Topics

46

Yeast and Fermentation / Table Sugar Starter

« on: March 26, 2012, 12:15:03 PM »

I plan to buy another chest freezer and use it as my primary lager making fridge so I can brew more than 1 lager over a 3-4 week period.  I currently use our wine cooler in the basement which my wife loves......

However, that means buying a lot of DME to make starters.  As I purchased a 3lb bag for $13.75 at my LHBS, I got to thinking about ways to reduce this cost. 

Since we are only making yeast and not beer, why not use just plain table sugar?  I'm sure there is a scientific reason as to cell walls and mutations due to the sucrose versus maltose, but please enlighten me!

Zacher

47

Ingredients / Chinook

« on: February 26, 2012, 06:31:58 AM »

OK, time for the Chinook APA today. 

Question:  how is it for aroma?  At 12.5% bittering and flavor should be OK, but not sure about the final addition and dry hop.  I hope someone is recovering from last night's homebrews and can lead me in the right direction in the next couple of hours!

Zacher

48

Kegging and Bottling / Keg Carbonating

« on: February 22, 2012, 03:50:00 PM »

I'm about to keg my Pale Ale v.7 and it dawned on me that I have 3 lbs. of corn sugar sitting around as I haven't bottled in years.  I typically have to wait 3-4 days for my beers to force carb unless I really ramp it up and shake the keg for an hour. 

BUT, why not put say 1/3 cup of corn sugar in the keg before transferring?  It should at least get it going, cut my carb time down by a couple of days or to zero and use up the corn sugar that's been sitting around with nothing to do.

What am I missing?  Should I just put in 2/3 of a cup for 5 gallons and call it quits?

Dave

49

Yeast and Fermentation / Fermenting in a 7.9 Gallon Primary

« on: February 22, 2012, 08:55:47 AM »

Fellow Brewers,

I've decided to try my hand at brewing 7.5 gallon batches and kegging in the new slim quarter kegs.  However I obviously cannot fill a 7.9 gallon primary with 7.5 gallons of wort and not expect something to blow up or at the very least have half my yeast go through the blow-off tube.

How much headspace would you recommend in the 7.9 gallon fermenter?  I was thinking about brewing 6 gallons to a higher OG and adding a gallon of water when I keg.  Thoughts?

Dave

50

Yeast and Fermentation / Ale Conditioning

« on: January 07, 2012, 04:10:17 PM »

Fellow Brewers,

I typically condition my ales in my boiler room at 66F and my lagers in the outside fridge at 34F.  I like to crash cool my ales before kegging in the outside fridge and then let them come up to 66F to condition. 

I'm wondering what you think the result would be if I just put the keg straight back in to the fridge?  2-3 weeks in primary, crash cool, then keg and condiditon at 34F.  Thoughts?  Thanks in advance.

Dave

51

Yeast and Fermentation / 2206 Attenuation

« on: December 22, 2011, 06:40:34 AM »

I made a Czech Pils and a Winter Lager with 2206 Bavarian Lager.  Both only attenuated 68% at 51F over 3 weeks.  I'm just chalking it up to the yeast doing their own thing unless you guys think it could be something with my process.  A 1 gallon starter was made for the first and the entire (washed) slurry was pitched in to the second as it was 1.072 versus 1.050.  The Czech Pils is very tasty albeit a little sweet as it ended at 1.016.  The Winter lager ended at 1.024.  Thoughts?

Dave

52

General Homebrew Discussion / BB Sanitized. Time Limit?

« on: December 15, 2011, 07:40:44 AM »

Fellow Brewers,

I sanitized a BB last weekend in the hopes of brewing, but could not.  It's been sitting in my laundry room with an airlock for about a week.  All of the StarSan foam is now in a little puddle on the bottom.

Question is:  Do you think it's still sanitized and I can use this weekend or would you hit it again with the StarSan?  I have no problem with the extra work, but why bother if not necessary? 

Thanks in advace for your thoughts.

Dave

53

All Grain Brewing / Storing Bulk Grain

« on: December 13, 2011, 06:39:59 AM »

Just bought my first 50# sack of 2-Row which is unfortunately still in my boiler room untouched.  I plan to open it this week to make a Steam Beer.  Can you guys recommend a good sealing vessel?  What size is optimal?  I looked at Big Lots and all of their containers were not air tight.  Thanks!

