Fermenting volumes

[Johnboy1234]

I have been thinking about how to speed up the fermenting process and was wondering if you used say 3 times 10 litre fermenters instead of a 30 litre one, would the 10 litre ones finish earlier as they do not have as much ingrediants in each fermenter to process as a 30 litre one?

[R-sole]

Simplest way is to make bigger/more ferments. So do 2 thirty litre ferments. Or one 60 litre one. 8-)

[Johnboy1234]

My question was purely hypothetical, which would ferment faster 3 x 10l or 1x 30l or would it be exactly the same time?

[R-sole]

You'll have to give it a whirl and see, then report back.

[Johnboy1234]

At the moment I only have 1 x 25l fermenter, when I get some more I will give it a try and report back.

[busman]

If the proportions of fermentables, yeast and nutrients are equal relative to the total volume of the wash then they should finish in the same amount of time. Reckon the only result from splitting it in 3 will be more cleaning up to do ;)

[Johnboy1234]

THANKS Busman that makes perfect sense, geez I ask some dumb questions sometimes, but I guess it will help other dummies like myself.

[reknaw]

Just my opinion, if you have cold weather a larger ferment will hold the heat that is generated from the fermenting process and therefore may help the wash ferment out faster than two small given the same variables were used for both washes. How much faster? I'ld say that's variable depending o size of wash, outside temp etc.

Alternativley the opposite would be the case in hot weather, a large wash could possibly overheat where as small washes would be able to "shed heat" more easily.

Fermentation generates heat.

[Johnboy1234]

Thats very interesting Spud and in theory that sounds like it could be correct, THANK YOU, thats food for thought!

[MacStill]

I have both a 120L & 60L ferment of UJSM that are going now, they're both reading the same on the hydrometer after 4 days and I expect them both to finish at the same time.

[rumby]

There you go, that is a good comparison

[Johnboy1234]

Ok case dismissed, looks like it doesnt matter how big or small they are, except under extreme temperatures.

[MacStill]

Ok case dismissed, looks like it doesnt matter how big or small they are, except under extreme temperatures.

Dont dismiss it just yet, nothing is really certain and things can vary to some degree.... ;)

[reknaw]

I think the differnce would show if you had a 60 L fermenter and a 1000 L fermenter, then I recon you may start to see a bit more differnce :)

[MacStill]

I think the differnce would show if you had a 60 L fermenter and a 1000 L fermenter, then I recon you may start to see a bit more differnce :)

I can look at it in a different light, my thinking is that as long as measures of the recipe were adhered to the ferment times would not be dramatically different.

You may be right, but you may be crazy....... or it might just be a lunatic............ :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[reknaw]

Yeah I think you got it with "not dramatically different" there might be a differnce, it might be 6 hours for example for a wash that takes 7 days, would anyone notice 6 hrs? No

[MacStill]

I'll test my two UJSM wash's daily and update this thread, they were both put down at the same time with equal quantaties relevent to wash size....... so if anything it'll be interesting to see where they end up ;)

BTW

You may be right, but you may be crazy....... or it might just be a lunatic...........

It's a Billy Joel song that just sprung into my head, probably inspired by the rum I just pulled out of the barrel after 10 months :lol: :? :lol:

[Sam.]

I have heard that doing big ferment around 200 Litres or above the problem is to keep them cool as the heat generated by the ferment process can get so high it will kill the yeast and it will not ferment fully out.

Is there any truth to this?

[MacStill]

I have heard that doing big ferment around 200 Litres or above the problem is to keep them cool as the heat generated by the ferment process can get so high it will kill the yeast and it will not ferment fully out.

Is there any truth to this?

I have noticed my larger ferments (120L) do feel warm to touch compared to a 30L brew, but they finish in around the same time frame.... in the heat of summer up here in QLD I could understand what you've heard, but I've never tried to do a huge ferment either.

Then there's variables yet again.... yeast strain, type of ferment, rum, bourbon, lager..... wine perhaps?

It really is an impossible question to answer without having specifics ;)

[rumby]

Mmmmmmmmmmm!