Pliny the Elder Fermenter Madness
March 24, 2008 10:46 am HomebrewingI mentioned in Friday’s Round-Up that I was brewing a clone of Russian River’s Pliny the Elder. I thought I’d provide a picture of it fermenting because I was pretty shocked just how violent it became. I brew 5.5 gallons of beer and put it into 6.5 gallon carboys to allow room for the krausen (that brownish-yellow foam on top). But when you have bigger (as in sugar/alcohol) beers such as this one, you’ll usually need to have a blow off tube to catch any additional krausen that may come out of the fermenter.
Here are some quick specifics about my beer:
- OG 1.088
- IBUs: 100+ (ProMash estimated it at 284)
- Lag time: About 8 Hours
This is a bit bigger than Vinnie’s beer, but I’m sure that the amount of hops added should be able to handle the extra 15 points of sugar. After the primary finishes I’ll rack to a 5 gallon carboy and dry hop with about 7 more ounces of hops. This will probably be the first beer I try my Randal on. Exciting stuff, though I guess this means I’m officially a hop head.
Tags: Homebrewing, pliny the elder, russian river
Paul :
Date: March 24, 2008 @ 1:24 pm
What is the metal looking tube all about?
Mike :
Date: March 24, 2008 @ 1:35 pm
It’s a thermowell that dips down in the beer. I can insert a temperature probe into it which allows me to use a 2-stage temperature controller to heat and chill it based on the temperature I set.
Sam H :
Date: March 24, 2008 @ 3:18 pm
Are you holding it at a colder temperature? With something crazy like a IIPA I thought you held is at 65 which right now should be attainable in your basement.
I want to try Pliny bad, if you are going to have a tasting let me know!
Mike :
Date: March 24, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
I started it at 67 and I’ll slowly be bumping it up to 70 over the next few days.
Eric Burnley :
Date: March 26, 2008 @ 10:40 am
Have you tried any kind of foam control before? I was just reading about it today- it’s a silicon-based control agent that you can use in either boil (to prevent boilovers) or fermentation to keep krausen down. Some even say it helps with head retention down the line, and doesn’t have any ill effects:
FermCap PDF
Just wondering. I’ve had a fermentation clog the airlock/blowoff and explode on the basement ceiling & everything in a 5-foot radius before. I’ve just been using foil taped over the hole since then with no problems. I did an IIPA on a yeast cake with just foil as well, and had no problems (fermented in a large bucket).
Looks good, good luck with it!