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Homebrew Board - Recipes

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Ornlu
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In reply to G. hirsutum Ag • 9:04a, 8/22/18
AG
Seven said:
Experimenting with my first yeast harvest/yeast starter. I saved some Nottingham yeast from my last blonde ale a few months ago and decided to do a trial run at a yeast starter.
" a few months ago" is a LONG time to save reused yeast. That's enough time that you'll get autolysis & its byproducts in the starter material. Bare minimum, you're getting excess potential for mutations.

If your concern is the cost of yeast, just buy S-05 a pound at a time; It's $80 a pound, but that's only $1.60 per batch of beer. It will last 2-3 years in the fridge, with decreasing efficacy over time. There is no benefit to reusing yeast so the risk isn't worth it to save less than $2 per batch.

I say this as a guy that bought a conical fermenter so I could harvest yeast, and then after several times of reusing yeast my quality suffered.
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fav13andac1)c
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In reply to Ornlu • 8:09p, 8/22/18
AG
Ornlu said:
Seven said:
Experimenting with my first yeast harvest/yeast starter. I saved some Nottingham yeast from my last blonde ale a few months ago and decided to do a trial run at a yeast starter.
There is no benefit to reusing yeast
Yeast on it's 2nd or 3rd generation is going to be more active and fervent than 1st gen in my experience. And savings on yeast is typically more than $2 a batch. With proper sanitation and storage, you can get several gens out of one pack and it will pay for itself easily. But yes, a few months is a looooong time for stored yeast.

Edit: I just reread the autolysis page you linked. Love John, but some of his info is outdated. Cases of autolysis at homebrewing batch sizes are going to be a lot more rare than commercial batch sizes, with the tremendous weight of 60+ bbls of beer bearing down on dormant yeast, not to mention the "weight" that co2 pressure adds. Racking to secondary is a thing of the past. I have heard of homebrewers storing primary batches for months without ill effect. At the very least, I would make the starter, do the smell test, and if it passes, pitch.
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G. hirsutum Ag
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5:44a, 8/23/18
AG
I shut the stir plate off and am cold crashing it now. Smells just fine and looks like it grew a considerable amount. How can I tell how many cells I have? I know there are calculators that will tell you if you start off with a known amount but that isn't always the case
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AlaskanAg99
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10:25a, 8/23/18
AG
It's a crap shoot. If you use a calculator and add the date of packaging you should be in the right ball park. After that it's more about gut feeling for the next batch if you should raise or lower the pitch rate. I find this to be more true for lagers than ales.

I also think my O2 stone is the source of a bacteria infection. Even though it's sanitized in star San, I think enough is hiding in the stone than when the O2 is on it's blown into my wort. I've had that one for 6-7 years, may be time to just replace it.
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Ornlu
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In reply to AlaskanAg99 • 10:39a, 8/23/18
AG
What if you boiled it for 30 mins or so, and then stored under StarSan until your next boil?
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AlaskanAg99
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In reply to Ornlu • 10:43a, 8/23/18
AG
Ornlu said:
What if you boiled it for 30 mins or so, and then stored under StarSan until your next boil?


I've lost several batches of beer. 10 gallon batches as I've hunted for this. Nuke from orbit and replace will help me not freak out. I still will replace the seals on my butterfly valves and I've replaced a ton of plastic and gaskets. Then it dawned on me that the possibility exists the porous gas stone is probably the culpret.
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Ornlu
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In reply to AlaskanAg99 • 10:45a, 8/23/18
AG
Or 4hrs in an oven at 400F ? That's pretty much an autoclave.
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AlaskanAg99
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1:17p, 8/23/18
AG
I should put my plate chiller in then too.

My process has been
StarSan
Start flow of O2 after 2mins in star san
Move to wort in fermenter
Move to PBW bath, end O2 flow after submersion
StarSan
Dry
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G. hirsutum Ag
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In reply to AlaskanAg99 • 3:08p, 8/23/18
AG
Can you take the whole thing apart including the pump and clean it? Then boil the metal pieces. A new one is pretty cheap though. I ordered a new one today actually. $15 on Amazon prime
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bmc13
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4:39p, 8/23/18
AG
I'd look into the plate chiller before the stone, unless you already removed that variable. sounds like a pretty good process on your stone, but I do always try to boil my stone before use. baking the stone and plate chiller would definitely be a good thing to try.

can your plate chiller come apart?
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G. hirsutum Ag
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6:36p, 8/23/18
AG
How well do plate chillers work with 80 degree ground water?
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Chipotlemonger
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In reply to G. hirsutum Ag • 10:25p, 8/23/18
AG
I had some friends who would lower the plate chiller into a bowl of ice water slurry and run it like that, then dump ice into the pot that they used to cycle the chiller.

Don't think ground water in Texas would be sufficient most times of the year!
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AlaskanAg99
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9:27a, 8/24/18
AG
I have a plate chiller but I don't use it. I just figured if I'm going to sterilize the O2 stone I might as well take the plate chiller.

