Saturday, November 1, 2008

Pesky Finings

The post-24-hour-stillage tasting produced a pint of a somewhat cloudy offering that smelt a bit like fish guts. I either messed up the finings and adjunct, or am pulling a bit out of the yeast bed. I drew another right now and am working through the rigors of a proper investigation. I suspect that with a 5.8% IPA, I might need to cellar it a bit more to bring it to maturation.

After a few more pints, though, I might be delving into the meat of the cask where better results are to be found. Stay tuned.

2 comments:

The Woolpack Inn said...

A stronger ale without the help of a conditioning tank, might just need a little longer than 24 hours to settle.

Just in case though check your adjunct - contrary to what you might think, the adjunct has caused me more problems than isinglass. Check for cloudy curtaining in the bottom of nearly empty adjunct containers.

Brewers Union Local 180 said...

I'm not using Cellabrite, but rather a product (from Murphy's) called Alginex. It's this really dark syrupy stuff.

As I opened the pub today I took another draw (had to - there was no way around it). It is a tiny bit clearer, but still has a faint fishy smell in the nose. It is much tastier today, though. I was hoping for more of the Fuggles in the finish.

As I was casking this up, there was one cask that I over-filled as I was distracted talking to some brewers who had come down from Portland. I wonder if I blew out the isinglass and it's only working on adjunct, and if that very cask is sitting on my stillage right now. I'll have to go check the brewery book.