Have a go at simple AG

[Hoddy]

Is there a thread on here about getting hold of live liquid yeasts, how to store them, and how to cultivate them.

 

[clibit]

Is there a thread on here about getting hold of live liquid yeasts, how to store them, and how to cultivate them.

I don't think so, exactly, but there's not much to getting and storing them. A number of online sellers do liquid yeasts, and you keep them in the fridge. Maltmiller, Homebrewcompany, Geterbrewed, Brewuk and others sell them.

There are different ways to 'cultivate' them. I make a small batch and either skim yeast off the top or keep the yeast left after bottling. i store it in sterilised containers in the fridge.

 

[kev192]

my theakston old peculiar clone beer is nice and clear, so i must have done something right. however the sg was only 1036 at the start and now 1012 so very weak, i did bungle the amount of water i used and topped it up to 23l from about 15l after the boil.
not sure how much to sparge with for 23l

 

[clibit]

my theakston old peculiar clone beer is nice and clear, so i must have done something right. however the sg was only 1036 at the start and now 1012 so very weak, i did bungle the amount of water i used and topped it up to 23l from about 15l after the boil.
not sure how much to sparge with for 23l

Yes using too little water has affected your efficiency and reduced your OG. As you were 8 litres short, you should use 8 litres extra next time, for a similar strength beer. This should solve your problems. First brew is always a bit of a stab in the dark.

 

[kev192]

2nd brew actually but its went much better than the first, which still actually tasted ok.

 

[clibit]

2nd brew actually but its went much better than the first, which still actually tasted ok.

Feel free to put your next recipe on here and we can discuss water quantities etc.

 

[MyQul]

Is there a thread on here about getting hold of live liquid yeasts, how to store them, and how to cultivate them.

Just to add to what clibit says, use a yeast calculator to pitch the correct amount. A white labs vial has about 100bl cell in it. so if you were to use a calculator such as this one

http://www.brewunited.com/yeast_calculator.php

for an average 1.040 brew for 5L (1.3 US Gallon) you would need 37 billion cells. So you would only need to put about 40% of the vial in your brew. If you put the whole thing in you would be over pitching by some margin

 

[kev192]

RINGWOOD BEST clone
A recipe pack containing all the ingredients to make a clone, all grain version of Ringwood Best Bitter.

Easy-drinking, slightly tart pale Bitter. Tempting hop aroma with light fruit notes. Strong malt and hop flavours with dry, tangy, fruit finish.

This recipe is based on the latest edition of Graham Wheeler's book, "Brew your own British Real Ales" and is the 23 litre version.

The pack contains: ( please note all grains come crushed)

Pale Malt (Maris Otter) (grams) 3530
Crystal Malt (grams) 195
Torrefied Wheat (grams) 155
Chocolate Malt (grams) 35

Start of Boil
Challenger Hops (grams) 26

Last Ten Minutes of Boil
Goldings Hops (grams) 7

1 x Protafloc last 15 mins of Boil
1 pack of S-04

 

[clibit]

Ok Kev, can you tell us what equipment you use for mashing and sparging? How do you sparge? And how much water did you use last time, did you keep a record?

You want to use 8 more litres in total than you used last time. I estimate you would need about 32 litres total. 10 to 12 litres of this would go in the mash, the rest would be used to sparge. You could sparge through the grains with all the 20 or so litres, if you have a drain on your mashing vessel, or you could do two batch sparges of about 10 litres each.

 

[BuckeyeBurl]

Hey folks,

Started my journey into the world of home brewing on Saturday and wanted to give a big thanks to everyone involved in this thread! It's been a massive aid to me! :-D

It didn't all go completely to plan, but as this was my first time my primary goal was to simply get through the process. Beer that is actually drinkable at the end will be a bonus!

My recipe was pretty simple:

Target batch volume of 4.6 litres
Target Original gravity of 1.050

Initially used 6.3 litres of water pre-mash.

• 1kg of marris otter
• 5g of Centennial hops @ 60 mins
• 8g of Centennial hops @ 10 mins
• 12g of Centennial hops @ 0 mins
• 1g of irish moss @ 15 mins
• US-05 dried yeast (re-hydrated)

I used a slightly different method from the opening post, opting for the BIAB/no sparge method.

