Dude I'm still anxious for certain beers. I tend to hurry my English and American beers along, but my belgians I take time with.
Homebrewers - Whats Fermenting?
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So I am developing a recipe for a high gravity porter. I've never used liquid yeast but I did my research and with a target SG of 1.085 I know that it is the way to go and that I will need to make a starter. I plan to use 2 packs of Wyeast British Ale II and make a 2 liter starter. So far so good. What I have found online I have had difficulty understanding in regards of when and how to pitch the starter. What I think I understand is that I make the starter 2-3 days before brew day. Then the starter should likely be at peak activity and I just pitch the entire 2 liters into the wort once it is chilled to pitching temp and in the primary. Is that right? Is it that easy?
Thanks for the help....
Thanks for the help....
You can add 1 cup DME with 2 cups water, boil for 15 mins then cool to room temp. Throw that into your 2 liter with the yeast and shake it a little. In 2 days you can pitch that directly into your wort.
If don't want to deal with that you can probably just pitch both packs/vials into your carboy. Just make sure you have a blowoff tube or a lot of headspace because with a high OG, you're gonna get quite a show
theribdoctor
Certifiable.
I'm not sure what language you guys are speaking.
I do starters two different ways. I use a stir plate to aerate/drive off CO2/keep yeast in suspension. The stirplate is not the important thing. The one way you can do the starter is make it at 18-24hrs before you brew. That way when you're done brewing and finished chilling it should be right around the height of fermentation in the starter. The other way is do it up about 48 hrs before you brew. Then 12-24 hours before you brew put it in the fridge because it should have finished fermenting by the morning the day you brew. Then fridge will force the yeast to flocculate together and settle out to the bottom. Then you can pour off the non-flocculant yeast and reserve a small amount of liquid to stir the rest of the yeast back up into a slurry. Then just throw that into the fermentor. Like I said I do both ways depending on the the type of yeast.
Your other option would be to make life stupid simple and use 2 packets of a dry yeast like Safale S04. Two of them cost as much as a single liquid yeast culture, and there's no need for a starter. I do this alot because I like simple and S04 is an English yeast I think it's similar to the Wyeast 1098 British Ale yeast.
I read somewhere and of course I cannot find it now that there just won't be enough of a cell count with a couple packets of dry yeast to properly ferment a wort at such a high gravity. Is that not accurate? I read that high gravity brews require a much higher pitch rate. I plugged some numbers into Beersmith and it lists either a 2 liter starter made with two packs of wyeast or to just pitch 4 packs of the wyeast. I don't like the idea of pitching $24 of liquid yeast into one batch of beer so a starter makes sense there. I do like simple though and I don't know if I put everything into beersmith correctly or not so I am not sure how much I trust it's numbers but they do look reasonable.
TheDudeAbides
I got an awesome sound...
Irish stout goes into bottles tomorrow morning, ESB should hit the primary tomorrow afternoon.
-Dude™
-Dude™
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/dry.html
That explains how many cells are in dry yeast per gram. The calculator will tell you how many grams needed based on 20bil/gram cell density.
Now with that said what the rest of the calculator does is figure the yeast in the following manner. It's generally accepted as a rule that you pitch 1mil cells/mL/degree plato. So 1.085 is about 20.29 Plato. That means you need 1mil X 20.29 x volume in mL. Then you would just have to divide that by 20bil to figure out how many grams of yeast you need as a recommended minimum. Of course the calculator I linked to above does all that math for you. Trust me I do yeast cell counts multiple times a week for one of the local micobreweries between classes. :wink:
That explains how many cells are in dry yeast per gram. The calculator will tell you how many grams needed based on 20bil/gram cell density.
Now with that said what the rest of the calculator does is figure the yeast in the following manner. It's generally accepted as a rule that you pitch 1mil cells/mL/degree plato. So 1.085 is about 20.29 Plato. That means you need 1mil X 20.29 x volume in mL. Then you would just have to divide that by 20bil to figure out how many grams of yeast you need as a recommended minimum. Of course the calculator I linked to above does all that math for you. Trust me I do yeast cell counts multiple times a week for one of the local micobreweries between classes. :wink:
Did a quick survey of everything I have in fermentors that I'd like to bottle soon (within 3 months). My Orvalish beer is ready to go and is getting packaged up tomorrow or Friday, currently sitting at 1.008 after dry hops and brett addition. My Dubbel I just brewed is still a little ways off and needs to sit at room temp another week at least. That way the last few gravity points can drop off since it's sitting at 1.020ish and that's way to sweet for this beer.