Dave

54

Yeast and Fermentation / Thermowell

« on: December 01, 2011, 07:13:08 AM »

I've seen many a debate on the forums about ambient versus internal temps during fermentation so I decided to buy a thermowell for my lagers.  When I lagered without it, I kept the ambient temp at 52.  This produced some fine lagers but conventional wisdom for those on the interior temperature side of the argument would say that the temp in the middle of the wort was higher than the 52 on the outside.
Well, I have my Johnson Controller set at 51F +-1degree and the probe in the thermowell.  It's either on 51 or 52 everytime I check.  BUT, the ambient temp is 54F.  I'm using the same thermometers that I used previously when I lagered without the thermowell, and they all were calibrated at 52F, including the Johnson controller.
I pitched a very healthy starter that had krausen coming out of the blow off tube in 2 days.  It took off and is bubbling about as much as I've seen a lager bubble. 
So, what am I missing in this little puzzle here?  Shouldn't the internal temp be higher than the ambient temp if the rule that fermentation raises wort temp is true???
Or maybe I'm just clueless.  Can someone set me straight or tell me what I am missing?
Dave

55

Yeast and Fermentation / When is a starter done?

« on: November 19, 2011, 07:37:29 AM »

I made a 1G starter for a Chimay Clone at about 5:00PM last night.  It's been on the stir plate and still has bubbles coming from the bottom so I guess it's not done fermenting.  Should I:
Cool now so I can decant when the brew is done?  I'm sure I've made a bunch of yeast.  Water heating as I write.
Let it go until (when would you say you know it's done?)
Just pitch the whole starter and give the Chimay a nice kicker?

Thanks for the advice in advance!

Dave

56

Yeast and Fermentation / Too Small a Starter or RDWAHAHB?

« on: November 03, 2011, 05:57:16 AM »

Made a starter last Saturday morning for my Czech Pils.  I used the last of my DME-6.5oz in ~.6 gallons for ~1.030OG.  Saturday afternoon we lost power so stir plate went down.  I swirled it every hour or so, but did not see any activity.  It went down to 58F in my house until late Sunday evening.  The stir plate fired back up and I let it go until Tuesday at 68F.  It smelled great, but no krausen and not a lot of foam.  Decanted and pitched last night at 52F.

No activity this morning.  Was it too small a pitch to take off quickly?  Do you think I did not let it go long enough on the stir plate?  It's too early for a homebrew so need some thoughts.  Thanks!

Dave

57

Yeast and Fermentation / Wyeast 2206-Bavarian Lager for a Pilsner

« on: October 27, 2011, 09:03:23 AM »

I'll have some 2206 slurry from a Winter Ale I plan to brew this weekend.  It seems to be more for darker beers, but anyone have experience with this in a lighter beer?  Am I just silly to try this?  I have a Czech Pilsner slated as my next lager.

Dave

58

Yeast and Fermentation / Pitching Rates: Wyeast vs Mr. Malty

« on: October 25, 2011, 05:51:55 AM »

I found myself up early on Saturday so I decided to brew my Stout for the holidays.  Unfortunately I only had one smack pack of Irish Ale yeast and no time to make a starter.  For the first time I actually read the instructions on the back.  Let me quote #5.

"pour Activator into 5 gallons of well aerated or oxygenated wort up to 1.060 OG at 65-72F.........for higher gravity or low temperature fermentations additional yeast may be necessary."

If I go to Mr.Malty, it says I need 2.3 packs without a starter.  I have to go all the way down to 1.025 OG to get Mr. Malty to 1 pack.

Why is Wyeast and Mr. Malty so far apart?  And if it really is 2.3 packs for 1.060 OG, why does Wyeast market 1 pack to 1.060 OG?  There just seems to be a rather large discrepency here and I would appreciate some insight as to why.

Dave

59

Yeast and Fermentation / Starter With Reused Yeast-Trub

« on: October 07, 2011, 12:23:35 PM »

I just put some 2112 reused yeast in a starter on my stir plate.  I seem to have some hop leaves in there from the last brew.  More than normal.  What's the best route on this?  Just let it roar for the next 10 hours, decant and pitch or should I take it off, let it settle and transfer at high Krausen to a jug to try to leave the trub behind?

60

Yeast and Fermentation / Reusing Dry Yeast

« on: September 29, 2011, 06:11:35 AM »

Folks,

I've been reusing yeast for a while now, but pitched some dry US-05 in my red-ale.  I just kegged it and again, added some distilled water, swirled up the yeast cake and poured in to a container.  Got the typical separation, but it's liquid and trub.  There is no middle layer as with liquid yeast.

Can someone fill me in on what I am missing?  I figure I just save the trub with a little liquid on top and go with it.

Dave