Open Fermentation Home Brewing 

Christopher Haist hey man get a chance to try it?

1.010 is a typical Final Gravity after it hits that let it sit for about another week then rack it to secondary, keg, or bottle.

It's been two months since this comment. Have you tried it? If you did what are your results?

+Connor Lasch Yes I did. Grain bill was mostly acidulated malt with some Hallertauer hops. I clipped some Greek oregano and orange mint and pitched into cooling wort (2nd floor screened open window with large muslin sack covering steel buffet steam tray). The pitched herbs started foaming white spikey mold (I should've rested herbs on a raised platform above wort). After a few days I had a very thick layer of mold and Krausen yeast cake. I thought about throwing it out, but instead I strained wort into glass carboy (smelled wonderful; like bread) and air locked it. Looks healthy with a lot of air lock activity. Resting @ 73° in a dark place at the moment.

+Randall Schoverling At least you tried. sounds like a decent refreshing beer, too. Did you wash your herbs before throwing them in?

No. I wanted to innoculate wort with whatever wild yeast/bacteria was on the skin.

It definitely still drops more in secondary since it was racked while still in the latter stages of fermentation. A beer like this could be in secondary for a week or two or even more. But to make use of those open fermentation flavors, you probably want to just give it a bit of time to finish fermentation and clear up a bit, then package.

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Amit Mishra i always brew open and i never had contamination,never.so for more than 10 years that also include dropping stuff into it,touching it with my hand and more that i dont remember lol....its more robust than you may imagin

Lol immediately after noting sanitary procedures he blabs all over the Brew with his dead skin forest. Luckily open fermenting is bullet proof

@@ragimundvonwallat8961 Hi Ragimund, pls lemme know if u still read this comment, are there any special conditions to open ferm, or just let the wort ferment in a koelship, or fish gutter as described by Jeremy........what temperature to maintain while fermenting.........cheers

@@vikramjitsingh4538 i just put it in my fermenting vesse i put a towel over it to keep bugs out and i let it rip...as for the temp stay in between 15 to40C and you'll be fine. i proceeded like that for more than a decade and sometime i do 200L batch in a big food grade blue barrell

@@ragimundvonwallat8961 thanks lots Ragi for responding.......open fermentation has many benefits, especially if u are looking for strong esters.......also wanted to know one thing, do you stir the yeast while the fermentation is in process or just leave it that way......thanks again....cheers

Yep. I use a thin damp towel, negating the need for an airlock. I have only ever brewed this way. This method was shown to me by my very old uncle over thirty years ago. He learned how to brew from his father in the 1930s so it's proven to work well.

and breathing over it

This is my concern. At this time of year even in the fermentation chamber, fruit flies are gonna get in. I'll try in winter.

My grandpa said back in the day his cousin made a great tasting beer. Said his cousin showed him his fermenter afterwards and it was wide open with flies landing in it haha. Typically back then they would just put a cheese cloth over the top of the barrel while it fermented

The actively fermenting yeast scavange oxygen so no, the beer should not oxidize from this. If you continued it past the active stage(his 3 days) and into maturation and packaging then oxygen can be problematic.

Jimmy Warner Actually a common organic chemistry reaction. When when a primary alcohol such as ethanol is oxidized, it creates a carboxylic acid by adding a double bonded oxygen. Ethanol oxidizes to acetic acid, or vinegar.

+Brian Tomek so open fermenting = sour vinegar instead of Ale ? the how come good smoothy ester and more fruitish taste ? i don't get it really !