Brewing newbie with some questions

[BobbyBoy]

Now I need solar panels to brew beer? This hobby is getting expensive . 

[Otto Von Blotto]

1 hour ago, Beer Baron said:

Ha ha ha, I was just kidding.

My old house was risen off the ground with hardwood floors and was hardiplank and tile. It was ridiculously cold in winter and boiling hot in summer. 

My new house is concrete floor and brick and the difference is HUGE!!

We don’t really need to run the heater in winter because the house isn’t like an igloo which is great. I haven’t spent a summer in here yet but I suspect that it won’t get really hot and the fans that were installed should keep it cool enough. 

BB

Ours is off the ground with hardwood floors too, but the walls and roof are timber and tin, as well as having high ceilings, and as with most of the houses of this style and age, the interior is designed for maximum airflow through the house. Open up all the doors and windows and it's quite comfortable, chuck on a fan if it's not breezy outside. Brick and tile houses on the ground (and probably the high set ones too) get very hot in summer up here, and the interiors often aren't designed for good airflow through. I guess it's become less of a thing with the advent of home AC units. Even with all the doors and windows open, SWMBO's mum's place would be at least 10 degrees hotter inside than ours is.

We don't really get freezing cold winters, however I have found the hardwood floor is a lot warmer than tiles. The difference is huge between say the lounge and the kitchen. We'll be buying next year and while we will have to settle for brick and tile as it's all we can afford, I will not be going for a house with tiled floors throughout. I'm not overly fussy but that's probably my only deal breaker. I will change the roof the first chance I get though the olds' place had a tiled roof originally but when they changed it to tin it was so much better.

[Beer Baron]

2 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Ours is off the ground with hardwood floors too, but the walls and roof are timber and tin, as well as having high ceilings, and as with most of the houses of this style and age, the interior is designed for maximum airflow through the house. Open up all the doors and windows and it's quite comfortable, chuck on a fan if it's not breezy outside. Brick and tile houses on the ground (and probably the high set ones too) get very hot in summer up here, and the interiors often aren't designed for good airflow through. I guess it's become less of a thing with the advent of home AC units. Even with all the doors and windows open, SWMBO's mum's place would be at least 10 degrees hotter inside than ours is.

We don't really get freezing cold winters, however I have found the hardwood floor is a lot warmer than tiles. The difference is huge between say the lounge and the kitchen. We'll be buying next year and while we will have to settle for brick and tile as it's all we can afford, I will not be going for a house with tiled floors throughout. I'm not overly fussy but that's probably my only deal breaker. I will change the roof the first chance I get though the olds' place had a tiled roof originally but when they changed it to tin it was so much better.

My old house was a box with no air flow but the new house should have good air flow with the position of the door and windows. 

My house has tiles throughout

[Otto Von Blotto]

SWMBO's mum's place has tiles throughout as well, except the bedrooms.

Where we are looking seems to have a mix of newer low set houses and older high set houses, pretty well all brick and tile but there's the odd timber house; the high set ones have timber flooring. We'll probably lean towards those because aside from that, having the garage and laundry underneath rather than on the side means more living and yard space - important with a dog like ours

[The Captain!!]

All this stuff you guys are talking about is passive solar building design. 

Obviously there are a million different ways to build a home and a million different Australian standards that are required to be met. These have changed over the years that we have been building homes in Australia and each location has different sub laws/standards that are required to be met.

For the majority of places that people build single dwellings in Australia, the best “standard” ecologically friendly home, but not the cheapest to build, is the reverse brick veneer home with bricks on the inside and framing and cladding with a bucket load of insulation to boot on the outside. 

There’s a fair bit of information around on a government website called myhome.gov or something like that. 

My next home, I will build myself and this will be designed this way. 

Anyways have fun

Captain

[Otto Von Blotto]

It does depend on location for sure. Up here, the classic timber and tin Queenslanders were, are and always will be the best design for this climate, aside from also being beautiful looking. Having lived in a few different designs over the years, they were always the coolest in summer without the need for artificial cooling, and tend to retain heat better in winter, I've noted this winter it's often 15 degrees warmer inside than out. Other styles have been freezing. If I was ever in a position of building a house (up here) I would go that style over anything, obviously making sure it met current building standards. 

[The Captain!!]

