The first hop combo brew of the quest has slowed its fermentation, and, it appears, is just waiting for bottling day. I was concerned with all of the brews, because the yeast seem to burn through the sugars at a ridiculous rate, and the airlock would stop bubbling around 3 days after the yeast was pitched. It should usually just be slowing down at that point.
I found out why just a few days ago. I found, online, a pitch rate calculator, which tells you how much yeast is appropriate for your batch. I'm throwing in 5 TIMES the amount. Not good. The beers have been OK, but have definite yeasty characteristics. I plan to remedy this by brewing two batches at a time, which will cut down the overpitching rate, and speed up the experimental process...bonus.
Now I just have to be careful in the planning. Do I brew 2 separate, 1 gallon batches, or just one 2 gallon batch and split them after the boil? I guess, after tasting the batch currently in the fermenter, I could decide what to do next, but I was looking to brew next week on bottling day. So maybe its better to just figure out my next move before then to keep this thing moving.
I was planning on trying some dry hopping (adding hops to the brew in a second vessel after fermentation has pretty much finished), and this will give me a chance to try it with different hop varieties. I will just need to go and get another vessel or two.
The other option is to get another boilpot and try two separate boils, since I also wanted to try adding hops at different times during the boil. I have been told that this changes things a bit, and, in keeping with the experiment, should be tried.
Ahhh!! Making up your mind sucks.
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