Yeast questions

[AndrewC5]

Yeast questions are as follows:

1.) What are the main differences between can and other yeast in the beer itself?

2.) What yeast should i use for what beers? any decent reads out there?

3.) Is it hard to reculture (reuse) yeast?

[Muddy Waters]

G'day Andrew,

 

My opinion is:

 

1. Yeast can really make a huge difference to the final flavour and can make or break a beer. The can yeast you get with Coopers is good stuff and can generally handle higher temps pretty well (Not really taking the lager yeasts into consideration in that statement). The downside for the kit yeast is that you don't really know how well it has been stored and what temps it has been subjected to - this is especially relevant when buying from a supermarket.

 

2. Depends on what your making really. If I'm making an American Pale ale I'll tend to use US-05 or a liquid California Ale yeast and enjoy the final product. Having said that I've used the kit yeast or a recultured Coopers yeast and had great results too. It really depends on what kind of beer you are making. I haven't got any rally good links to offer but would suggest going to the Fermentis, Whitelabs and Wyeast sites and see what they have to say - while they will be spruiking their own products it will give a foundation of info that you can build on.

 

3. It is dead easy to reculture yeast. Grab a 6 pack of Pale Ale Stubbies (or a few longnecks) and have a read HERE. There is a method listed there. I use a similar method except I use either 100g of LDM or 50g DEX/50gLDM to a litre of water and put that with all my dregs in a thoroughly sanitised 2L softdrink bottle. I cover the top with a bit of cling wrap secured with a rubber band (with a pin prick in the cling wrap for air to escape. I keel it somewhere prominent and give it a swirl to re-suspend the yeast every time I walk past. It is ready to pitch in 24- 48 hrs.

 

I hope at least some of this was helpful mate. I haven't had much sleep and am in a bit of a flu induced daze [sick] . You may want to wait for something a bit more coherent from someone else [wink]

[AndrewC5]

is it possible to reculture from my own Homebrew? I was thinking of getting a scoop from the bottom of the fermenter after i bottle and trying it on that. Is this possible?

[ChrisK]

This was mentioned in the other thread, but yes it's possible to keep on reculturing, though you add more and more infection each time. PB2 recommended trying to use the freshest yeast possible (i.e. second generation, only been through one batch of beer))

[AndrewC5]

I had a peek at that at could find how to do it with homebrew

so whould the method be the same? or would you get yeast from the fermentor after primary fermentation? Im thinking i could get some yeast from the end of the PETs. Only thing is, theres alot of crap at the bottom of the bottles, it thickens over time, so im assusming its not yeast?

G'day all: Today at about 10am I put down a simple brew of Morgans Australian Draught and one kg dextrose. The use by date on the can was Feb 13. It's now 8pm and the yeast has barely started. The temperature is controlled at 24C with glad wrap cover. Is the yeast RS? Would anyone care to comment?

[Hairy]

I wouldn't worry about it at the 10 hour mark. It can sometimes take 24-48 hours for visible signs of fermentation.

 

Just relax and give it more time.

[Andy Ale]

A yeast question...What yeast comes with the Coopers Ginger Beer can? cheers Andrew

[Guest]

I wouldn't worry about it at the 10 hour mark. It can sometimes take 24-48 hours for visible signs of fermentation.

 

....or 60 hours if you use Safale S-04 yeast!!

 

Damn S-04 yeast! [pinched] [lol]

 

Beer.

 

[Damien E1]

I wouldn't worry about it at the 10 hour mark. It can sometimes take 24-48 hours for visible signs of fermentation.

 

....or 60 hours if you use Safale S-04 yeast!!

 

Damn S-04 yeast! [pinched] [lol]

 

Beer.

 

Then it'll conk out at 1025 anyway! I hate S-04!

[Guest]

G'day all: Today at about 10am I put down a simple brew of Morgans Australian Draught and one kg dextrose. The use by date on the can was Feb 13. It's now 8pm and the yeast has barely started. The temperature is controlled at 24C with glad wrap cover. Is the yeast RS? Would anyone care to comment?

 

Sure

[sick] [sick] [sick] [sick] [sick]

 

Overdose on dex, far too hot.

 

Sorry.

 

Thanks for the info chaps. The brew is slowly fermenting this morning, unlike the Cooper yeast which normal goes berserk with 24 hours.

I ferment in an old fridge lying on it's back with a thermostat set to 21 degrees. When I tested it with water in the FV, it maintained 21 degrees for a week. When I put a brew in, the stick-on thermometer reads a bit higher, sometimes up to 24 degrees.

I realize it is only an El-cheapo thermometer, but I am now wondering if the brew produced heat as it ferments?

[Guest]

yes it will, especially at the start of the ferment and will taper off toward the end.

