Open Fermentation?

Did you see that time lapse of bigfoot fermenting? I don't homebrew, but it seems to be the same thing.

 

Some do certain beers that way, but rest go into conicals/unitanks.

Sierra Nevada, New Glarus, Anchor, Bells, Arcadia ( I think), and brewpubs with the Peter Austin system do open fermentation for some of their beers. Many in the UK do. It is common in Bavaria.

Here is the SN Bigfoot video.

 

Then again bigfoot is a barleywine, maybe that's more common

 

Pretty sure Westvleteren does everything open air. A lot of old world breweries seem to take on this practice.

 

Loads do in the uk, the likes of Sam Smiths, Black Sheep, Hook Norton, Traquair, Donnington, Harveys, Thwaites etc, etc

Newer ones won't though, I assume

 

More common with German Wheat beers, Kellerweiss is done in those fermenters also.

Edit - as I said above common in the UK for ales, also done with lagers in Germany.

 

I don't know much about commercial brewing but I would think the really high gravity beers like BWs and IRS may be easier to control in an open fermentation. There's gotta be an insane amount of CO2 coming off those during primary.

 

Homebrew thread. Some pictures.
http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/open-vs-closed-fermentation.17797/

 

I remember touring Cooperstown Brewing Company several years ago and they mentioned they had open fermenters. When asked about the possibility infection they said they used Ringwood. Apparently it’s aggressive and a thick top cropper so they had little to no issues with infections.

Reading up on the Ringwood strain this seems accurate since it’s known for working so quickly.

 

Mention of Ringwood and Peter Austin reminds me that his death at the age of 92 was announced on January 1st this year.
Back to topic; open fermentation was once the norm.Many breweries have "upgraded" their kit to conical fermenters and it has not improved the beer quality in any way.
It's quite amusing to see what almost amounts to paranoia in homebrewing circles with regard to sanitisation when I have seen great tanks full of fermenting beer in open halls with crowds of visitors peering in!

 

I know of only one brewery in Sweden which does it which is a tiny brewery owned by one of the larger macro breweries. Back in the 30s open fermenters like these would have been used by the other breweries, and the open fermenters pictured below are today an anomaly. I happen to be drinking some of their lager beer right now since it's a relatively local brewery and it's tasty as far as Swedish macro lager beer goes, but what difference the open fermenters do I can't say. I'd wager the recipe and brewing procedure makes a bigger difference compared to the fermenters. It sure is quaint looking though.


(not my picture).

 

New Glarus new sour house is going to be open fermentation with oak roofs to impart the oak flavor into the sours (via evaporation and dripping). Look for lots of awesome out of NG the end of '14 and well beyond.

 

I am very curious, is it that the yeast begin eating quickly so that there isn't a big window of time between 'cooled wort' and 'fermenting wort' for bugs/other yeast to get in? or is it something else all together?

 

De Dolle does things that way as well.

 

Michael Jackson wrote this article ; I quote two small passages,
"Draught Bass lost much of its soul when the company abandoned the open wooden casks in Burton-upon-Trent in which traditionally it had been fermented, and replaced them with closed vessels of stainless steel"

"The argument is that fermentation in these relatively shallow vessels naturally slows as the yeast falls to the bottom: it is a gentle process in which the full flavours of the beer are retained. In a tall vessel many times as large, the carbon dioxide developed during fermentation rises for tens of feet, purging the flavours as it goes, and the yeast is slow to drop."
http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-000054.html

 

To me, as a complete amateur, it sounds as though Michael Jackson, in describing the fermentation going on in the shallow open fermenters, as compared to the tall cylindrical vessels, describes a type of fermentation which sounds similar to that of a lager yeast. It is my understanding that lager yeasts drop to the bottom of a vessel, as opposed to an ale yeast (unless a modern cylindrical cone-type fermentation vessel is used), and that it does so with a greater rapidity than an ale yeast, which places the yeast out of harms way, and makes for a cleaner beer with less fruit characteristics from the yeast. Maybe I misunderstand something here, but it seems as though "the old way" of ale fermentation (as described by Michael Jackson) was similar to how lager yeast is said to work, compared to the behavior of ale yeast in a tall (presumably modern) fermenting vessel. I'm near certain that I'll be schooled by someone for getting it all wrong, but I don't mind if that's the case, I'm happy to learn.

 

Middle ages in Syracuse uses Ringwood as well and uses open fermentation. They also told me that its a very strong/aggressive yeast strain that can stand up to infections.

 

Arcadia does use open fermentation (Peter Austin system) in the Battle Creek brewery for most if not all of their beers. I have not heard what they will be doing when they open in Kalamazoo.

 

Yeah, I was pretty sure about the Battle Creek location being open, but had not been in the brewhouse on tour.

Did you know back in the day, that being the 90s, Bells did open fermentation? I think it is neat that Larry has the Strohs fermenters at the Galesburg facility, we just have to wait to see what they run through those.

On a side note to comment on above comments, Ringwood may be stable and robust, but it is still Ringwood! Few have tamed it.