Lag time on last night’s batches was quite short. In fact, the “Mighty S-04” lives up to its reputation: in a large bucket with lots of headspace and a lid not sealing properly, the “So Far” was churning away in less than two hours after pitching. I had just started to sleep and the airlock was bubbling very vigorously. As that fermenter is in my bedroom, the noise woke me up. I loosened the lid on top of that bucket to make sure I wouldn’t get a spill. There wasn’t that much kräusen but fermentation was clearly vigorous, already. This morning, it smells this distinctive S-04 smell and has a good, thick kräusen.

The “Lo Five,” which I left in the basement, is also showing clear signs of fermentation. Thick kräusen, frequent bubbles, yeast smell… As it’s the first batch in which I use US-05 yeast, I didn’t know what to expect. The smell is actually fairly similar to the S-04 but less assertive. The fact that I’m using this yeast for the first time is also a reason I couldn’t attest to its fault tolerance. Judging from the smell, at least, I’d say that it’s as “robust” as S-04 and Ringwood but that it might still make for a cleaner profile which doesn’t hide small flaws really well.

My intention is to “drop” the fermenting beer away from the yeast pretty quickly on the “So Far” to intensify diacetyl. Can’t find the reference, but some British brewery is still doing this, with special equipment. Maybe it’s called “dumping” or “crashing.” Racking the beer early, the yeast isn’t able to “chew up” the diacetyl so more of it is left in the finished beer. Yeah, I know. Diacetyl isn’t typical of mild ales. But I tend to like some level of diacetyl in British-style beers. In this case, if the beer is complex enough despite its low ABV, a bit of diacetyl could round off the finished beer.

As is often the case in homebrewing, I’m already thinking about other batches I might want to do. One could be a doubled-up version of “So Far” (twice the grainbill, maybe twice the hops). Another would be a light weizen, brewed with Lallemand’s Munich strain.

It’s too much fun.