Brew day notes:


I lost about 3-4 degrees Celsius during the 60 minute mash (from 66 to 62) despite wrapping it 3 towels.

My mash efficiency was pretty rubbish, 63-65% with a pre-boil gravity reading of around 1.040.

I lost a significant amount of liquid during the boil. Post boil I was left with about 3.3-3.5 litres. Considering I was at around 5.8 litres pre-boil this seems like some major losses over an hour!

I forgot to record my exact gravity figures, before and after topping up to 4.6 litres (doh!), but it was somewhere in the region of 1.040 -1.045.

I didn't measure the weight of dried yeast and instead eye-balled for about a quarter of the pack. In hindsight I wish that I had properly measured it out, simply for peace of mind. My fermentation doesn't seem as active as others describe and I'm now slightly worried it's been under-pitched.

As the day went on I began to let my record keeping slip. Probably a combination of being knackered out and in a slight panic whenever something seemed to be going off course from the plan.



I'm probably going to keep to the same recipe for the next couple of batches and focus on improving my understanding and confidence in the process before moving onto something a little more exciting.

Thanks again guys. This thread, above all others, gave me the confidence to dive right in to all-grain brewing. Despite a few mishaps I'm still convinced it was the right thing to do! :

 

[clibit]

Thanks again guys. This thread, above all others, gave me the confidence to dive right in to all-grain brewing. Despite a few mishaps I'm still convinced it was the right thing to do! :

That's great to hear, and why it was written. It was definitely the right thing to do, but I would say that!

US05 can be a bit slow to show signs of fermentation, but don't worry. Losing a couple of litres in the boil is pretty normal. Start with more next time, do a sparge, you'll get a higher OG. You could add some water, up to a litre or so. Centennial is a great choice of hop! I love it. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Tony1951]

As the day went on I began to let my record keeping slip. Probably a combination of being knackered out and in a slight panic whenever something seemed to be going off course from the plan.

Despite a few mishaps I'm still convinced it was the right thing to do! :

All noted even though I only quoted a bit of what you said.

It's funny looking back to my first attempt. I made that many errors, I am amazed it worked, but it did, and I expect yours will too. I remember feeling pretty stressed, which is funny now because I can do the whole thing right out of my head instead of checking back all the time to Clibit's thread instructions. :)

The beer I made was one of the best I'd done after several kit brews, but I think yours will be better because of your use of nice flavour hops at the end of the boil.

Personally, I would (assuming you have a big enough pot ) go for a ten litre brew rather than a five litre one. It is a lot of work and you feel at the end of it like you deserve a good reward..... Nine or ten litres is more rewarding to me than four or four and a half... :)

Like Clibit says - be sure to let us know how it turns out. I bet you'll never go back to the other way of brewing.

 

[clibit]

Personally, I would (assuming you have a big enough pot ) go for a ten litre brew rather than a five litre one. It is a lot of work and you feel at the end of it like you deserve a good reward..... Nine or ten litres is more rewarding to me than four or four and a half... :)

I agree - 10-12 litres is a good brew length for me. It is enough to make the hours worth it, but not too much - I'm not a huge drinker, and I don't want loads of beer the same. Twenty 500ml bottles is good. Or thirty 330ml bottles, if it's a stronger brew.

 

[BuckeyeBurl]

Haha, yeah Tony, I was constantly checking back to this site and other articles throughout the day.

I'll definitely be increasing the size next time. Technically that was the first mistake I made! Confirmed and paid for my ingredients order online only to later realise I'd ordered half the grains I had intended to. :lol:

Shall keep you all posted on progress.

 

[kev192]

Ok Kev, can you tell us what equipment you use for mashing and sparging? How do you sparge? And how much water did you use last time, did you keep a record?

