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What's in Your Fermenter? 2016


Otto Von Blotto

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Yeah it is a bit sucky, I was gonna give it one more batch and throw it away with the trub but I'm a bit over the 1318 and its sweeter finish, so I'm giving 1469 a go because it sounds like it'll be a little drier and more to my tastes. So does 1335, but one step at a time. lol

 

I rarely have to throw yeasts out though as I don't brew a huge variety of styles, so I generally have 3 on hand. At the moment the 2001 Urquell is a constant for my pilsners but planning to experiment with 2000 when that one runs its course. It's been in the fridge since October or whenever it was I brewed the last pilsner, but I have been keeping it alive by throwing it into small starters every couple of months. US-05 is another constant, however I am also planning to trial the Wy1272 yeast in its place next up. And the third one is whatever English ale yeast I'm playing with at the time. This "library" allows me to brew all the beers I enjoy on a regular basis, from pilsners through pale ales, red/amber ales, ESBs and porters/stouts. I'm not a fan of wheat beers or all those funky Belgian styles, so I have no need for those yeasts.

 

Now that I'm getting a stockpile of kegs finally happening, I can probably have a dedicated pilsner and APA tap each as they're my two favourites, and rotate whatever else I brew through the 3rd tap. It's a good place to be. happy

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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Just Dry Hopped my Pimped Coopers Australian Pale Ale - PCAPA

20g of Cascade and 10g Galaxy

Fermentation is complete, we've been 8 days in the primary and currently sitting at 1.008 and 4.4% ABV. Will sit at 20'C for another 5 days then a quick cold crash to knock the free balling hops down and then into the keg.

 

Cheers & Beers

Scottie

Valley Brew

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I dry hopped my Centennial/MO SMASH ale earlier today with somewhere around 60-70g of Centennial, just mainly to use up some of the old small vac sealed bags of it. I just threw them in loose and now there is a nice thick layer of hop matter covering the beer. lol

 

I'll take another SG reading tomorrow to confirm it's finished and if so, I'll drop the temp down to 0C where it will be left until next Saturday, when I'll keg/bottle it. At that point, the yeast starter for the 1469 yeast will go in for a crash chill for a couple of days in order to pitch into the next ESB the following Monday.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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hi guys,

 

bit slack after my last pale with galaxy and Vic secret, awesome beer.

 

so winters on the way so a toucan stouts in.

2 coopers stouts

1 be2

300g crystal

250 grams brown sugar

re cultured pale ale yeast (5 longs)

both packs of coopers yeast.

 

pretty much what ive done before just a bit more grain and added the brown sugar.....

volcanic fermentation as usual with 2 tins, should be nice in about three month's.

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Hey Scottie' date=' do you use an air-stone to aerate your brew wort before pitching the yeast? [img']unsure[/img]

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

 

Hey Anthony

 

I purchased one after Antiphil was singing their praises. For me it just meant extra work, something else to sanitise. Sure it made a nice thick layer of foam on top of the wort but it didn't mean a faster start or a more vigorous ferment for me. I haven't used it for many brews, only trying it in 1/2 dozen All grain brews early on. In fact I was only looking at it on Monday thinking what a waste of money.

 

All I do no is make sure that the fermenter is far enough away from the kettle so that the line of the plate chiller sits just under the fermenter lid, there is plenty of splash and a decent amount of foam is produced.

 

This one had a thick krausen within 36 hours.

 

Cheers & Beers

Scottie

Valley Brew

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So overnight I cold-steeped 2 litres of strong genmai-cha (green tea with roasted rice) which I boiled and added to the second half of my Coopers' Pilsner tin today. It's an idea I've had for a bit as a combo that should work, and I figured since I've got a batch of the straight pils in bottles now, I may as well experiment with the rest. The flavour certainly won't be overbearing diluted 4X, but hopefully there'll be enough there to make it interesting.

 

To be continued, anyway. The waiting is the hardest part.

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Well I'll be soon throwing the next batch into the FV after a quick snack but it is not going to be what was intended. At some point last night, the cube of ESB that was going in today blew the tap out of the cube and the wort is now all over the floor of the laundry crying, or it was... most of it has dried up now. I have to assume it got some bug in there that began fermenting it, the only other explanation is that one of the pestilence possums that lives under there kicked the tap out but this seems unlikely since the tap appears to be nowhere to be found.

 

So, now I'm gonna have to throw the Bo Pils into the fermenter and ferment it with the 1469 yeast, since I have no other full cubes ready to go and I need to keep the fermentation schedule on track. I have no idea how it will turn out - obviously not as it would have with the proper yeast, but hopefully still not too bad, so this will be an interesting little forced experimental batch.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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Hmmm, Bo Pils with 1469.

 

I think you would have been better off making a trip to Craftbrewer (when they open), buying a fresh wort kit for the 1469 and picking up a pilsner yeast for your Bo Pils.

