pattern in an effort to attain statistical significance, 13 did (p=0.08), indicating members on this xBmt had been unable to reliably distinguish an American Brown Ale fermented in a small vessel with low (regular) headspace from one fermented in a big vessel with the next quantity of headspace.

My Impressions: Out of the 5 semi-blind triangle assessments I tried, I did not ever accurately establish the odd-beer-out, they had been equivalent in each option to me. The beers had nice chocolate and caramel malt notes balanced by average pine hop character. Very pleasing.

| DISCUSSION |

Fermentation vessels are available all styles and sizes, and whereas it’s probably most brewers goal to ferment probably the most beer they will squeeze into their vessel, that’s not all the time the case. Making smaller batch sizes in a bigger vessel is one thing some imagine can have a perceptible affect on beer. Apparently, tasters on this xBmt had been unable to reliably distinguish an American Brown Ale fermented in a small vessel with low (regular) headspace from one fermented in a big vessel with the next quantity of headspace.

Whereas the fermenters used for this xBmt actually had totally different shapes, probably the most notable distinction between these batches was the quantity of headspace, with one having simply 0.25 gallons/0.95 liters whereas the opposite had 7.25 gallons/27 liters. The very fact tasters had been unable to persistently distinguish these beers suggests neither fermenter measurement nor headspace had a perceptible affect, which calls the outcomes of prior xBmt on headspace variations into query.

There are a selection of things within the brewing course of that I pay shut consideration, however beer quantity to vessel measurement, and the quantity of headspace within the fermenter, has not been certainly one of them. Given the outcomes of this xBmt in addition to my very own expertise consuming these beers, I’ll proceed to not fear about brewing smaller batches in bigger vessels sooner or later.

In case you have any ideas about this xBmt, please don’t hesitate to share within the feedback part under!

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