You want to use 8 more litres in total than you used last time. I estimate you would need about 32 litres total. 10 to 12 litres of this would go in the mash, the rest would be used to sparge. You could sparge through the grains with all the 20 or so litres, if you have a drain on your mashing vessel, or you could do two batch sparges of about 10 litres each.

basically a 32 litre burco boiler to get water upto 65 deg
i thought i meassured 15l ontop of what was above the tap level
should have been 20 but i think i lost count putting it in
then the boiler dint work so i had to take it all back out reset button underneath and then all ok,
the grains were put into a bag and that brought the level upto the max level on the boiler.
i then after the 65 deg temp reached kept it simmering in the boiler,
after the tap was blocked with grain as the bag got burned on the bottom, when i noticed i then suspended it up higher,
when i used a saucepan to get the liquid out some got spilt.
boiler cleaned out and the bag was squeezed etc etc
the liquid then returned to the boiler for a good boil, i did forget to start the clock but was a good hour.
this then put into the fv and then noticed i was only at 15l
so i topped it up to what i thought was 23l.
i did taste last night , it was ok but weakish
maybe after time it will be better, im leaving it in the fv for a few weeks as advised before.
at least this time around it is a clear beer which i am really please with
so i guess i didnt really sparge at all, but just squeezed the bag i guess. all the time it was getting to 65 deg i was dunking it up and down.

hope this helps with where i maybe going wrong

 

[davemorton]

All the talk of water loss made me wonder. When I am doing my boil, do I have a lid on the pan or not?
Also, thanks on the yeast info, I would have just put the whole white labs vial into my 10l mix. Never used a liquid yeast before. I now need to read up on the other points raised about it, as at £6 a pop, it would be good if I could cultivate it myself.

 

[clibit]

All the talk of water loss made me wonder. When I am doing my boil, do I have a lid on the pan or not?
Also, thanks on the yeast info, I would have just put the whole white labs vial into my 10l mix. Never used a liquid yeast before. I now need to read up on the other points raised about it, as at £6 a pop, it would be good if I could cultivate it myself.

Ideally you have no lid on the pan during the boil. If you need the lid on to get a good rolling boil, make sure there's space for the steam to escape.

This is one good method of liquid yeast cultivation...

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/liquid_yeast.htm

 

[davemorton]

Ideally you have no lid on the pan during the boil. If you need the lid on to get a good rolling boil, make sure there's space for the steam to escape.

This is one good method of liquid yeast cultivation...

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/liquid_yeast.htm

Cheers! What is the reason for not using a lid, I thought it would reduce loss of fluid, or am I missing something?

 

[clibit]

basically a 32 litre burco boiler to get water upto 65 deg
i thought i meassured 15l ontop of what was above the tap level
should have been 20 but i think i lost count putting it in
then the boiler dint work so i had to take it all back out reset button underneath and then all ok,
the grains were put into a bag and that brought the level upto the max level on the boiler.
i then after the 65 deg temp reached kept it simmering in the boiler,
after the tap was blocked with grain as the bag got burned on the bottom, when i noticed i then suspended it up higher,
when i used a saucepan to get the liquid out some got spilt.
boiler cleaned out and the bag was squeezed etc etc
the liquid then returned to the boiler for a good boil, i did forget to start the clock but was a good hour.
this then put into the fv and then noticed i was only at 15l
so i topped it up to what i thought was 23l.
i did taste last night , it was ok but weakish
maybe after time it will be better, im leaving it in the fv for a few weeks as advised before.
at least this time around it is a clear beer which i am really please with
so i guess i didnt really sparge at all, but just squeezed the bag i guess. all the time it was getting to 65 deg i was dunking it up and down.

Kev - I think next time you should use a total of 32 litres of water. If you only have the Burco to heat up water, then this will be tricky, as you won't get 32 litres of water and 4kg of grain into the Burco, obviously. But you should get 25 litres of water and the grain in there comfortably. You could measure the 25 litres into your FV before adding it to the boiler. Heat the water to strike temp then mix in your grains.

fter the mash you will need an extra 7 litres, which you could either boil in a big pan or two, or you could boil the kettle about 4 times. If you could find a way to pour this through the grains to do a bit of a sparge, or dunk the bag of grains in it in a big bucket or something, then great. If not, just add it to the boiler after the mash. When you take the grains out of the mash you should be left with about 21 litres, so you should fit the extra 7 litres in ok, giving you 28 litres to start the boil, and that should be ok in your 32 litre boiler. And you should have about 23 litres at the end, when you transfer to the FV.

 

[MyQul]

Cheers! What is the reason for not using a lid, I thought it would reduce loss of fluid, or am I missing something?

It does reduce fluid loss if you leave the lid on but part of the reason for the boil is to boil off unwanted compounds like DMS which cancause off flavours in your beer