I use an immersion chiller with a pump recirculating the wort in the kettle for better efficiency. I use tap water to get down to 100F, then a reciculating ice bath with a pump pushing through the chiller to get down to pitching temps. This is for 10g batches. If I go higher then it's time for a double plate chiller setup, first chiller has ground water, 2nd has recicrulating ice water.

I almost never go above 10g batches.
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Ornlu
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In reply to AlaskanAg99 • 10:31a, 8/24/18
AG
Does it work like this? http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php
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AlaskanAg99
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In reply to Ornlu • 4:00p, 8/24/18
AG
Ornlu said:
Does it work like this? http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php


Sort of. I pull from the main ball valve, to pump, and the return is another ball valve built into the kettle. Inside the kettle is a 90d elbow that causes it to swirl. I do use a bucket with a pump, full of ice water that I then push through the IC and return to the bucket as shown.
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G. hirsutum Ag
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In reply to AlaskanAg99 • 12:24p, 8/26/18
AG
Yeast starter was a great success. I've got a pint jar half full of pure white yeast cells which will be more than enough for another batch. Harvested S05 off of my latest batch and got quite a bit. Cold crashing them now and going to decant some and consolidate in a few days.

Just got my aeration stone setup.

Next up, maybe this week but I doubt it, will be two hearted ale clone. Cream ale is going to be a big hit
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Ornlu
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In reply to Ornlu • 6:45p, 8/27/18
AG
Ornlu said:
What about this?
  • 1 oz Magnum Leaf for 60 mins - 14.7 AAUs
  • 1 oz Citra Leaf for 30 mins - 12.6 AAUs
  • 1 oz Jarrylo Pellet for 20 mins - 16.3 AAUs
  • 2 oz Amarillo Pellet for 10 mins - 8.6 AAUs
  • 2 oz Saaz Leaf in Whirlpool - 7 AAUs
  • 2 oz Saaz Leaf dry into fermenter for 14 days- 7 AAUs
  • 1 oz Citra Pellets dry into fermenter 7 days letter - 11.5 AAUs

That totals up to 66 IBU's.
So I ended up going with almost this hop schedule except all 4oz of saaz as dry hops, and it's finishing its last week. Fermenting it in two carboys.

Trouble is, each 5gal carboy has about 4.25 gallons of beer in it, plus about 2 whole ounces of leaf hops. Looking at the relative volumes, it's roughly 5% yeast cake, a shocking 30% hops, and rest clear beer.

How do I rack this without leaving behind great huge volumes of beer? I've never used this much dry hops.
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G. hirsutum Ag
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In reply to Ornlu • 7:19p, 8/27/18
AG
You could rack it into a bottling bucket with a paint strainer and squeeze the beer out. Would risk oxidation though but if you're quick may not be too bad especially if you keg it and get CO2 in it ASAP
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Ornlu
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In reply to G. hirsutum Ag • 9:16p, 8/27/18
AG
Wonder if I could use a rod + colander to basically turn a bucket into something like a french press coffee maker?

I should have just used a hops bag. I've never bothered because I've never dry hopped this much, but all of a sudden I understand what other brewers are talking about.
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Ornlu
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6:10p, 8/29/18
AG
This is going to be my next brew. https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/697945/petey-the-sassenach-smoked-wee-heavy-

Should be ready for the first cold snap.
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Chipotlemonger
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8:39p, 8/29/18
AG


Here's my saison about 11 days into primary fermentation. Starting to see more settle.

Had my first cream ale in a long time tonight. Liked it well, better than I thought I was going to! Can see why some of y'all brew that style.

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AlaskanAg99
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9:41p, 8/29/18
AG
You just lose that much volume in hoppy beer. Yes it sucks.

Pros buy a centrifuge to maximize yeild.

For the homebrewer there isn't a great option. This is my next toy to buy:

http://www.clearbeerdraughtsystem.com

I dry hop in 10gal kegs and still trying to figure out better way to do it. I wouldn't use a paint strainer bag into a bottling bucket prior to kegging. With out using yeast to naturally carb the beer, and scavenge O2, you're just going to oxidize the beer.
aTm '99
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G. hirsutum Ag
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In reply to AlaskanAg99 • 8:59a, 8/30/18
AG
Like I said oxidation would be an issue but it would work pretty well. I would think you could flush CO2 thru the beer very quickly after by running it thru the outlet tube and pulling the release up top. I wouldn't be opposed to doing a sugar prime in a keg either if it would yield more beer by straining the hops and cleaning up the O2.

I tried using a hops bag in a carboy last time and it became a mess and I couldnt get it out. I ended up cutting the bag and just doing my best to keep the hops out.
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AlaskanAg99
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9:47a, 8/30/18
AG
Instead of using a bottling bucket, which I think would just oxidize the beer quickly, use your keg.

Purge it.
Have a sanitized strainer ready to go.
Release the pressure in the keg, open lid, drop strainer bag in. Have some way to secure it so the bag doesn't fall in the keg.
Hook up your CO2 line to the liquid out and start the flow so you have positive pressure pushing CO2 out.
Then start the racking of the beer into the paint strainer. This should insure the beer is going into the keg in a pure CO2 environment. Not sure how much of a mess it would make from the CO2 bubbling up through the beer so swtiching to the gas in post would probably need to happen part way through.

