Otto Von Blotto Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 You've got a thick krausen on top of the brew, it's fermenting. Without trying to sound rude, f#^@ the airlock, they're the most useless things ever at determining what the fermentation is doing. If it's not bubbling all it means is that the gas is escaping through another route, most likely a leak in the lid seal or the airlock grommet or both. It's not a problem though, so don't worry about it. I'd agree with Christina too, leave it in the fridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristinaS1 Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 PS No need to take the sloppy slurry out of the fridge for two hours before pitching, to warm it up. I take it straight from the fridge and pitch it directly. It is temperature shocks in the other direction, like when rehydratiing yeast, that you have to be careful to avoid. Cheers Greg, Christina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 PS No need to take the sloppy slurry out of the fridge for two hours before pitching' date=' to warm it up. I take it straight from the fridge and pitch it directly. It is temperature shocks in the other direction, like when rehydratiing yeast, that you have to be careful to avoid. Cheers Greg, Christina. [/quote']I saw that and forgot to respond . There is some thought that it's actually better for the yeast to pitch it cold because it hasn't had the chance to use up its energy reserves yet. Apparently, if it uses these up before it's pitched into wort it can weaken the cells and they can be more vulnerable to destruction. That's the simple explanation anyway; I started a thread about cold pitching yeast a couple of years back when I started trying it out. Lag times being cut in half was the biggest difference I noticed about the process. Actually it was the only difference, the beers weren't negatively affected at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregALE Posted March 28, 2018 Author Share Posted March 28, 2018 All - I will update how my yeast harvested Dark Ale is going for those that are still interested in this thread. Especially for Christina and Kelsey (Otto) who have been providing advice and comment. I apologise for my silence but have been logged out of my account since Sunday night and have only got this fixed today - Thanks PB2 for your efforts. The first thing I want to say is what a great resource this forum is for brewers whether first timers, first time experimenters with hops and grains like myself or experienced brewers. Though I have been logged out I have followed the threads and found many answers to questions I have by searching subects and reading old threads. My advice to new members - research first before asking the answer is probably there somewhere. OK so here is my answers to some of the questions from my last post since I was logged out I will put them in one post rather then responding to each question seperately I am using a 25 litre FV - Brigalow Brand with an air lock - it is quite opaque so I was opening the lid to look. I was pretty excited to see how my yeast would pitch and note the time of action. I had also been following threads about dry hopping and adding finings so was seduced into thinking it was ok to open the lid. Completely forgetting the risk of infection during fermentation period. Since then I have been totally paranoid and reading threads and articles about beer infection and looking at scary photos of alien like growth on top of beer and smelling for bandaid and vegemite smells. Touch wood it looks the brew gods have watched over me and to date I do not think it is infected. It smells and tastes OK. But on Day 4 of the brew I am too scared to open up and look for the signs of infection. The fridge - This is my first attempt at temperature control rather then leaving the FV on the shelf in the shed in the ambient Australian temperature and brewing around 24 degress. Reading the forum and the recipes 18 degress seems to be optimal. So we have a second fridge in the shed (It is not a designated brew fridge but the second family fridge) I cleared some room to get the FV in and restocked the main fridge to make room and turned this right down to lowest setting. But after a day the brew was getting below 18 to 16 (according to the stick on thermomter on the FV) so I was taking it out because night time ambient temp was 18 and then putting it in during the day to avoid higher ambient temps. I have since worked out I just turn the fridge off and keep an eye on the temp - so far by keeping the fridge door shut and the fridge off it is keeping temp at 18 degrees as outside temps are 14 - 24. If necessary I just turn the fridge on for a few hours to bring the temp down. This had lead to heaps of research on other threads about temperature control devices and that long term I possible need to plan for a designated brew fridge and invest some money in temp control device. Otto - thanks for the advice about not getting a false sense of security about the airlock - I am used to it bubbling like a geyser in the hot shed in an Australian summer but am relieved that you don't rely on it - This lead to me search about pros and cons of airlocks and came across a rather long, sometimes funny thread from 2013 about airlocks verse glad wrap - think I will stick with air lock but not get hung up about it. So on Day 4 - from what I can gather trying to peer through the opaque FV without wanting to open the lid it appears that the Krausen has dropped. The brew temp is being maintained at 18 degrees - 20 degrees. There is no action in the airlock. The beer tastes and smells good. I have not taken