[CounterPressure]

I checked the gravity's tonight and I can't complain about the attenuation, and while both beers taste very different, they both seem like they'll have great promise. I have a hard time judging outcomes from beer that's hardly finished in the fermenter, but there was no off aromas or flavors for sure.

My stainless steel conical got the first batch which started at 1.046 or 11.4 brix and finished at 5.6 which amounts to 5% alcohol and a finished gravity calculated to 1.008. That's the stuff I added the 5-year-old s23 to. Both of these have been set to 70° since yesterday but the actual temperature, while I didn't check it today, is much lower still I'm sure. I'm just not making an active effort to cool it anymore. I'll start the cold crash soon as well. It's probably in the mid 60s and I really don't even care.

Batch 2 in the two big mouth bubblers in the lower half of the same freezer started at 1.050 or 12.4 brix. It finished at 6.0 brix which calculates to 1.007 as a finished gravity for a 5.55% abv. Since I brew so few lagers, I hesitate to try to claim anything about the flavors. I would say if anything I hope the hops will creep a little bit because they're both quite mild. I would say the beer in the conical even has a sweet foreground to it right now but what beer that hasn't left the fermenter doesn't have some of that.  I only removed about a teaspoon to check with the refractometer and tasted what I didn't use so, not a great big sample.

I fully expected some attenuation problems given all the lag this had. I'm downright shocked at where they ended up. Also shocked that the 2018 s23 ended up where the 2024 3470 did. Although it's very possible the initial pitch of yeast is what really did all the heavy lifting and the extra yeast I threw in was just a complete waste. I'll never know. That really sucks because they're $8 a pack and I added four of them.

I'll try to continue to add updates because I hate when I look back at a really old thread that looks interesting and it's just chops off and you never find out what the beer was like. I don't expect this to be some stuff I'm going to enter in a contest or anything, but I'm pretty sure it's not going to be my worst beer ever. I'm going to be drinking this stuff. It tastes plenty yeasty still but it also has about half the yeast in suspension yet. Seeing through that though, there's a pretty clean beer underneath if I can get it to clean up.

[majorvices]

Just to reiterate what Denny said in the start of the thread, 6 months old slurry is way too old to use without a starter. The yeast will have died off drastically and their viability will be extremely low. You can make the argument that yeast is the most important ingredient in beer--you can't make beer without it. And healthy yeast is the key to making delicious beer.

[CounterPressure]

I kegged some Tuesday night (2 BMBs) and tried some last night since there's nothing else in the house to drink.  It wasn't carbed enough yet but tasted great. Its cloudy yet, no surprise 1 day from the fermenter and no finings.  The head retention is abysmal.  Is that normal given it's not had time to clear yet?  I need to look and see what the grain bill was because this has the worst head retention I've seen in many years.  Maybe ever. It pours a beautiful creamy head from the tap, but after it dissipates the surface hasn't got a single bubble on it.  It's not carbed enough to swirl it and generate more.  I know I didn't add anything to help head retention, but holy smokes, I do a double decotction Kolsch that can hold foam overnight, and it doesn't have any specialty malts either.

[denny]

I kegged some Tuesday night (2 BMBs) and tried some last night since there's nothing else in the house to drink.  It wasn't carbed enough yet but tasted great. Its cloudy yet, no surprise 1 day from the fermenter and no finings.  The head retention is abysmal.  Is that normal given it's not had time to clear yet?  I need to look and see what the grain bill was because this has the worst head retention I've seen in many years.  Maybe ever. It pours a beautiful creamy head from the tap, but after it dissipates the surface hasn't got a single bubble on it.  It's not carbed enough to swirl it and generate more.  I know I didn't add anything to help head retention, but holy smokes, I do a double decotction Kolsch that can hold foam overnight, and it doesn't have any specialty malts either.

Re: head retention....yeast health and fermentation process has a lot to do with foam.  Since you were starting with likely unhealthy yeast, it kinda makes sense. https://web.archive.org/web/20090809234712/ttp://byo.com/stories/article/indices/35-head-retention/697-getting-good-beer-foam-techniques

[CounterPressure]

Cool article, thanks.  Maybe as it clears it will help some, but it looks like it's just going to be weak on the foam.  I'll be curious to see how the subsequent batches work out. It's still not a dumper, just doesn't hold a head for any length of time which doesn't bode well for sitting in the glass a long time.  Moral of the story, drink faster!

[CounterPressure]

As this clears, the head retention improved dramatically. Lacing is very nice after being totally absent the first few days. What appeared to be a perfectly hopped beer at first is mellowing into one that could use more. Not offensively low, but deficient nonetheless. In spite of finishing with the lowest fg I have ever brewed, this isn't a dry beer at all.  As I recall the mash temp was just under 152, so no effort was made to leave sugar behind. Someone more sophisticated might find flavor faults with it, but to my taste, there's nothing to blame on the fermentation. All issues are solidly designed in by the brewer, no fault of the yeasties.

I pitched another lager into the same fermenter after scooping out 60% of the trub, and it took off instantly, showing visible activity within 2 hours. This using the 34-70/S23 mix.