The big Belgian daddy is damn near done and ready for some cold conditioning at approximately 10.5%. The Belgian Dark Strong Ale is at 1.016 and will likely drop a few more points. Then it will go sit at my garage temp for eight weeks. A portion of that will go into a small 3 gal fermentor to add some sour cherry juice and a piece of oak. That will sit at room temp for another week or so to allow the juice sugars to ferment out. Then it will join the main batch in the garage for the 8 week.
The other biggun is my Scottish Strong/Wee Heavy. That thing started at 1.114 and is currently hovering around 1.035. So that's at 10.5%ish using the standard way to calculate alcohol. There is another way that puts it over 11% since alcohol production is not linear.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/
The big Belgian daddy is damn near done and ready for some cold conditioning at approximately 10.5%. The Belgian Dark Strong Ale is at 1.016 and will likely drop a few more points. Then it will go sit at my garage temp for eight weeks. A portion of that will go into a small 3 gal fermentor to add some sour cherry juice and a piece of oak. That will sit at room temp for another week or so to allow the juice sugars to ferment out. Then it will join the main batch in the garage for the 8 week.
The other biggun is my Scottish Strong/Wee Heavy. That thing started at 1.114 and is currently hovering around 1.035. So that's at 10.5%ish using the standard way to calculate alcohol. There is another way that puts it over 11% since alcohol production is not linear.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/
The sour saison is bottled up. That big bottle is a 3L in the back. The rest are 750s and 375s.
theribdoctor
Certifiable.
I'd love to do this but I recall how hard of a time I had waiting on making bacon...that was tortuous...this would be harder.
I still have to figure out what I'm going to put into the 6L.
I am thinking of taking votes. The thing is, it will be a Belgian style beer. I feel that corked bottles just scream for Belgian beer. A heavy ass bottle like this is perfect for a highly carbonated Belgian ale.....
SkinsFanLarry
Craft Beer Addict!
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From Brooklyn Brewery and it makes a 1 gallon batch....
Beer Making Kit: Hindy's Brown Ale and Beer Making Kit: Hindy's Chocolate Stout
Brew your own beer with our Steve Hindy Edition beer making kit. Everything you need to make a 1-gallon batch of Brown Ale is included. The included 30-page booklet features a brief history of Brooklyn Brewery co-found Steve Hindy's homebrewing experiences while a news editor living in the Middle East, as well as step-by-step instructions for brewing a brown ale and a chocolate stout, and useful sanitizing and bottling tips.
The kit includes:
Grain, hops and yeast for your first batch of brown ale or chocolate stout
Racking cane
Thermometer
Clear vinyl tubing
Tubing clamp
1-gallon glass fermenting jug
Sanitizing cleanser
Airlock
Screw-cap stopper
Beer Making Kit: Hindy's Brown Ale and Beer Making Kit: Hindy's Chocolate Stout
Brew your own beer with our Steve Hindy Edition beer making kit. Everything you need to make a 1-gallon batch of Brown Ale is included. The included 30-page booklet features a brief history of Brooklyn Brewery co-found Steve Hindy's homebrewing experiences while a news editor living in the Middle East, as well as step-by-step instructions for brewing a brown ale and a chocolate stout, and useful sanitizing and bottling tips.
The kit includes:
Grain, hops and yeast for your first batch of brown ale or chocolate stout
Racking cane
Thermometer
Clear vinyl tubing
Tubing clamp
1-gallon glass fermenting jug
Sanitizing cleanser
Airlock
Screw-cap stopper
In an effort to complete my tour of trappist style beers through brewing I think I might brew up a tripel Friday. I have the dubbel ready for bottling, the "specialty" orval-like bottled, the quad/dark strong conditioning, and just have the tripel left.
I'm sure I'll fit an IPA in soon again too, along with brewing up a Flanders Red.
I'm sure I'll fit an IPA in soon again too, along with brewing up a Flanders Red.
Kegging already? Nicely done. I still need a few more parts for my kegerator. Next month for sure. Just ordered a few items to make tap handles and also a screen for my keggle.
I will be brewing a oatmeal stout tomorrow, and smoking of course.
I will be brewing a oatmeal stout tomorrow, and smoking of course.