I'm of the mindset oxygen damages hoppy beers harder and faster than others. So I'm rather paranoid. When I'm filling kegs off my conical I go through the lid (don't want hop bits to plug the liquid post) so I push via CO2 through the conical and I also have the gas post hooked up pushing 2-3 PSI into the keg to make sure it's a pure CO2 environment.

I have sure screen on my liquid dip tube to keep hops out of the liquid post when dispensing.
aTm '99
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Koffing828
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10:16a, 8/30/18
AG


Just wanted to show off my portable kegerator. I have a 5 gallon corny keg and a paintball CO2 tank inside. It has wheels, a bottle opener, and you can only see the edge of it in the photo but it has a solo cup dispenser on the side. I keep the beer cold with frozen water bottles and ice packs. Works pretty well.
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bmc13
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1:33p, 8/30/18
AG
I brewed a Munich dunkel last Sunday. chiller connections started coming apart, though, and a little of my chilling water got into the wort. we'll see how it turns out.
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Chipotlemonger
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7:30p, 8/30/18
AG
Anyone ever had a fridge die on them during fermentation? I'm about 12 days into mine. Fridge still has temp, but I'm worried there may be a refrigerant leak.

Realized my towel to cover the window of the kegerator was restricting air flow to the damn system.
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Chipotlemonger
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In reply to Chipotlemonger • 12:48p, 9/1/18
AG
In a follow up to this episode: moved the carboy inside to a cool spot. It has been in primary for 2 weeks now. I was going to cold crash this weekend, but that's out of the equation now.

What's the best course of action for my saison?
- Leave in primary carboy for a couple of days, check gravity Monday and Keg it Monday if good reading
- Leave in primary carboy for a longer period to see if it can clear out some more on its own
- Rack to secondary carboy

It is a saison, and the way I understand it a long primary period isn't abnormal and won't hurt it at all.
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G. hirsutum Ag
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2:15p, 9/1/18
AG
My yeast starter bubbled over last night. Is that a common thing? I cleaned it up, transferred stuff into sanitized vessels then back into the flask after it was cleaned and sanitized.
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62strat
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In reply to G. hirsutum Ag • 3:17p, 9/1/18
AG
Seven said:
My yeast starter bubbled over last night. Is that a common thing? I cleaned it up, transferred stuff into sanitized vessels then back into the flask after it was cleaned and sanitized.
Yes yeast starters can bubble up, no biggie. That was an unnecessary and risky step.
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G. hirsutum Ag
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In reply to 62strat • 5:17p, 9/1/18
AG
I was going to pour off the beer and somewhat wash that yeast anyways just sped it up 3 hours or so
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fav13andac1)c
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In reply to Chipotlemonger • 12:01p, 9/2/18
AG
Sorry to hear about your fridge burning out, that always sucks. You are correct in assuming putting a saison at room temp after 12 days is perfectly okay. Can you cold crash in your kegerator? OR you could rack to a co2 purged and sanitized keg and cold crash, add gelatin if you are using, then burn the first 1-3 pints after carbing. That would be the quickest option, really. Pretty safe, as well.

My vote is first option.
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Chipotlemonger
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In reply to fav13andac1)c • 8:46p, 9/4/18
AG
fav13andac1)c said:
Sorry to hear about your fridge burning out, that always sucks. You are correct in assuming putting a saison at room temp after 12 days is perfectly okay. Can you cold crash in your kegerator? OR you could rack to a co2 purged and sanitized keg and cold crash, add gelatin if you are using, then burn the first 1-3 pints after carbing. That would be the quickest option, really. Pretty safe, as well.

My vote is first option.
Well I'll be damned, after a day or 2 all that smell left the garage as I was expecting if it was a fridge leak. Plugged back in my small beer fridge yesterday and it's working and got some beer and water cold. Tonight I plugged up the GE kegerator to see what would happen and it actually is cooling down. No weird chemical smell either. That sound possible or right to anyone? If both fridges are completely fine, it just raises more questions for me! What the heck was that smell?!

Just set the GE kegerator to 38 to see if it keeps going down and maintains a low temp. Maybe I will be able to cold crash after all.


(I have been using the kegerator to both ferment and cold crash my beer so far)
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Ornlu
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In reply to G. hirsutum Ag • 9:12p, 9/4/18
AG
I had the exact opposite problem: starter wouldn't start.

Made a 1.5L starter last week on Thursday. 1.040 grav, made from like 3oz amber LME and 3.5oz light DME. Pitched a pack of WLP028, and put it on the stir plate for 2 days. Never bubbled once. I stopped the stirrer about 20 hours in to see if I could see any activity, nada. Same thing after 48 hours - zilch. Let it settle, and there was virtually no sediment in it.

I threw away the starter and started over just now with a new batch. God I hate liquid yeast.
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G. hirsutum Ag
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In reply to Ornlu • 9:58p, 9/4/18
AG
That's really odd. Usually there are a few active cells in there unless they got cooked or were expired or something? Did you contact the manufacturer?
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