Otto Von Blotto Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 Happy new year everyone! Carrying on from last year's thread here, and actually putting it up today because for once I had a pretty quiet NYE and I'm up and about and ready to do the few things I want done today. Anyway, in mine are obviously still the same as yesterday in the new brew fridge is the red ale which I'm checking SG on today and also likely beginning to chill it down. In the old brew fridge is the pale ale which I'm calling Dead Ant, since on the brew day to make it I found one in the sight glass tube on the urn . It's due for it's 72 hour SG check tomorrow, which I'll try to actually do this time. Cheers Kelsey 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty_G Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 My rice lager or is it an ale? Is in the 3rd day of fermentation using Nottingham @15 degrees. It is going gang busters. No sure how much it has dropped as I cant read the hydrometer due to the head in the sample which has been sitting alongside the fementer for 24 hours. Nottingham is fast becoming my favourite yeast. It is so versatile with a 15 degree fermentation range. If I can get the flavour profile I want using this low temp ale yeast I will be ecstatic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenyinthewestofsydney Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 1 hour ago, MartyG1525230263 said: My rice lager or is it an ale? Is in the 3rd day of fermentation using Nottingham @15 degrees. It is going gang busters. No sure how much it has dropped as I cant read the hydrometer due to the head in the sample which has been sitting alongside the fementer for 24 hours. Nottingham is fast becoming my favourite yeast. It is so versatile with a 15 degree fermentation range. If I can get the flavour profile I want using this low temp ale yeast I will be ecstatic. Yeah its a very good house yeast if you wanted to use one yeast for every brew. Will get the job done on a wide range of styles. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty_G Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 1 minute ago, Greeny1525229549 said: Yeah its a very good house yeast if you wanted to use one yeast for every brew. Will get the job done on a wide range of styles. I am not even working at the bottom of the range. The specs say 10-25O. I whimped it at 15O because I was skeptical. I will give it a few more days then pump it up 20O to speed it up and get any diacytal out that may have formed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 I have a Mandarina Bavaria & El Dorado Pale Ale going into my FV this afternoon. I'm looking forward to having beer on tap again in a couple of weeks. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted January 1, 2020 Author Share Posted January 1, 2020 Checked the SG on the red ale, sitting at 1.008 so that's done and dusted. Just dropped the controller down for its cold crash. I'll put some biofine in it on Friday and keg it the following Thursday. Laying new turf in the backyard on Wednesday. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus O'Sean Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Welcome to 2020 fellow brewers and drinkers. What will be in my fermenter on Friday - Coopers XPA. I had intended to do it today. But I was planning to use a Coopers Commercial Yeast Culture slurry that I had harvested and fridged since early November. Realising too late that I should make a starter to reinvigorate this yeast, I have postponed the XPA to Friday. I started the starter last night. 170g of LDM into 1.5L of water, for SG of 1.040. Brought to boil for 10 minutes, then cooled to around 22°C. Combined about 150ml of the yeast I had collected with the cooled starter wort into a sanitised 2L soft drink bottle. Activity noticed after about 2-3 hours (9pm). Six hours (1am) and there was really good effervescence with about 2cm of foam at the top. This morning it looked like this: Starting to clear at the top Consistent colour below clearing section to the lower groove in the bottle (yeast?) Darkening near the bottom, just above the groove in the bottle (some trub from the original slurry?) and after another shake it looks like this: I think I have wrongly thought that the starter would need to ferment for a 2-3 days before being pitched. I thought a few days was needed, like in the original harvesting method for the Coopers Commercial Culture. Further reading "Shaken Not Stirred Starter Method" now makes me think I should have pitched this starter earlier today, which would have been about 12-15 hours after the starter was "started". Any advice on this query would be appreciated for next time. Unfortunately I now cannot do the XPA until Friday. However, if my thoughts on the Shaken Not Stirred Starter Method are correct and I was ready to pitch the starter today: Should I pitch the whole bottle, about 1.8L? - I think the answer is probably "yes" because if pitched at high krausen the bottle contents would by completely mixed and not practical to separate What effect does pitching the whole bottle have on the brews OG? - I think the answer is "not much" because, as long as the wort it is being pitched into has an SG of around 1.040, the starter and wort being similar OG will just result in another 1.8L of beer once fermenter out. Given I will be doing this