Yep and the passive solar design I speak of is exactly that, it’s not a one size fits all and for your area it’s the best design is the classic Queenslander style house.

I love a Queenslander designed house and yes, especially when they are in the area it was designed for.

Captain

 

[BobbyBoy]

Put the Amber Ale down this morning. Think I might’ve pitched the yeast at a temp that was too high. About 24c. Got some cooler weather coming up, so that should get the beer into good fermentation temps.

Reason the temps were a bit up is I desolved the kit in hot water in a pot before adding it to the FV. Wanted to do it that way to practice making a wort for when it comes to other brews. I have a question: I put the pot in the sink with cold water to cool it a bit, but was in a rush so got it out soon after. Next time when I have time, how long can a wort sit to cool so I can get the pitching temp to a better range?

[Otto Von Blotto]

Pitching a bit warmer is ok if the temp is dropped relatively quickly. 

A small amount of wort like that wouldn't take long to cool, but it is a good idea to have some pre chilled water on hand when mixing it all up in the fermenter instead of just cold tap water. Much easier to get it down to ideal pitching temps.

[BobbyBoy]

14 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Pitching a bit warmer is ok if the temp is dropped relatively quickly. 

A small amount of wort like that wouldn't take long to cool, but it is a good idea to have some pre chilled water on hand when mixing it all up in the fermenter instead of just cold tap water. Much easier to get it down to ideal pitching temps.

So it’s better to add cold water to get the right temps over waiting for the wort to cool.

p.s. Big thank you to you Otto Von Blotto. You’ve been a big help to me and I notice you are a big help to other newbies on the forum.  Just thought I’d give you a shout out.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Both methods work fine, but using chilled water is quicker

And cheers mate, always good to be able to help new brewers. We all started there at some point

[JoeB7]

On 9/2/2018 at 1:05 PM, Otto Von Blotto said:

Pitching a bit warmer is ok if the temp is dropped relatively quickly. 

A small amount of wort like that wouldn't take long to cool, but it is a good idea to have some pre chilled water on hand when mixing it all up in the fermenter instead of just cold tap water. Much easier to get it down to ideal pitching temps.

What about pitching at a cooler than advised temp? I try to do a 25C pitch & fart arse around balancing wort temp with my FV open to the elements for too long. If I go cooler then let my T/stat bring it up should be OK...., right?

[Otto Von Blotto]

18 minutes ago, JoeB7 said:

What about pitching at a cooler than advised temp? I try to do a 25C pitch & fart arse around balancing wort temp with my FV open to the elements for too long. If I go cooler then let my T/stat bring it up should be OK...., right?

I actually prefer doing it that way so I would say do it if you can. The pitching warm idea is probably more due to not really pitching enough yeast. I think a larger yeast pitch at a cooler temp is better than a smaller pitch at a warmer temp.

I need to work out a better system for getting my cubes chilled a couple of degrees under my intended ferment temp, the few times I've managed it the results have been great, especially with lagers. 

[JoeB7]

The LHBS I use, when not using a Coopers can, supply a 10gr yeast with their 'shake-n-bake' products. Is that a decent amount? I've noticed some of you experienced HBers comment about double dosing yeast in some Coopers cans. 

[Norris!]

For a kit and a kilo you are pretty good with 10g, so 1.7kg kit and kilo of malt or whatever it will handle that well, but when the OG starts to go over 1.05ish you should be looking to check how many cells you need from a yeast calculator. Under pitching can cause off flavours in the beer while over pitching can lead to bland flavours or no flavours from the yeast.  It depends on what you want from the final product. Some beers are all about esters and the yeast flavours while others are about the malt and need a clean backdrop, think saison and lager.

[JoeB7]

49 minutes ago, Norris! said:

For a kit and a kilo you are pretty good with 10g, so 1.7kg kit and kilo of malt or whatever it will handle that well, but when the OG starts to go over 1.05ish you should be looking to check how many cells you need from a yeast calculator. Under pitching can cause off flavours in the beer while over pitching can lead to bland flavours or no flavours from the yeast.  It depends on what you want from the final product. Some beers are all about esters and the yeast flavours while others are about the malt and need a clean backdrop, think saison and lager.

Cool thanks Norris... So if I up my fermentables, would I need more yeast to consume them or just longer for them to feed?

[Norris!]