SG readings today but the OG was 1048 (or is that 1.048??) and on day 2 was 1022 in the morning and dropped to 1018 by lunch and on day 3 was 1014 - so it appears to be doing what it should be doing (Note these readings were not taken after degassing - I have been reading threads about degassing and will degass and take a reading tomorrow) In the past I have been a 6 - 7 days in the FV (ie brew one weekend and bottle the next) but reading up I think I will sit this one for 10 - 12 days to allow the beer to clear a bit more before bottling Anyway that is an update if anyone is interested. I still have not ruled out an infection but will be very wary of it and hopefully my brew sins are forgiven and I have a tasty Dark Ale to drink for winter. Thanks for advice and comment - new brewers really appreciate it Cheers Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Yeah I tried the gladwrap thing once, never again . At the time I kept using the airlock but one day the grommet perished. Instead of buying a new one I just covered the hole with tape and don't even use the airlock anymore. Technically the SG is written as a decimal i.e. 1.048, but it doesn't really matter if you leave it out. We all know what it means either way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malter White Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Hi Brewstars. I'm really enjoying reading all your knowledge. I'm still very much on L plates and have been sticking to the Coopers cans and their recommended fermentables. This thread has pricked my curiosity because my home brews have been tasting very home brewish and I think it's a yeasty flavour. It's not bad but I'd prefer a less yeasty flavour. I've read some of your thoughts on underpitching, so do you think if I only pitched say 5 or 6 grams of the 7 grams of yeast, would I get less of that yeasty flavour and if I did would it be too much of a risk to the health of my brew? Please keep in mind I'm still a novice and at this stage I'm not too confident to step outside the prescribed recipes provided. Your advice is muchly appreciated. TIA. Muzz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristinaS1 Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Hi Brewstars.I'm really enjoying reading all your knowledge. I'm still very much on L plates and have been sticking to the Coopers cans and their recommended fermentables. This thread has pricked my curiosity because my home brews have been tasting very home brewish and I think it's a yeasty flavour. It's not bad but I'd prefer a less yeasty flavour. I've read some of your thoughts on underpitching' date=' so do you think if I only pitched say 5 or 6 grams of the 7 grams of yeast, would I get less of that yeasty flavour and if I did would it be too much of a risk to the health of my brew? Please keep in mind I'm still a novice and at this stage I'm not too confident to step outside the prescribed recipes provided. Your advice is muchly appreciated. TIA. Muzz[/quote'] Hi Brewstars. I don't recommend only pitching 5 or 6 of the the 7gm of kit yeast. The secret to a less yeasty flavour is pitching an adequate amount of yeast for the gravity of your brew, and 7gm is the proper amount if you are using a box of Brew Enhancer, and fermenting in a controlled way at the lower end of the yeast's temperature range. In the case of the kit yeasts it is probably best to use a temp between 18-21C. It may be counterintuitive, but it is actually over-pitching that leads to cleaner flavour, because less yeast growth is required, and they aren't stressed. But you still need good temperature control. What are you using for temperature control Brewstar? Cheers, Christina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malter White Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Hi Christina. Thanks for your reply. My temperature is the room temperature of the kitchen. Which is fairly steady around the 23C mark but it does fluctuate a little. I'm just about to make a batch but I only have the 7gm of yeast, so the next time around I might add a little more. I live in Sth Aust so the ambient temperature will be lower in the coming months which should also assist. Thank you. You're a champ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregALE Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 So I bottled the Dark Ale last night after 15 days in the fermentor. The clarity of the brew was much improved from my previous Dark Ale The OG was 1.048 and the FG was 1.012 The sample I tasted before bottling tasted good and it looks like the beer was not infected I used a can of Dark Ale (Coopers Original Series) 1kg of DME (light dry malt) 300gms of Brown Sugar 300gms of Crystal malt steeped for 30 mins 25 gms of Cascade at a Flame out steep for 10 mins (the thread on Hop Stand Duration was very useful https://club.coopers.com.au/coopers-forum/topic/18190/) and I pitched 200mls of yeast saved from my last brew. I cant wait to taste in a few weeks but am happy that my experimenting with yeast collecting seems to be a success. The other issue that I had a lot more success with was temperature control - and I managed to keep the ferment temp between 18 - 20 degrees just by leaving in a switched of fridge. think temp control will be my next investment. I collected another batch of the yeast from this brew as I am thinking of doing a stout next but am not sure whether I will re-pitch it. Thankyou for all the advice, help and support by other members of this forum. I will report back after leaving in the bottles for a while cheers Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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