Hello All,
Drinking my second brew of the Pale Ale now.
My first did not ferment all of the way (very sweet, trub throughout brew, super foamy, etc). It did have a nice banana almost boddingtons like flavor though. I attempted to continue cold fermenting under pressure inside the Igulu with limited success. I had to almost purge all pressure for it to pour. I followed the instructions and used the RFID card.
Second brew came out much nicer.
I did not use the RIFD card. I used a (14) day ale preset in the machine and also agitated the trub/yeast cake at the bottom about (4) times through out the cycle. This resulted in noticeable pressure spikes (activating the yeast to convert the sugar to co2 and alcohol). I also added fermcap-s (3 drops). I did cut short the low pressure cold crash by 24hrs though as the brew tasted fine. I then manually swithed over to pressure mode.
Foam issues are greatly reduced and I only need minimal pressure blow off to have a nice pour compared to almost completely blowing off pressure last time. The brew is also far better carbonated. The taste is more balanced and standard. My partner does not like Pale Ales but commented she might drink this once. This comment and my tasting almost makes me want to start adding more flavors, or even dry hopping during the cold crash with a mesh bag, food grade sous vide magnets and a few hop pellets.
So far, this is a much better way to brew the pale ale kit. I only wish I could lower the PSI for serving pressure using the Igulu screen, rather than having to waste Co2 by blowing off about half for every pour of beer.
I may try haresting the yeast cake/trub from this brew to use as a starter for my last pale ale kit and see if I can shorten the fermentation time with that.
