Double drop fermenting

[bramswell]

Is it possible to double drop ferment when home brewing?
has any one done this, and are there any benefits to doing it?

[Northern Brewer]

Anything is 'possible' - what are you hoping to achieve? There would be a lot of risk IMHO, particularly if you introduced oxygen on both occasions.

Have you considered simply scraping off the brown crud instead? I drop once then thereafter scrape off any re-emerging brown crud each morning with a large slotted plastic spoon which I firstly sanitise in the kettle when making my cuppa. This is quite easy despite the fermenter only having a 4" opening. The procedure does remove a certain harshness.

[WishboneBrewery]

Whats this then?
Like the 'Yorkshire Square' ? leaving the yeast cake behind?

[bramswell]

NB's method is the safer option but not all yeasts are as tollerant of this treatment, oxidation is possible.

i thought some oxidation is desired to give a slight butterscotch flavour, isn't this why Brakspear double drop.

I do appreciate NB's approch is safer.

[bramswell]

so i guess with modern brewing and the different amount of yeast avaliable, double dropping has no real benefit these days and only adds a risk of ruining the brew.

[oblivious]

a slight butterscotch flavour, .

That Diacetyl, oxidation is more of a sherry some time cardboard

[Oscar Brewer]

I've succesfully used the dropping system several times in the past with both dried and liquid yeasts and compared them to brews which were fermented out in a single tank. However I have formed the opinion that dropping does neccesarily improve the beer quality and problems may occur, particularly when insufficient viable yeast has been pitched and this can lead to the fermentation sticking and result in under attenuated beers. Also there is in my opinion a loss of hop efficiency when dropping, as a proportion of the bittering and aroma compounds are left behind with the initial yeast head. I think it works better with less flocculant yeast strains as more active cells are carried over which help to ensure a more thorough fermentation. If you do decide to drop my advice would be to pitch a little more yeast than usual and to increase the hopping rate slightly. And yeasts that have worked well for me when dropping include Safale US05, Wyeast 1028, ( London ) 1084, ( Irish ) and Whitelabs WLP023. ( Burton )