beer on Friday do I now: Keep shaking the bottle every couple of hours and pitch on Friday? Put the bottle in the fridge to allow the yeast to settle and pitch on Friday? When I pitch on Friday: Do I swirl the whole bottle and pitch all 1.8L? Do I decant off as much liquid as possible, swirl the leftover contents and pitch it? Cheers Shamus P.S. What was in my fermenter - The Pink Grapefruit IPA I bottled last night in the background of the photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red devil 44 Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Just 1 fermenter going at the moment, a German Helles, going nicely so far. I’ll try to put down my Wild Wood Pacific Ale later if I get time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 8 hours ago, Greeny1525229549 said: Yeah its a very good house yeast if you wanted to use one yeast for every brew. Will get the job done on a wide range of styles. It is an Ale yeast tho is it not Greeny? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenyinthewestofsydney Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Yeah it is mate but will make a decent pseudo lager at lower temps as well. Very versatile. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 12 minutes ago, Greeny1525229549 said: Yeah it is mate but will make a decent pseudo lager at lower temps as well. Very versatile. Cheers mate. Might have to give it a try. Have been happy with US05 for the Aley thing and W34/70 for pils-lager cool ferment styles... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red devil 44 Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 53 minutes ago, Greeny1525229549 said: Yeah it is mate but will make a decent pseudo lager at lower temps as well. Very versatile. Might have to call it pseudo echo lager 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted January 1, 2020 Author Share Posted January 1, 2020 Shamus I'd stick it in the fridge overnight, then decant and pitch cold tomorrow or whenever the brew is done. It sounds like it's too late to pitch at high krausen. Normally what you'd do if pitching it at high krausen is to include the DME used in the starter and its volume in the batch recipe. So, say your recipe was a kit and 1.5kg of DME for 23 litres, and you did a 2 litre starter. You'd fill the fermenter to 21 litres, and use 1.3kg DME. The other 200g and 2 litres comes from pitching the whole starter, bringing the whole thing to the target volume. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSands Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 23 hours ago, MartyG1525230263 said: My rice lager or is it an ale? Is in the 3rd day of fermentation using Nottingham @15 degrees. It is going gang busters. No sure how much it has dropped as I cant read the hydrometer due to the head in the sample which has been sitting alongside the fementer for 24 hours. Nottingham is fast becoming my favourite yeast. It is so versatile with a 15 degree fermentation range. If I can get the flavour profile I want using this low temp ale yeast I will be ecstatic. As mentioned elsewhere I've used Notty at 13ºC but I've read of others that use it regularly at 12ºC for 'pseudo-lagers'. Would be interesting to try it out at 10ºC. I think at 15ºC for your lager you were being a bit overly cautious! Nottingham became my main 'go to' yeast for many styles, though more recently I also included M36 for English styles and as an occasional Notty substitute, M42. It is versatile and of course that low-end temp also makes it a good choice for Winter time carbonation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSands Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 I emptied my FV on New Years day. My "Peaches NZ Pale Ale" is now safely in bottles. I've got good stocks (5 different beers) at the moment so probably won't be brewing for another few of weeks, unless I get bored and in desperate need of something to do! Might even do another wine ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty_G Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 13 minutes ago, BlackSands said: I think at 15ºC for your lager you were being a bit overly cautious! Yep, I thought the same at the time but ran with caution as I was using a yeast trub harvested in late September and wanted to give it the best chance of kick starting. At 10O i did not know whether it would wake up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty_G Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 14 minutes ago, BlackSands said: Might even do another wine ... Tell me more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSands Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 (edited) 22 minutes ago, MartyG1525230263 said: Tell me more? I started making wine from kits about 6 months ago. I'm certainly no connoisseur but I was quite impressed with the results and they certainly compete well with the cheaper quaffers you buy for around $10. And in fact Isuspect the more expensive kits would compete well with more expensive wines. Edited January 1, 2020 by BlackSands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 17 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said: I think I have wrongly thought that the starter would need to ferment for a 2-3 days before being pitched. I thought a few days was needed, like in the original harvesting method for the Coopers