Homebrew

Ok homebrewers… I'm brewing tomorrow (french saison) 10 g batch…

Now on to my situation.

I'm currently making my first starter and I used mrmalty to come up with the calculations. Mrmalty said I needed a starter of 6 litres. Seems high, but on I went.

I calculated 10 g of DME to each 100 ml of water. Soooo that means 560g (1.3lbs) dme into 5.6 litres of water (the most liquid I could fit into my jugs). I boiled for 10 minutes, cooled to 20c and pitched a smack pack 3711 into each jug.

I've been shaking it whenever I walk by.

This was thur night. It's been 35 hours give or take and my gravity is 1.020.

Are there any steps I can take to make sure I have 1.040 for tomorrow's brew?

sounds about right. I use 200 grams DME to 2 L water for a 5 g batch. Shake it as much as possible for 24-36 hours and dump the whole thing into primary.

You started with 1.040 with 10:1, and it'll go down to 1.010 over time - you want to pitch before it hits 1.010

http://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/08/19/how-to-make-a-yeast-starter-og-1040/

Thanks Heckler. I forgot to take the gravity before pitching the smack packs. Gravity was dropping into the 1020s this PM.

I popped it into the fridge - cold crash it so I can pour off the wort - I only want to use a slurry.

The other option would haven a stepped starter. ie make a 2L one, then crash and add another 2L wort and repeat to get your 6L of starter volume. That wasn't an option with your timeline, but next time…

I don't like cooling yeast before pitching- I prefer to have it chugging happily away and the the primary takes off quick. That's why I dump the entire 2L in after 24h. My last brew was continually blowing bubbles through a 1/2" blowoff tube within 8 hours.

Anyone of you ever tried to brew nettlebeer?

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I thought you were German. Don't you have a law against that?

I thought you were German. Don't you have a law against that?

Boo to that crap!

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I don't like cooling yeast before pitching- I prefer to have it chugging happily away and the the primary takes off quick. That's why I dump the entire 2L in after 24h. My last brew was continually blowing bubbles through a 1/2" blowoff tube within 8 hours.

In a light lager based beer, I would avoid dumping 2L of over oxygenated, non temperature controlled beer into a batch.

In most of my bigger beers IPA and such I dump the whole thing in.

[HTML_REMOVED]Matt Dennison[HTML_REMOVED] I only brew ale! I only brew ale!

[HTML_REMOVED]Matt Dennison[HTML_REMOVED] I only brew ale! I only brew ale!

You sir are missing out! The thing that changed my view of lagers, is they taste better with age (within reason) where my IPA just tasted terrible after shortish periods of time. That change in taste "makes" you want to drink it faster, as no one really wants something to go bad. Just like vegetables in the fridge, buying them then trowing them away after they go bad makes no sense! Well drinking a ton of beer before is goes bad, isn't something I want to do either. I like beer and all, but I also like not being a alcoholic. So! Lagers are starting to appeal to me more and more.
The last two batches have been Lagers, Schwartz beer (2nd time and I love it!) and a German Pilsner. I'm thinking a Hefe or another lager (can re-pitch the yeast) is going to be next!

I thought you were German. Don't you have a law against that?

Well, you cannot buy stuff like that - but there are quite a few recipes around on the net.

I checked out some local online stores where brewing afficionados can buy different sorts of yeast, hops and malts, along some seriously nerdy tech stuff.

For beginners there are even starter sets with some types of beers to chose from.

Any of you guys seen this?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/433436998/brewjacket-immersion-lager-beer-without-a-refriger

Price is higher than I'd want to pay but this might be a good option for someone like me who lives in a warmer climate, no AC, and no room for second fridge. I've done ok til now sticking the fermentor in a downstairs closet but I'd like to get into lagers and my current setup won't allow that. This would help keep things at a consistent temperature in general rather than whatever the closet temp happens to be, so I think it would help a lot.

Well here's the update - I didn't want to dump over 5 litres of DME based wort into my Saison so I took the starter out of the fridge while chilling my brew and when I was ready to pitch I dumped 80% out of each bottle, swirled the shit out of it and pitched. Both buckets were bubbling in less than 8 hours.

I'm sold on the yeast starter from here on in…

On another note: my volume for this brew was an even 11 gallons of wort ( I upped my grain bill by 15%) and I split the batch in three - 4 gallons per fermentor with yeast starter - with the remaining three I pitched on top of trub from a Wit that I brewed three weeks ago and transfered yesterday.

It was bubbling even faster than the saison. I'm curious how it's going to turn out. I bet it'll finish fermentation in three-four days and ready for the keg in 10. Could be my fastest grain to glass yet.

Look pretty slick. Super simple design via Peltier heat pump and a temp controller, that's about it.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Head up for Sea to Sky Brewers!

Another homebrew tasting get-together is happening this Thursday night at the Squamish Rod and Gun Club.

Bring a beer or two to share and a glass. Starts around 7 or so.