Strange phenomenon.........

[ray m]

I know you guys are probably getting sick and tired of me spouting off about my V vessel, but something strange is occurring that maybe someone can explain for me:

I bottled my first batch fermented by the V two Wednesdays ago. Just for shits & giggles, I decided to pop open a bottle to see how the ESB was coming along. I did this 8 days after bottling. And I'll be damned, it was fully carbonated!!!!!!! Great head on it that stayed the entire glass, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah.

When I fermented in glass, I always did a 2ndary which lasted an avg. of 10 days. 2ndary in the V was @ 9 days I think. There were no ambient temperature differences that I am aware of between when I used glass vs. the V. However, when I used glass, I always had to wait at least a full 3 weeks (sometimes longer) to get carbonation even close to the carbonation I had after 8 days with this latest batch.

Is this theory correct: the fact that I have to do no transferring to 2ndary, or even for bottling, is keeping much more yeast in suspension, thus aiding in faster carbonation in the bottle (I emptied the yeast collection ball a total of 3 times during the 2 1/2 weeks). I didn't think just keeping the beer in the same vessel for @ 2 1/2 weeks, vs. transferring the beer twice for 2ndary & bottling, made a big difference in how much yeast stays in the brew.

Any thoughts, guys????????

[Tweek]

do you have more sediment in the bottom of your bottles then you did b4? I dont know sounds pretty strange to me. Perhaps it is just a coincidence?

Be interesting to hear if anyone has a definitive answer to this.

[Fast_Eddy]

My suspicion would be that it's due to the fact you got it off the trub sooner(and more completely) by way of the racking port(err yeast bulb).

Conventional racking tends to re-suspend yeast.

[BeerBelly]

Is it possible that the CO2 that is held in suspension from fermintation is being passed onto bottling?

I keg. But when I rack from Primary to Secondary I always get another fermentation, that has been explained to me as CO2 being released from suspension (and some fermentation too). So my first thought is, if you are not racking, then that CO2 is being put directly into your bottles. Might be another benefit to the V Vessel.

[ray m]

I'm not sure about the CO2 thing, Beerbelly. When I bottled after peeking inside the fermenter a couple times during that week, the airlock wasn't even raised (not to imply that I don't think ANY CO2 was in there. I dunno.

Tweek....I would say, in the 6 bottles I've opened so far, the sediment does seem a little bit denser than a lot of the brews I've made in the past couple years. So, I guess that somehow I'm keeping more yeast in suspension.

I'll just have to see what happens with my English pale, that's in primary right now, and see if I experience the same carbonation results.

[brewmonkey]

I would go with Fast Eddy's summation. When you are coming out of a carboy/bucket not only do you re-suspend yeast you re-suspend dead yeast/trub which can hamper your carbonation efforts.

With the V thingy, you are not rousing anything during racking and in theory the majority of the yeast in suspension should be healthy viable yeast.

That's my stpry and I am sticking with it. (Fighting off the flu damnit)

[ray m]

Ahh hah!!! Well, it certainly makes sense to me. I did not know that dead yeast/trub would actually hamper carbonation. That is very interesting to know, and just yet another good argument for conical fermenters in general.

Thanks, guys, for your input!!!

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by ray m
Ahh hah!!! Well, it certainly makes sense to me. I did not know that dead yeast/trub would actually hamper carbonation. That is very interesting to know, and just yet another good argument for conical fermenters in general.

Thanks, guys, for your input!!!

What it does is hamper fermentation and, thereby, hampers carbonation. Autolyzing yeast cells, for example, affect other healthy yeast cells because autolyzation is an enzymatic process. You may very well notice your beers fermenting more quickly and completely with a cleaner taste, too.

[ray m]

Man, I had no idea about this effect. I did notice that my ESB seemed cleaner tasting, and I'm able to pick out more flavors that my previous brews. Thanks again for the lesson!