 

 

 

 

G'day all: My current brew of Morgans Australian Draught and one kg dextrose has now been 9 days fermenting at about 20 to 21 degrees. The OG was 1050 and it is now 1011. Judging by the still muddy appearance and reasonable amount of bubbles, I think it's still got a bit of fermenting to do. As it stands the ABV is about 5.1%. It tastes very good and I am wondering about the OG of 50 seems quite high. I think this is a Queensland based beer kit and the recommend fermentation temperature is 25 degrees. Is this brew fermenting slowly because I have lower the temperature?

With a recommended fermentation temperature of 25 degrees, how low can one go before the yeast throws the towel in? If anyone's got an opinion, I would love to hear it. Thanks.

[Guest]

You should be able to get the yeast down to around 17C before it goes dormant.

 

Don't listen to the instructions and ferment your (Ale)wort with a temp 18c-20c. However, it appears what you have isn't too bad...

 

A higher temperature will result in a faster ferment. Just let it go the way you are and take a hydrometer reading on day 12 and another on 13. They should both be the same reading and if they are then you can bottle.

 

You can do it sooner but it is best to leave it as long as I suggest above.

 

Ignore the muddy appearance (cue in for Muddy here [lol]) and the bubbles you are getting. All that means is you are getting bubbles and it isn't all that clear at the moment [cool]

Thank BillK, I'll take your advice and keg it on day 13... I'll have to cos I will be out of beer by then!

[Damien E1]

Thank BillK' date=' I'll take your advice and keg it on day 13... I'll have to cos I will be out of beer by then![/quote']

 

Make sure it's finished before you keg it. By day 13 an ale should be finished, but you can never be too careful.

[Guest]

Thank BillK' date=' I'll take your advice and keg it on day 13... I'll have to cos I will be out of beer by then![/quote']

 

Make sure it's finished before you keg it. By day 13 an ale should be finished, but you can never be too careful.

 

Which is why...

 

Just let it go the way you are and take a hydrometer reading on day 12 and another on 13. They should both be the same reading and if they are then you can bottle.

 

G'day All: My abovemention brew only fermented out to 1011. To be honest, it's only just drinkable. The can of Morgans Draught was close to it's useby date and I suspected some was wrong when it was fermenting. This brew has got that real old fashion "homebrew" tang. I persevered with a few pots tonight but I think I will end up tipping it out. I've got a Thomas Coopers Australian Bitter plus light dry malt brewing so hopefully my ego can be restored. In the meantime, I may have to resort to some "store-bought piss", damn!

[Otto Von Blotto]

The 1kg dextrose added to it probably has a lot to do with the "homebrew tang"... I think your Aussie Bitter with the light dry malt will turn out a better tasting beer.[joyful]

[Guest]

Sorry to hear your brew hasn't turned out very good. Like Kelsey said, it is possibly due to the amount of Dextrose you have in there. I would also put it down to the age of the can and even though I haven't tried a Morgan's Draught, I don't think I ever will [pinched]

[Guest]

G'day All: My abovemention brew only fermented out to 1011. To be honest' date=' it's only just drinkable. The can of Morgans Draught was close to it's useby date and I suspected some was wrong when it was fermenting. This brew has got that real old fashion "homebrew" tang. I persevered with a few pots tonight but I think I will end up tipping it out. I've got a Thomas Coopers Australian Bitter plus light dry malt brewing so hopefully my ego can be restored. In the meantime, I may have to resort to some "store-bought piss", damn![/quote']

 

Shocking and unexpected result [roll]

Thanks for the comments chaps, I'm still drinking it...maybe I'm a bit pigheaded, but, believe it or not, the dreaded homebrew tang has gone...thanks to a couple of drops of "Bickfords" Lemon, lime and soda!

[GrahamB8]

"Bickfords" Lemon' date=' lime and soda! [/quote']

 

You are a lot like my missus [kissing]

[Guest]

Hi JDB.

 

Sorry to hear about your most recent brew. I think the next one you have planned will turn out better due to the omission of dextrose for some light dry malt powder.

 

In your future recipes, might I suggest you stick with the Coopers range of kit tins as your base for different recipes. I reckon they are the best you can buy.

 

Also try to remove the thought of having to add dextrose or sugar in large quantities into your brew. Malts apart from having flavours, have sugars in them too that ferment to create alcohol. When you use dextrose or sugar in place of a malt addition, you are basically adding a sugar syrup into your brew, which will detract away from the malt flavours of the kit tin & leave you with a residual cidery like taste & a bland malt flavour.

 

For most of my recipes these days, I don't even use ANY dextrose. The only times I do, it is usually in amounts no more than 100-150gms, & that is because I want to purely increase the final Alcohol By Volume of my finished beer by a little more.

 

Move away from simple sugar additions in your brew, & replace them with malt additions & watch the quality of your beer improve measurably.

 

Last but not least, on brew day, make sure you have lots of cold water in your fridge & plenty of ice cubes in your freezer. Use this to help get the start temperature of your fermenter down to 18-20\xb0C (64-68\xb0F), so that you can pitch your yeast at a more desirable temperature. By going to this effort you will give your brew a fighting chance at fermenting more thoroughly. [rightful]

 

Good luck with the AUS Bitter.

 

Anthony.