MJ Liberty Bell yeast

[Braufather]

Mashed at 63 (been trying this on last few beers to avoid residual sweetness with Maris otter) OG was 1060, so 1020 is 5% which is ok but I worry about it being over sweet. never had a beer finish above 1014 that I can remember.

on the other hand LB is looking to be 6.5%! Gonna leave them both at room temps for a few weeks to help them condition Quicker before putting them in kegerator.

 

[matt76]

@Braufather I was gonna ask what was the mash temp. As foxy says, I don't think 75% attenuation is too shabby, I dunno 1.060 to 1.020 sounds plausible for SO4 which is not a mega-attenuator anyway.

The other things I was gonna ask is:
1. What does your hydrometer read at 20degC in water? Reason for asking is mine reads 1.003 and even after many brews I still have to smack myself round the back of the head every time it says 1.020 and remind myself that's really 1.017.

2. How are you measuring your 63degC mash temp and how long are you mashing for? I don't have a recirculating system (Klarstein Maischfest) so I stir the mash now and then and raise/lower the grain basket to even things out. But generally speaking the mash temperature is not uniform, plus I know the temp probe on my system is out by 1-2degC. Oh and of course the mash temp varies a bit over time as the thermostat kicks in/shuts off the heat - less of an issue if you only mash 30-60mins, but more so with an overnight mash. I sometimes mash high (70degC) to try to limit the FG, and I've a feeling you can get a similar effect if you mash low - but having the temperature wandering around doesn't help much with predicting your FG!

 

[Braufather]

@Braufather I was gonna ask what was the mash temp. As foxy says, I don't think 75% attenuation is too shabby, I dunno 1.060 to 1.020 sounds plausible for SO4 which is not a mega-attenuator anyway.

The other things I was gonna ask is:
1. What does your hydrometer read at 20degC in water? Reason for asking is mine reads 1.003 and even after many brews I still have to smack myself round the back of the head every time it says 1.020 and remind myself that's really 1.017.

------------- last time i checked it was bang on and the other half of the split brew hit 1011 with liberty bell

2. How are you measuring your 63degC mash temp and how long are you mashing for? I don't have a recirculating system (Klarstein Maischfest) so I stir the mash now and then and raise/lower the grain basket to even things out. But generally speaking the mash temperature is not uniform, plus I know the temp probe on my system is out by 1-2degC. Oh and of course the mash temp varies a bit over time as the thermostat kicks in/shuts off the heat - less of an issue if you only mash 30-60mins, but more so with an overnight mash. I sometimes mash high (70degC) to try to limit the FG, and I've a feeling you can get a similar effect if you mash low - but having the temperature wandering around doesn't help much with predicting your FG!

------------- 70 min mash, 10 min mash out at 78c. I have a braumaster and just by dropping from 65 to 63 seems to give me an extra .008 with a brew. i was doing it for that but to cut back on sweetness with maris otter and it works. i did a 4% summer ale at 63c, with maris otter with some wheat and pilsner, some sugar and it came it great ( was fearing it would be a bit thin but it had great mouthfeel) so have adopted 63 for maris otter.

Interesting you mention 70c, i am going to try 70c mash next to do a 3.9% pale ale, with a dry finishing yeast to compensate , but may use regular pale malt for that,

 

[Sandimas]

Resurrecting this thread as I've used Liberty Bell again and once again it came out at 77% attenuation, this yeast seems so predictable: 77 nearly every time, although I did have a 78 once.

 

[moto748]

I used this for the first time in a ESB, pitched about 48 hours ago. I thought something was wrong, cos no krausen at all. Just some bubbling on a clear surface. Didn't really look like there was much going on, and I was a bit concerned, and was considering bunging in half a packet of US-05, then I thought, I'll check for threads on the yeast (like this one ), and everyone says it goes like a train, so I got out the hydrometer, and in those 48 hours it's gone from 1060 to 1014. So yeah, that certainly seems to be working OK! I think I can relax a bit!

[edit] Actually, not 1060, but 1053, cos I remembered I diluted it, efficiency was higher than I expected so I added some water. Point still stands re the yeast, thugh.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Big fan of Liberty Bell in the two brews I have used it so far. Currently in an elderflower pale with EKG, and out the FV it tastes lightly fruity and a little bit citrus. Very pleasant

 

[graeme4962]

I've tried a number of yeasts and I still think that Liberty Bell is one of the best and great value. I do need to try CML's 'The Firm' (Windsor) though, I think it's a battle between the two for a dry English Bitter yeast.