What's in Your Fermenter 2022?

[Cult Of One]

3 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Generally, I rinse mine out & chuck it on the garden, I figure some plants somewhere would benefit.

You can of course re-use the yeast for another brew, save it to a sanitised jar & seal with cello wrap & fridge for 2-3 weeks.

Of course, your cleaning/sanitising practices need to be meticulous as you could infect the next brew.

Thanks for reply, I reckon it sounds risky to save a few cents and risk a brew. The garden may do well out of it. I may see if i can use some in a test loaf of bread. See if the yeast works on that. 75 cents worth of flour is worth the risk.

[Cult Of One]

10 minutes ago, DavidM said:

I spread mine on the Lawn

(lawn is a poor word for my area, Mowed weeds is better).

I have the "greenish groundcover" that I let die over summer.  a nice collection of weeds also. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, Cult Of One said:

Thanks for reply, I reckon it sounds risky to save a few cents and risk a brew. The garden may do well out of it. I may see if i can use some in a test loaf of bread. See if the yeast works on that. 75 cents worth of flour is worth the risk.

All good, I do it occasionally, but I would only ever use it once, some brewers on here re-use it many times.

There is a lot of info on this topic, attached a couple for you. Cheers.

https://www.beercraftr.com/yeast-washing/

https://beginnerbrewer.com/harvesting-and-reusing-yeast-a-guide/

[Shamus O'Sean]

18 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Yeah, don't have any at the moment. Not sure I will again either unless I can find the powdered version somewhere. The liquid one is too expensive per batch. 

Fair enough.  I am happy to pay $1.50 per batch for the liquid version ($15 per 1L bottle, using 100ml per batch).  But that is all I have ever known.  Now that you mention it, I remember you used a powdered version.  No doubt it was much cheaper.  I have looked a few times, but cannot find a powdered version anywhere.

[Otto Von Blotto]

1 hour ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Fair enough.  I am happy to pay $1.50 per batch for the liquid version ($15 per 1L bottle, using 100ml per batch).  But that is all I have ever known.  Now that you mention it, I remember you used a powdered version.  No doubt it was much cheaper.  I have looked a few times, but cannot find a powdered version anywhere

Yeah, I paid about the same for it and it probably lasted about 50 batches or so. I can find it online but it's all from overseas suppliers. I might get some liquid sporadically, or only use it in specific brews like lagers. 

[Graculus]

On 11/16/2022 at 8:13 PM, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

@Graculus yes the lager one would definitely be better for that style. I'll either use Bavarian or Diamond Lager yeast slurry for mine.

I think, but could be wrong, that on the box it comes in there are recommended yeasts to use with it.
US05 is one of them. The Diamond Lager yeast is another.

The place I buy the fresh wort give you a packet of yeast too.
The other place nearby doesn't.
I've reused the yeast to brew Coopers Lager both times.

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

@Graculus I think  they would recommend the US-05 more for people without proper temp control as its a neutral yeast.  I also have to purchase my yeast separate and they don't always re-stock FWK frequently. I found the kegland no frills FWK Lager is great, cheap enough that you can get it posted and is still an affordable all grain brew that tastes good.

[Pale Man]

Coopers Draught with a mini mash in. I've started the Diamond Lager yeast at 18 to give a nice welcome, I'll turn the dial down to 13 - 14 degrees over 12 hours or so.

Interesting doing a mini mash with a Coopers can, good fun and everything is quite forgiving if you F up. I'd recommend to our kit and kilo brewers to give it a go.

 

[Cheap Charlie]

5 minutes ago, Mr Beer Goggles said:

Coopers Draught with a mini mash in. I've started the Diamond Lager yeast at 18 to give a nice welcome, I'll turn the dial down to 13 - 14 degrees over 12 hours or so.

Interesting doing a mini mash with a Coopers can, good fun and everything is quite forgiving if you F up. I'd recommend to our kit and kilo brewers to give it a go.

 

was thinking of doing a mini mash with a coopers pale ale kit as my first mini mash. I only have a 20L pot and will have to get a bag I guess.. What do you suggest as a first go?

[Pale Man]

18 minutes ago, Cheap Charlie said:

was thinking of doing a mini mash with a coopers pale ale kit as my first mini mash. I only have a 20L pot and will have to get a bag I guess.. What do you suggest as a first go?

20 litre pot mate is all you need. Get yourself 2 - 3 kilo of crushed base malt ( I'd go no less than 3 kilo ), line your pot with a bag of sorts. Large paint strainer bags from Bunnings are absolutely built for the job. Boil the bag up and make sure it is safe the day before.

Easy peasy.  

Line your pot with the bag. Strike water about 72 celcius. Mash your grains in........blah blah blah.

Coopers cans make a fantastic base to add fresh grains, for a great beer. Its a step up from the can, dried or liquid malt.

[Shamus O'Sean]

9 hours ago, Cheap Charlie said:

was thinking of doing a mini mash with a coopers pale ale kit as my first mini mash. I only have a 20L pot and will have to get a bag I guess.. What do you suggest as a first go?

Partial/mini mashes are really worth it, Charlie.  The only challenge I found for a first time partial masher, with very little equipment, was cooling the boiled wort.  But, if you plan ahead, you can deal with that.  Dunking the pot in a cool water bath in the sink a few times first will also help cool the wort.  Plus 10 litres of water refrigerated overnight or 10 litres of ice blocks in the freezer overnight.  Then added to the wort, will get the wort back to a yeast pitching temperature. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Polyclar went in yesterday so all on track to keg on Saturday. 