Commercial Culture. Further reading "Shaken Not Stirred Starter Method" now makes me think I should have pitched this starter earlier today, which would have been about 12-15 hours after the starter was "started". Any advice on this query would be appreciated for next time. For me it depends on my starting yeast volume before pitching it into the starter, & my purpose for the starter. If I have enough volume of yeast prior to pitching it into the starter I will generally create the starter the day before brew day & will pitch the entirety into the main brew wort while the yeast is still actively fermenting the starter wort. If I don't think I have enough volume of yeast to start with OR I'm looking to portion off some for re-use, then I will begin the starter process at least 3 days earlier & allow the starter wort to fully ferment out (& begin to clear) to increase my starting volume of yeast cells to a suitable level. The sign that it is clearing generally tells you the yeast have consumed all the available sugars in the wort, thus you have maximised your yeast numbers from that starter wort volume. I hope that helps. Lusty. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchBastard Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Brewed on New Year’s Eve but into the fermentor today went my Asian lager. 4.3kg Pilsner 1kg flaked rice .2kg carapils 90 min mash /60 min boil 10g sorachi @60 20g @10 10g @FO 34/70 doing the hard yards. i think after 6 AG brews I’ve worked out what works for my equipment. I really upped my efficiency this time. Would that be contributed by the longer mash? Expected OG was 1.052 and I landed on 1.056 with 23L in the FV giving me 77.5% efficiency according to beer smith? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozlizard Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Just about to order this lot for NEIPA #4. 21lt 1.4kg Gladfield American Ale Malt .35kg flaked oats .10kg Simpsons Crystal medium .50kg LDE 1.70kg Coopers Australian Pale Ale 100gm Cascade 100gm Citra 100gm Azacca White Labs East Coast Ale Yeast Any suggestions welcome! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 7 hours ago, MitchBastard said: Brewed on New Year’s Eve but into the fermentor today went my Asian lager. 4.3kg Pilsner 1kg flaked rice .2kg carapils 90 min mash /60 min boil 10g sorachi @60 20g @10 10g @FO 34/70 doing the hard yards. i think after 6 AG brews I’ve worked out what works for my equipment. I really upped my efficiency this time. Would that be contributed by the longer mash? Expected OG was 1.052 and I landed on 1.056 with 23L in the FV giving me 77.5% efficiency according to beer smith? I’m looking forward to the pictures and tasting notes for this one. I have a rice lager on my list for the near future but I will boil some packet rice and use that. Good luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus O'Sean Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Re-starter with Coopers Commercial Culture (CCC) Thanks for the feedback @Otto Von Blotto and @Beerlust Into the fridge she goes (photo just before fridging). Will probably only get 15-18 hours in there before I am ready to pitch. Trub at bottom of bottle. Pretty good amount of yeast above that, but plenty still in suspension too. If I do not get much settling out overnight I will swirl the whole lot and pitch it. I will adjust the water volume and LDM volume to suit as Otto suggested. The slurry was harvested on 1 November last year, so I was a bit worried about viability of the CCC. I have read on this forum how it sometimes does not go so well if left for too long in the fridge between brews. Therefore, with this starter I was trying to build up cell count, if some had died off, and increase the viability of any that were still active. The first few hours produced some really nice sweet fruity aromas, so things were cracking on nicely. Given what I was seeing, I think I could have pitched after 12-15 hours no worries. Now that it has settled down a bit, I think it will still be fine for pitching tomorrow. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 Checked the SG on the pale ale, down to about 1.022 after 4 days so I'll raise the temperature later when I'm home. Also added some biofine to the red ale, and it will sit there til Thursday when it's kegged. Hopefully this time it works a bit better, the clarity in the ESB is great but there was a weird layer of yeast just above the trub when I kegged it. It only had two days though so maybe the extra time will sort that out. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spudley Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Just put my spin of Brew Dogs Punk IPA into the FV, I had run out of S05 so piched some Morgans Americal Ale Yeast I had on hand , brew day went with out to much dramas, usually run the wort through immersion chiller in an ice bath in a esky but this time through it in a cube then put it into chest freezer on temp controlled to 22 degrees , was cooled enough to pich in the afternoon and is now happily sitting at a constant 18 degrees and has a nice krusen happening. Throw some dry hops at it on day 5 or 6 Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade, Galaxy combo , hoping it tastes as good as it smells 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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