That is true. It also depends on your batch size. If you have an 11l batch and it is 1.060 then 1 packet might be enough, I did not check the calculator to confirm but you get the idea.

The yeast also need to be able to work and reproduce without being stressed. If you under pitch because of a lot of fermentable then you will get some off flavours that might be good in a saison but nasty in a nice clean pale ale or lager.

So basically yes.

[Otto Von Blotto]

It's a good idea to pitch a good amount of yeast for any batch. Just because it's a low OG doesn't mean that underpitching won't potentially muck it up. 

The pitching rates are based on OG and volume so if either or both of those change, so does the amount of yeast needed. There is a bit of leeway though and you don't have to be precise (impossible at home anyway), close enough is good enough. A 10g pack should be enough for a standard 20 odd litre batch up to an OG in the mid-high 1.040s. Above that and there's more chance of problems unless the yeast pitch is increased. That's not to say that there will definitely be problems, but the risk is a bit higher.

[porschemad911]

9 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

It's a good idea to pitch a good amount of yeast for any batch. 

Yes, but Norris is saying the 'good' amount of yeast varies by strain. You are going to want to pitch less for a Belgian or a Weissbier than for an American Ale for example. There's quite a few Weissbier experiments comparing pitching rate and getting preferable results from what might be considered an underpitch. 

[The Captain!!]

5 minutes ago, porschemad911 said:

Yes, but Norris is saying the 'good' amount of yeast varies by strain. You are going to want to pitch less for a Belgian or a Weissbier than for an American Ale for example. There's quite a few Weissbier experiments comparing pitching rate and getting preferable results from what might be considered an underpitch. 

Is that by pushing ester formation? 

[Otto Von Blotto]

I'm aware that it varies John. Have read before of deliberate underpitching with certain styles and strains to get the desired flavor. On the other end of the scale you've got lagers that should be pitched with a lot of yeast for the best result. 

I guess the point is, pitch around the right amount of yeast for the style/strain and you will get the desired outcome

[porschemad911]

On 9/6/2018 at 8:23 AM, The Captain1525230099 said:

Is that by pushing ester formation? 

Yes, although there does seem to be conflicting wisdom out there. One school of thought says a lower pitch rate will produce more esters, and another says a higher pitch rate will produce more esters (because if the yeast aren't busy reproducing, then they'll be busy making esters). Really have to experiment for yourself.

On 9/6/2018 at 8:52 AM, Otto Von Blotto said:

Have read before of deliberate underpitching with certain styles and strains to get the desired flavor.

Kelsey, if it's the desired flavour then my point is that it's not an underpitch. An underpitch would be where the amount of yeast pitched doesn't yield the desired flavour, and (crucially) pitching more yeast does. 

Cheers, 

John

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

5 minutes ago, porschemad911 said:

Yes, although there does seem to be conflicting wisdom out there. One school of thought says a lower pitch rate will produce more esters, and another says a higher pitch rate will produce more esters (because if the yeast aren't busy reproducing, then they'll be busy making esters). Really have to experiment for yourself.

 

Haven't heard of that John. Overpitch leading to more esters. Certainly I don't pitch as much yeast for each point of gravity for a Belgian beer that I do for a clean pale ale or IPA to get the desired level of esters.

[BobbyBoy]

The Amber Ale has been in the bottle for 2 weeks on Sunday. Pretty excited to try it, but, am going to give it another week in the bottle. Next beers I'm planning are a Pilsner for a Christmas present for some friends and was thinking of doing a Gluten Free beer for my brother who has coeliac disease. I'm going to do a search on the forum as well, but, does anyone have any experience brewing gluten free?

[Otto Von Blotto]

On 9/8/2018 at 10:26 PM, Greeny1525229549 said:

Haven't heard of that John. Overpitch leading to more esters. Certainly I don't pitch as much yeast for each point of gravity for a Belgian beer that I do for a clean pale ale or IPA to get the desired level of esters.

Neither have I. All the literature I've seen has said that underpitching leads to more esters and overpitching leads to less, i.e. a cleaner beer, or in more extreme cases a bland beer. It doesn't make a lot of sense anyway; if they're not busy reproducing, surely they're busy eating sugars more than producing esters.

@BobbyBoy no experience here with brewing gluten free beers as I have no need to. Only one bad experience tasting one, O'Briens. I think it is brewed with sorghum and it tastes like stale apple juice, bloody awful.