I'm gonna delay brewing the next batch until I get some stuff I need so probably only a couple of weeks. It was always gonna be a bit of a staggered restart with having to buy things that aren't cheap but not ridiculously expensive either. Next on the list is a 5 litre flask so I can make starters for lagers, which I'll order in the next week or two. Then a new still, and I'll brew a red ale while I organise that one. 

By that stage I won't be far off going on annual leave until the end of January so that'll be when things get going properly. 

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

11 hours ago, Cheap Charlie said:

was thinking of doing a mini mash with a coopers pale ale kit as my first mini mash. I only have a 20L pot and will have to get a bag I guess.. What do you suggest as a first go?

Just use an old pillow case that's what I do. The first ever brew in a bag was actually an Aussie who used a pillow case as far as I have been told.

[Cheap Charlie]

11 hours ago, Mr Beer Goggles said:

20 litre pot mate is all you need. Get yourself 2 - 3 kilo of crushed base malt ( I'd go no less than 3 kilo ), line your pot with a bag of sorts. Large paint strainer bags from Bunnings are absolutely built for the job. Boil the bag up and make sure it is safe the day before.

Easy peasy.  

Line your pot with the bag. Strike water about 72 celcius. Mash your grains in........blah blah blah.

Coopers cans make a fantastic base to add fresh grains, for a great beer. Its a step up from the can, dried or liquid malt.

Will check out bunnings next time I'm there, should be cheaper than the LHBS

2 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Partial/mini mashes are really worth it, Charlie.  The only challenge I found for a first time partial masher, with very little equipment, was cooling the boiled wort.  But, if you plan ahead, you can deal with that.  Dunking the pot in a cool water bath in the sink a few times first will also help cool the wort.  Plus 10 litres of water refrigerated overnight or 10 litres of ice blocks in the freezer overnight.  Then added to the wort, will get the wort back to a yeast pitching temperature. 

Good point about cooling quickly, I usually chill an old woolies 10L container prior to mixing my K&K 

37 minutes ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

Just use an old pillow case that's what I do. The first ever brew in a bag was actually an Aussie who used a pillow case as far as I have been told.

I like this idea, just tried it out, fits perfectly! 

[Shamus O'Sean]

3 hours ago, Cheap Charlie said:

Will check out bunnings next time I'm there, should be cheaper than the LHBS

That's where I got mine. Get the ones for 10-20 litre paint tins.

They are made from nylon or something like that.  Do not make the same mistake I did.  The bag cannot take direct heat.  Unless you can keep the bag off the bottom of the pot, do not try to maintain the mash temperature by reheating it with a gas or electric hot plate.  Otherwise the bag will melt. They are fine floating in boiling  wort. I use them for containing my hops in a boil.

[Tone boy]

16 hours ago, Cheap Charlie said:

was thinking of doing a mini mash with a coopers pale ale kit as my first mini mash. I only have a 20L pot and will have to get a bag I guess.. What do you suggest as a first go?

Hey CC, 

Friend of the forum the great @ChristinaS1 gave some awesome info on partial mashing. Follow the link here and have a read.

The best explanation I have ever read on partial mashing.

I too use a paint strainer bag, lined in a drinks esky. The esky is insulated so holds its temp pretty well. I heat my strike water (usually about 4.5 litres) to about 75 degrees C and find that mashes 1.5 kilos of grain at about 66 degrees. You can find strike water temperature calculators online, I use the brewfather one.

I mash for an hour, batch sparge for 10 minutes and boil for 30 minutes, adding hops at flameout usually.

Anyway I encourage you to read Christina’s process.

cheers

 

[ben 10]

On 11/18/2022 at 2:17 PM, Cult Of One said:

save a few cents

Liquid yeast @ $15 a brew it is worth doing.

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

45 minutes ago, beach_life said:

Liquid yeast @ $15 a brew it is worth doing.

 

Do you get them shipped in Dry Ice packs Beachy?

I wouldn't mind trying it just for the experience.

[ben 10]

36 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Do you get them shipped in Dry Ice packs Beachy?

Just normal ice, express post

[Cheap Charlie]

2 hours ago, Tone boy said:

Hey CC, 

Friend of the forum the great @ChristinaS1 gave some awesome info on partial mashing.

 

nice one @Tone boycheers mate

[Cheap Charlie]

2 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

That's where I got mine. Get the ones for 10-20 litre paint tins.

They are made from nylon or something like that.  Do not make the same mistake I did.  The bag cannot take direct heat.  Unless you can keep the bag off the bottom of the pot, do not try to maintain the mash temperature by reheating it with a gas or electric hot plate.  Otherwise the bag will melt. They are fine floating in boiling  wort. I use them for containing my hops in a boil.

Hopefully you didn't have too many catastrophic meltdowns 

I will definitely keep that in mind, didn't think of that problem 

[jennyss]

6 hours ago, Tone boy said:

Anyway I encourage you to read Christina’s process.

Thanks @Tone boyfor the link about partial mashing. There is so much buried treasure in the Coopers Community,

[Shamus O'Sean]

4 hours ago, Cheap Charlie said:

Hopefully you didn't have too many catastrophic meltdowns 

Just the one.  Pulled out the bag, but not the grain. 

[Pale Man]

17 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Just the one.  Pulled out the bag, but not the grain. 

Ive got a thick copper bottom pot, didn't have an issue with the bag. That included a 75 degree mash out with the bag in.

[Shamus O'Sean]

18 minutes ago, Mr Beer Goggles said:

Ive got a thick copper bottom pot, didn't have an issue with the bag. That included a 75 degree mash out with the bag in.

That'll help.  Mine was the $25 Big W 19 litre pot.  It's base is thin as.  Only thick enough to hold its shape when full of water.  Still, they are a cheap and handy pot in the brewery.  I have two of them and a 7 litre version.