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I already have pilsner yeast stored in the fridge but that would have required a starter. I could have taken a trip down there but since everything was ready to go today I just thought bugger it. Obviously it won't turn out how it was intended to but it might still be nice enough to not tip down the drain. tongue

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...the only other explanation is that one of the pestilence possums that lives under there kicked the tap out but this seems unlikely since the tap appears to be nowhere to be found.

Not as bizarre as it sounds.

 

Maybe the "Pestilent Possums" enjoy ESB as much as the Fursty Ferrets do?! wink

 

Keep your eye on the little blighters Kelsey! lol

 

Cheers' date='

 

Lusty.[/size']

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I can say that dingoes like fourex beer. Went camping on Fraser Island many years ago and left out some full cans of beer on the table overnight . In the morning the cans were on the ground with tooth marks through them and empty. I guess there were a couple of party animals out that night.......biggrinbiggrinbiggrin

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So my Genmaicha Pilsner is in day 9 today and I just started the cold crash. It's a bit premature but OG has been steady and flavour is awesome. Sadly I can't fine it with gelatin because my mum's coming to visit over the ANZAC day long weekend and she's a vego - ethics beat out clarity this time around, damn them. Not sure if 48 hours will be enough to clear it up too much but them's the breaks.

 

Here's the recipe if anyone's interested:

 

5 heaped tbsp genmaicha cold steeped in 3L for 18 hours

1kg Thomas Coopers' Pilsner Hopped LME

200g Light LME

200g Rice Malt Syrup

Yeast: Coopers (P)

 

Briefly boiled the tea and malts then chucked it all in the FV with cold water to make 10L. I'll prime with the rice malt syrup to make a final abv around 4.25%

 

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You could try Polyclar; it won't remove yeast but it will remove chill haze, which is probably more likely to cause cloudiness anyway really. Yeast drop out by themselves pretty quickly in the bottles. It's also vego friendly. Only thing is it needs to be left in there for a few days to properly settle out into the trub.

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Just took a sample of my bastardised Bo Pils, being fermented with 1469 yeast. It's currently sitting at 1.011, so most likely finished I'd say. Beersmith predicts 1.0125 with that yeast, although I use a different mash schedule in Beersmith, as using the schedule I actually use on the brew day causes it to predict the FG to be a lot higher than I actually get.

 

It doesn't actually taste too bad for being fermented with the wrong yeast. The Bo Pils flavours are in there, it's just a tad fruity which I kind of expected anyway. That might settle down in time anyway. Will take another reading on Thursday and if it's the same as today's then I'll crash chill for a week and keg it on the 23rd.

 

I have no Saaz left now, so the next lager will be a batch using my home grown Hallertau hops. I only have enough for a late addition, so I'll just chuck them in with about 10 minutes to go in the boil. I'm looking forward to tasting how that one turns out in due course. happy

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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...It doesn't actually taste too bad for being fermented with the wrong yeast. The Bo Pils flavours are in there' date=' it's just a tad fruity which I kind of expected anyway.[/quote']

Just tell anyone that drinks it, it's a Heineken! lol

 

biggrin

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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lol that could well work.

 

I guess it was partly necessity and partly experimentation that made me do this. I could have just gone and got a kit from the LHBS last Monday or a FWK from Craftbrewer last Tuesday that would have better suited the 1469, but I honestly couldn't be arsed making a 90 minute round trip or thereabouts for the FWK, or go and buy a kit brew, so I decided to do an impromptu experiment instead. Definitely interested to see how it tastes once it's carbonated and chilled, though.

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I reckon it will be tasty.

 

I ran out of Saaz a while back, but wanted to keep my lager yeast being used and regenerated, as well as have pilsners to drink! So I have made my BoPils recipe using some hallertauer mittelfrüh, similar, but an additional floral and earthy aroma to it.

 

Then I did the same but used Motueka. Have tasted this one, but I strayed from the quick lager method, missed the ramp at 1.023 approx and ended up with something that I should have lagered for a while, still has some H2S notes in it after two weeks in the bottle, but dropping off fast so should be good soon. Apart from the slight whiff of H2S it tastes great.

 

 

 

 

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Yeah I've done lagers with Hallertau Hersbrucker before that turned out nicely. I still have some of that left, so I might as well use it as well and just bitter it with Magnum (as those previous ones were). I won't bother getting different yeast for it though, will just use the 2001 Urquell yeast to keep it going. That one will go into the FV after my stout brew that I'm brewing on Saturday which will be going into the FV on Anzac Day.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So my "dark" (muddy) lager / first all-grain brew is at day 7 and is going... interestingly. Turns out W34/70 officially has an attenuation rate up to 83%, and I hit that pretty well on the head - from 1041 down to 1006. Very low body. I'm psyching myself out by trying to read much from the flavour of the samples, I know, but I think I was low on hops and the mix of the pale malt and 120L crystal isn't necessarily going to make magic together. I think it's one of those things where little compromises here and there down the line add up.

 

Basically I am feeling very cynical. As long as there's actual beer of some kind at the end... which I'm sure there will be... things can only go up from here. Right?

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