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parliament666
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WLP800 pilsner lager yeast question
#16660408 - 08/07/12 12:58 PM (11 years, 7 months ago) |
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so this past weekend we brewed a jalapeno pilsner. my buddy who created the recipe didn't realize there was a difference between and ale and a lager.(he's fairly new to homebrewing) I didn't realize the mistake until brew day when i saw the recipe and he'd already bought ingredients.
We have a fridge that we use for hops and other things so i opted to use that for fermentation. the problem is now that we've discovered the control for the fridge doesn't seem to do anything. We have it at the lowest setting and still can't get the temp above 40* F.
i don't want to ferment at room temp because the yeast will puke diacetyl(in higher than desirable levels) into my beer i'm not really trying drink a butter beer. only thing i can think of is to leave our fridge door propped open but it'll have to stay that way for about 10 days. I'm not really trying to raise the energy bill.
so does anyone have any suggestions as to how i could get my fermentor up to the 50-55 range that i may not have thought of.
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Mulder
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Re: WLP800 pilsner lager yeast question [Re: parliament666]
#16660436 - 08/07/12 01:05 PM (11 years, 7 months ago) |
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maybe you could mess with the thermometer put it in water or somthing so it thinks its already cold enough.
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parliament666
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Re: WLP800 pilsner lager yeast question [Re: Mulder]
#16660454 - 08/07/12 01:08 PM (11 years, 7 months ago) |
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that's not a terrible idea i'd have to look at my fridge and see if i can find the thermometer. it's an old aquafina fridge with a glass door. i may have to take it apart somewhat to accomplish this.
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Brainiac
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Re: WLP800 pilsner lager yeast question [Re: parliament666]
#16660679 - 08/07/12 01:52 PM (11 years, 7 months ago) |
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It should be just fine, it will just take longer....
-------------------- Fair is Fair
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Mulder
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Re: WLP800 pilsner lager yeast question [Re: Brainiac]
#16661473 - 08/07/12 04:06 PM (11 years, 7 months ago) |
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i had a simmilar problm with a mini fridge. and the thermometer was at the top near the dial and the sensor was a 3 in long wire thing that hung down. i hope that helps.
-------------------- PERHAPS "SWIMMINGLY" WAS TOO STRONG A WORD.
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Prisoner#1
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Re: WLP800 pilsner lager yeast question [Re: parliament666]
#16662510 - 08/07/12 07:08 PM (11 years, 7 months ago) |
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get a piezoelectric wine cooler, they maintain at around 50F
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setb
10th level beer nerd
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Re: WLP800 pilsner lager yeast question [Re: Prisoner#1]
#16664765 - 08/08/12 06:43 AM (11 years, 7 months ago) |
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Put some plastic down in the basement then: fill a rubermade storage tote with water, place the carboy in the tote, and keep cool by rotating frozen water bottles.
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LunarEclipse
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Re: WLP800 pilsner lager yeast question [Re: setb]
#16664938 - 08/08/12 08:12 AM (11 years, 7 months ago) |
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I bought one of these it works good. I was trying to heat the fridge and used a seed heating mat inside the fridge with the carboy. It's a bit tricky dialing in the temp helps to have multiple readings. Carboy stick on therm, inside the fridge therm and useless setting on the analog controller. I think they work way better just turning on the fridge but I haven't used it for that yet. Nice little simple simon controller though. Digital is an option I just hate all the gingerbread on them. It's often too much crap. Set it forget it. These mechanical switches work a long time too. That electronic stuff often doesn't. My 2 cents.
http://www.homebrewstuff.com/analog-temperature-controller.html
A cheaper idea would be to use a timer just turn off the fridge 1/2 the day or whatever you need to in 1 hour on/off cycles. You are going to be adding heat from the ferment too...
-------------------- Anxiety is what you make it.
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parliament666
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Re: WLP800 pilsner lager yeast question [Re: LunarEclipse]
#16665450 - 08/08/12 10:30 AM (11 years, 7 months ago) |
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pris how much does one of those coolers run? it may be something we need to look at doing in the future if we do more lagers. this wasn't exactly planned though if i'd seen the recipe before he bought ingredients i would have suggested another yeast strain.
I have a timer that i used to use for a hydroponic system i used to use. That would probably work perfectly i may try to dig that out and try it. we took the carboy out of the fridge yesterday just to get some activity going since it had been 3 days and no activity. i'll probably throw it back in the fridge once i see some activity. After that i'll probably look into one of those wine coolers and/or an analog controller for the fridge.
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LunarEclipse
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Re: WLP800 pilsner lager yeast question [Re: parliament666]
#16665722 - 08/08/12 11:50 AM (11 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
parliament666 said: I have a timer that i used to use for a hydroponic system i used to use. That would probably work perfectly i may try to dig that out and try it. we took the carboy out of the fridge yesterday just to get some activity going since it had been 3 days and no activity. i'll probably throw it back in the fridge once i see some activity. After that i'll probably look into one of those wine coolers and/or an analog controller for the fridge.
In conjunction with timer maybe running the fridge 15 mins every hour I bet if you insulate your carboy inside the fridge it will stay about the right temp even with a colder fridge and give you steady temp as well even if fridge temp fluctuating.
-------------------- Anxiety is what you make it.
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Heffy
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Re: WLP800 pilsner lager yeast question [Re: parliament666]
#16673272 - 08/09/12 08:10 PM (11 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
i don't want to ferment at room temp because the yeast will puke diacetyl(in higher than desirable levels) into my beer i'm not really trying drink a butter beer.
Ale yeast should be easy to get if you live near a local homebrew store.
If not I wouldn't worry about the diacetyl. Yeast will actually re-absorb and break down the diacetyl over time (more quickly at warmer temperatures). Pro brewers usually do a "diacetyl rest" where they raise the temperature of a lager to accelerate the removal of diacetyl by the yeast. At work we sometimes ferment lagers as warm as 14-16 Celsius and diacetyl rest at 18C.
RDWHAHB.
-------------------- I am the king of Rome, and above grammar! - Emperor Sigismund
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