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Double sized batches


Malter White

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I now have a 60 litre fermenter and I'm about to embark on my first journey into a double sized brew. Just Coopers kit and kilos X 2, so I can make 60 longnecks instead of 30 at a time.
I know my hydromter will tell me when fermenting is complete but for planning my brew and bottling days I have a question please if anybody knows:
Will my ferment time still be around the 7 days mark like it is with 23 litre batches or does the increased volume also increase the ferment period?
Thanks in advance for your input.

Muzz
 

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10 minutes ago, The Captain!! said:

I don’t think there will be a time difference, pitch double the yeast as normal amount for two batches and it’ll be fine. 

Just so we understand each other correctly, Captain, I'm making 2 x 1.7kg Coopers Pale Ale kits. My intention was to simply mix the 2 cans with 2 x 1kg BE2 and add the 2 included sachets of yeast. Are you suggesting I should add 4 sachets of yeast?

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Hi Muzzy.

It's approx. a 1.039 OG brew so as mentioned 2 x kit yeasts will get the job done, & 3 x kit yeasts will be plenty but is probably better advised.

I hope you have taken into consideration the extra weight 46 litres of beer is to move about as opposed to 23 litres. Hopefully you have a trolley or some sort of contraption to help you with that. 🤔

Best of luck with the brew,

Lusty.

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2 minutes ago, Beerlust said:

Hi Muzzy.

It's approx. a 1.039 OG brew so as mentioned 2 x kit yeasts will get the job done, & 3 x kit yeasts will be plenty & is probably better advised.

I hope you have taken into consideration the extra weight 46 litres of beer is to move about as opposed to 23 litres. Hopefully you have a trolley or some sort of contraption to help you with that. 🤔

Best of luck with the brew,

Lusty.

Thanks for the response, Lusty. I do appreciate it. 3 kit yeast is better on the wallet than 4 too. This advice I like a lot. 🙂
I'm lucky enough to have enough bench space in the kitchen to brew the bigger vat. I also bottle from that position. I don't do any cold crashing or anything like that so the vat stays put.
 

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If I were you, I would go and buy a carton of Cooper's Pale stubs and harvest the yeast from maybe 8 or 9 stubs and reactivate it. Then use it for this larger brew. Then you can collect the remaining yeast once it's bottled and wash/re-harvest it and keep it for your next few batches. With a small bit of effort it'll save you money and give u good results.

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Just now, karlos_1984 said:

If I were you, I would go and buy a carton of Cooper's Pale stubs and harvest the yeast from maybe 8 or 9 stubs and reactivate it. Then use it for this larger brew. Then you can collect the remaining yeast once it's bottled and wash/re-harvest it and keep it for your next few batches. With a small bit of effort it'll save you money and give u good results.

Thanks Karlos. I like your thinking too.
Reckon I'm going to have to increase my skill set and learn to harvest yeast. I have no problem with drinking a slab of Coopers. 🙂
 

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Better yeast is subjective. It depends on personal taste a fair bit. I don't really like what the CCA yeast brings to the beer, I prefer the yeast to take a back seat in pale ales and let the malt and hops come through. The kit yeast would suit my tastes better. 

However, at least you get some extra beer to drink along with the yeast 😁

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With fear of being persecuted I'm still going to ask this question:

Instead of harvesting yeast, would adding a sachet of Brigalow yeast ($2 @ BigW) to the 2 sachets of Coopers kit yeast be feasible? Or am I flirting with danger mixing yeasts?

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8 hours ago, Beerlust said:

Hi Muzzy.

It's approx. a 1.039 OG brew so as mentioned 2 x kit yeasts will get the job done, & 3 x kit yeasts will be plenty but is probably better advised.

I hope you have taken into consideration the extra weight 46 litres of beer is to move about as opposed to 23 litres. Hopefully you have a trolley or some sort of contraption to help you with that. 🤔

Best of luck with the brew,

Lusty.

Good point Lusty. Would hate to lift this in and out of a brew fidge. Even worse a chest freezer.

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Being a miserly type I'd buy four cans of the preferred kit, toss 2 into the fermenter and all four of the yeasts.

After bottling scavenge the trub, clean the fermenter and use the trub straight away for the next batch.

I don't do anything special with the trub, seems to work OK, probably wouldn't need all of it.

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1 hour ago, Marvin said:

Being a miserly type I'd buy four cans of the preferred kit, toss 2 into the fermenter and all four of the yeasts.

After bottling scavenge the trub, clean the fermenter and use the trub straight away for the next batch.

I don't do anything special with the trub, seems to work OK, probably wouldn't need all of it.

A man after my own heart. I'll probably give your method a go at some stage, Marvin. Think I'll start out with an extra $2 sachet from BigW first and see how that goes.

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4 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Better yeast is subjective. It depends on personal taste a fair bit. I don't really like what the CCA yeast brings to the beer, I prefer the yeast to take a back seat in pale ales and let the malt and hops come through.

The CCA strain is no different to any other strain Kelsey. You can ferment it cleaner by pitching healthier volumes & fermenting it at a lower temperature. Treat it like any other British strain of ale yeast you like to use. In the low to mid 20's if you want some form of ester profile, 18°C or lower (strain specific) to minimize ester production.

I get that you don't like signs of esters in any of your beers. That said, I reckon PB2 mentioned a little while back that the CCA ale strain can ferment at/or below 16°C (Failing memory but I reckon he actually said as low as 12°C!!). You're not going to get any ester production from many (if any) ale strains at those ferment temperatures from my experiences using a wide variety of them.

It's a very versatile & reliable ale strain of yeast (IMHO). It's a shame you've 'pigeon-holed' it without ever trying it in a brew yourself yet.

Rather odd too that you reside in the banana-bender state & don't like banana esters apparently?? 😜

Cheers,

Lusty.

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I like bananas, just not in my beer. Same reason I never brew wheat beers 😜

From what I've read of others' experience fermenting it lower, it tends to take forever to finish. Maybe not enough was pitched in those cases, but I don't really want to be waiting 2 weeks or more for something that should have finished in 7 days or less. 

 

 

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22 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

From what I've read of others' experience fermenting it lower, it tends to take forever to finish. Maybe not enough was pitched in those cases, but I don't really want to be waiting 2 weeks or more for something that should have finished in 7 days or less. 

I tend to agree that they are likely under-pitched. Remember most just use the suggested re-activation volume outlined in the Coopers video/pinned post.

I give you a little more credit than that, & would think you'd re-activate a more suitable volume for pitching to avoid the ester profile & slower fermentation, 'yeast daddy'. 😜

It would be a good test for your knowledge & yeast re-use processes to maintain a strain originally sourced from a seeded commercial beer instead of a packaged yeast where the starting volume is more obviously known & can be more easily manipulated & maintained.

Cheers & good brewing,

Lusty.

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Well I just mixed the 46 litre brew together.
2 x Coopers Draught tins with the included yeast sachets plus an extra sachet of Brigalow yeast ($2 @ BigW).
Plus 1kg BE2 & 1kg BE3. 
I mixed the yeast in the wort for the first time ever, instead of pitched on top, because it was very foamy and I worried the yeast wouldn't get through it.
We have some hot days ahead in Adelaide so my fingers are crossed I end up with a drinkable beer. The wort is sitting at 24C. A bit high, I know, but I only had 6 litres of fridged water to bring the temp down. (Note to self for next time: have more cold water on hand.)
Thanks to everybody for the advice above. If this one doesn't turn out so flash I'll try some of the other suggestions made by you good folks in subsequent brews.
 Cheers, Muzz.




 

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