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A two-stage fermentation, where the process kicked off in a tall cylindrical vessel then the wort was “dropped” to a shallow square vessel, remained fairly popular in the South of England.

There seems to have been quite a bit of variation in exactly how long elapsed between pitching and dropping. At some breweries, such as Fullers and Adnams, the wort remained no more than 12 hours in the upper round. At others, it could stay there for two or three days.

Fullers brewing logs recorded the fermentation process in some detail:

5th November 1941 Fullers X Ale fermentation
day and time temperature OG action
Wednesday 18:00 63º F 1028.6 pitched
Thursday 03:00 dropped
15:00 64º F 1022.8
22:00 65.5º F 1019.2
Friday 6:30 lowered sluices
08:00 68º F 1013.3
14:30 collected and pumped
15:00 68º F 1010.8
20:00 68º F 1008.9
Saturday 8:00 67.5º F 1007.8
12:00 67º F 1007.5
20:00 66.5º F 1007.5
Sunday 9:00 liquor on
Tuesday 4:30 59º F racked
Source:
Fullers brewing record held at the brewery.

The fermenting wort was only briefly in the upper round – a mere 9 hours – before being dropped. “Collected” refers to yeast being skimmed off the top for repitching. While “liquor on” is the attemperator being activated.

All in all, the fermentation took around 12 hours short of a full week. Which seems quite a long time for a beer of such a modest gravity.


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